Redcliffe Youth Space

The Youth Space (also known as the Redcliffe Youth Space) is a government funded youth service provider and a registered charity that works across the Redcliffe Peninsula, as well as elsewhere in the Moreton Bay Region when we’re invited to do so.  We have a local focus and are committed to our community, but we also have a regional perspective because the simple reality is… all of our communities are linked together in some way.  For us, it is important that our young people build relationships across our region as it enhances their ability to find employment, discover their potential and find success in their life.

 

We work with children and young men and women between the ages of 10 and 25 who present with any issue that may be causing them concern or is in some way impacting negatively on their lives.

 

Those issues can range is scope.  A snap shot of some of what we see on a daily basis includes young people visiting our centre for help with their  education, young people coming to us for support with mental health issues or drug and alcohol addictions, young people visiting to get support to find work, young people looking for someone to help them because they’re homeless or because their family is falling apart, young people needing some very specific attention and support because they have experienced domestic violence or physical or sexual abuse, and young people who are going through issues related to bullying.

 

We can literally never guess from day to day what we’re going to see, or what sort of support we’re going to be asked to give.

 

Our role in all of that has many parts, from placing a young person into a program, negotiating additional support for them, sometimes just listening, other times arranging specialist counselling for them or putting them into intensive case management.  Through all of this we support them to build resilience, look at their life in an objective way so they can develop a level of independence, build networks for them, and create pathways and options for them that will help them move forward in their life.  All of that can take time.  Once a young person overcomes one barrier in their life and their head is clearer, they may realise they need help with something else and we start the process again.  Life is a journey, and sometimes you can’t see the way forward until a few of the obstacles are removed.

 

It’s important to note that we don’t do this work alone.  We believe that a large part of our role is to also walk alongside government, schools, relevant government agencies, other community and youth organisations, medical practitioners and businesses to ensure young people have the best shot at life that they can have, regardless of their situation or circumstance.

 

To that end we work in partnership with the State Government of Queensland, Moreton Bay Regional Council, the Federal Government, other local service providers (like our friends at the PCYC, Chameleon House and Worklinks), parents and friends, and businesses.

 

We need to make special mention of our local government (Moreton Bay Regional Council) and the State of Government of Queensland who together provide more than 95% of our funding dollars.