L2L delivers group and individual development and support activities in an informal and creative learning environment. The program has helped the students develop life skills and employment skills, whilst also focusing on re-engaging them with their education.

By offering alternative class arrangements and subjects, L2L focus on areas such as life and communication skills, anger management, goal setting and literacy. L2L helps students to maintain regular attendance and become more motivated at school whilst taking responsibility for themselves and their opportunities. Students also enhance and develop communication skills, self-esteem, confidence and resilience.

Our team at L2L has formed some wonderful relationships with three high schools in the area – Bomaderry, Nowra and Shoalhaven High Schools – who refer their students each year into the program. The 2014 program has commenced in full swing, with 32 students commencing the L2L program for this year.

In 2013, we had 33 students complete the L2L program in Nowra, of which 32 have remained in education in 2014 and one has started work! One of those students was ‘Michael’ who was referred to L2L from the Shoalhaven High School. Michael was facing some barriers to remaining in school and needed some literacy and numeracy assistance.

As a result of the L2L program, Michael gained more confidence and skills which eventually saw him attain a Certificate II Hospitality. At the graduation in December 2013, Michael volunteered to deliver a thank you speech and shared his thoughts of L2L, “I am standing here because of my time with Links”.

It is stories like Michael’s that make all the hard work worthwhile! Congratulations to all the students and staff involved in this great program. Keep up the good work!

With that in mind, a big shout out must go to the generous team at BT Financial Group, who recently gave 7 lucky primary school students brand new bikes last month! The students from our Macarthur Region were incredibly excited to receive their bikes (and reportedly took some convincing to head back to class!) Troy and Jai from BT Financial Group found the whole experience extremely positive and could not wait to share the children’s reactions with other members of the BT Financial team.

YWCA NSW works with a number of primary schools in the Macarthur community, supporting young people like these students. Often they come from challenging backgrounds, where they face difficulties that prevent them from completely engaging in their education, and leading a happy life. One of the student’s parents was able to see their child receive a bike, and could not believe the generosity shown by BT Financial.

We love hearing about such wonderful stories.

As we come to the end of the year and look back at 2013, there are some definite triumphs for women’s advancement: firstly, the determined and inspiring Malala Yousafzai’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize; secondly, the ‘Angelina Jolie Effect’ where the actress’ openness about her decision to undergo a voluntary mastectomy encouraged thousands of women to be screened for the BRCA1 gene and raise awareness around breast cancer, and let’s not forget Australia’s own Professor Adele Green, topping Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence for her work over the past 25 years on understanding the causes and prevention of melanomas and other skin cancers.

However we have also seen losses and backwards steps for female equality. No matter your political persuasion, the vitriolic insults levelled at Australia’s first female Prime Minister were unnecessary and unjust both when she was leading the country and also exiting Parliament. Secondly, the ongoing disappointment regarding the Australian gender pay gap, with women still in 2013, earning 17.5% than their male counterparts, and the resulting in a significant loss in superannuation earnings; and finally a growing sector of disadvantage, the 72.5% of carers who are women (2012, ABS), and continue to go unpaid and unrecognised, despite the positive economic and social impact their contribution makes.

Today as we acknowledge White Ribbon Day, we still have a way to go. Tragically, in NSW three-quarters of all female homicide victims in 2011-12 were killed in a domestic homicide, with domestic and family violence incurring a cost to the taxpayer in excess of $4.5 billion.

But it’s not all bad news. YWCA NSW, and YWCAs in 61 countries around the world, provide support, education and hope for women experiencing domestic and family violence, including advocacy, court support, refuges and medium term housing and partnerships with the local police.

Earlier this year at the Commission of the Status of Women held at the United Nations in New York, it was agreed that actions will be taken by the UN member states around the elimination and prevention of violence against women and girls. The local relevance for Australia is to create more awareness of the social, health, workplace and economic impact on domestic violence, taking it from a silent issue to one that amends National Employment Standards, provides safety and empowerment to women and their families and remains a constant on the public platform until it is eradicated completely.

Thanks for reading,

Raechel Mathews, Manager, Impact and Government Relations, YWCA NSW

We had a look around, talked about possible reasons of how and why this may have happened and wondered about the owners of the car.

He was shocked people could do such things and wondered why. We talked some more and then moved onto the different services that were involved with not only putting out the fire but also investigating the reasons of how and why and what’s next for this burnt out metal frame.

Once he had got over the initial curiosity of why, he began to ask questions about the materials and why they do what they do under extreme heat and what is used to put them out (not water).

We looked at melted glass, plastics and some form of fibre left behind. We then headed to the fair and spent some time around the SES, police and fire displays to help him connect with how it all comes together. I felt it was a fantastic learning opportunity from a number of perspectives and could see he went away thinking about science and the services in a different light.

Big Brother, from Big Brothers Big Sisters™

About the program:

Big Brothers Big Sisters provides children and young people with one to one support and encourages the development of social and life skills.

Trained and carefully screened adult mentors, generally between the ages of 20 and 45 years, are matched with an individual child and spend time together on a weekly basis. By spending time with a responsible adult doing everyday activities, the child is able to explore different skills and experiences that increase their sense of self worth, improve their relationships, develop their potential at home, school and in the community and have a lot of fun.

We’re currently looking for more male mentors in the Eastern Suburbs and Inner West regions of Sydney – get in touch with the team at bbbs@ywcansw.com.au if you’d like to find out more.

Our very own Raechel Mathews, Manager, Programs and Policy here at YWCA NSW is currently attending the 2013 UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York.

CSW is the global policy body for women’s issues where government representatives meet together annually in New York to discuss how to improve the status of women, observed by a large contingent of NGOs.

Here, Raechel shares some of the details from day 2:

CSW Day 2 – Time for talk is over!

Earlier today I attended as an NGO observer, ‘Parliamentary strategies for tackling violence against women and girls’ jointly hosted by UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary union (IPU) at the United Nations.

Following a welcome from Mr A Radi, the President of the IPU, Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, delivered another passionate statement to the Government delegates and Parliamentarians regarding the elimination of violence against women. She stated that this CSW 2013 is a ‘tipping point in history…never before has there been so much public support for eliminating violence against women’. She also spoke with a sense of urgency around the end to impunity; deeper social transformation; gender equality and the importance of reviewing and strengthening laws.

She suggested four ways to further to help prevent and end violence against women: 1) passing legislation that criminalizes violence – only two thirds of countries have any criminalization to prosecute perpetrators of violence; 2) Parliaments’ responsibility to monitor and implementing existing and new legislation; 3) Parliamentarians’ personal role to raise society’s increased awareness of violence against women 4) The parliamentary function of budget setting and budget approval.

In particular I loved that she challenged parliamentarians to put their money where their mouth is, by saying: ‘A law is potent only if it has the financial and human resources required for its implementation. These financial requirements must be reflected in budget allocations’

She closed with an incredibly forthright call to action which I hope the delegates in the room considered seriously: ‘Parliamentarians by definition are there to serve the public good and citizens- you were elected to serve ALL citizens. I call on you to never forget that the women and girls you serve – indeed, all humanity – place hope and trust in you. Deeds always count more than words and I count on your passion and commitment for us TOGETHER to bring an end to the history of violence.’

Go Michelle!

For the remainder of the day, there were panel testimonials from representatives from Mali, Portugal, Zambia Burkina Faso, Mexico, Bolivia and UK around their challenge and motivations to eliminate violence against women and girls. The UK presentation was a standout for me, about women’s political representation in the media; using past UK Ministers dubbed ‘Babes’, US Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard as examples where in the public eye, women’s emotions and fashion choices grab more news headlines, far above her policies and political views. The session concluded with ‘Future Strategies for parliaments to end violence against women’ to identify priorities for parliaments to support progress. Broadly, the agreement was around:

• Working on changing social and cultural norms and attitudes
• Amending discriminatory legislation
• Promoting respect for women’s rights
• Mainstreaming gender in parliament

It was great to attend the event and get a more global view of the challenges still remaining in the fight to eliminate violence against women. However, once these two weeks have concluded, the time for talk will be over. It’s time for action!

I learned that everyone should practise showing gratitude because it’s a nice thing to do and it’s also good for you. Scientific research has shown that all sorts of wonderful things happen to people who regularly share thoughtful appreciation (i.e. gratitude). It’s pretty obvious that reflecting on what you’re grateful for makes you feel good. But it goes beyond that. Regular expressions of gratitude promote optimism, stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure, stronger interpersonal relationships and greater control over their environments. Those sounds like good outcomes to me!

So I decided to break my cycle of taking things for granted. I am making more of an effort to share genuine thanks when someone does something kind and generous. And I’ve started writing down three things every day that I am grateful for. Some things are big and others are small and it’s helping me to see how lucky I am. A few things on my list are; spending time with my loving partner, being able to walk to work on a sunny day, helping my mum to cook Christmas lunch, dancing with little kids, Skype, having a job that I love and enjoying a relaxing summer BBQ with friends.

I realised that so many of the things that I am grateful for are about having people in my life who love and support me. I have family and friends who help me, challenge me and encourage me to live a happy life.

I believe that everyone needs to be and deserves to be helped, challenged and encouraged to live a happy life. It’s part of why I work with not-for-profits as a strategy consultant and why I volunteer as a board member at YWCA NSW. I want to break my cycle of taking things for granted. At the same time, I want to help to break the cycle of disadvantage that some children in Australia are born into. One of the ways that YWCA NSW helps to break the cycle of disadvantage is through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Big Brothers Big Sisters provides one-to-one friendship for children; pairing them with positive adult role models, to promote good life choices and give these kids the skills and confidence to help them navigate the difficult school years.

I’m participating in the Breaking the Cycle event to make a BIG difference to young people across NSW. I’m organising a team of friends and colleagues and we’re going to have fun and make a difference. And I’m grateful for that!

Sign up here and start raising funds to break the cycle. 

Post by Suzie Riddell, YWCA NSW Board Director

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the annual Big Brothers Big Sisters™ program conference in Melbourne.  It brought together Big Brothers Big Sisters programs from across the country, and was a great opportunity to share resources and experiences.  Given this week is Youth Mentoring Week, it was also a timely reminder of the importance of the role of positive role models and mentors in the lives of young people.  A highlight of the conference was having the opportunity to hear Michael Carr-Gregg, a leading child and adolescent psychologist, speak to us about building resiliency in young people.  Resiliency is one of those words that tends to get thrown around a lot these days, but how often do we take the time to actually think about what we mean by resiliency?  More importantly, how we can take positive actions to build resiliency in young people?

In the 1950s, a ground-breaking longitudinal study on resiliency in young people was conducted by Emmy Werner on a cohort of children in Hawaii.  One of the things to emerge from this research was the importance of a charismatic adult in the lives of resilient young people.  What do we mean by a charismatic adult?  Amongst other things, it was someone who gave them strength, and made them feel safe, valued and listened to.  Add to this the importance of fostering social and emotional competencies – including problem solving, conflict resolution, anger management and empathy – all skills and characteristics modeled by the young person’s charismatic adult.  Does this sound familiar?  When you break it down, the words charismatic adult and mentor are interchangeable.  What an incredible reminder of the impact and importance of mentoring programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters™ and In-School Mentoring, and the crucial role that these mentors can play in the lives of young people who may be missing this key adult in their lives.  While all this was happening, we received some incredible feedback from one of our Big Brothers Big Sisters™ matches.  Recently, this Big Brother received a card from his Little, which read simply:  “To my Big Brother.  Thanks for choosing me.  Your Little Brother”.  As this Big Brother said:

“The biggest thing I’ve learnt from my Little is that it doesn’t take much to make a big difference in a Little’s life. Becoming a Big Brother has been the best thing I’ve ever done. I joined the program because I truly believe that kids should be able to be kids, and hopefully make a difference to a Little’s life. I didn’t expect to achieve all of this so quickly, and naturally it’s made me want to do so much more. From my perspective it’s been minimal effort and maximum return.”

Some final words of wisdom from one of our Bigs: “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could, because someone else thought they could”.  Enough said really!

The day started with some games including Frisbee, soccer and cricket, before each match was provided with a hand drawn map and clues for the Christmas-themed scavenger hunt.  They were sent to rock ponds, playgrounds and trees to try and find each piece to the puzzle, with each clue leading them to a word from a popular Christmas carol.

It proved to be more challenging than everyone expected, and required a lot of persistence, detective work, and some “alliances” between matches, but soon the teams returned with the words to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.  After all the hard work everyone was feeling pretty hungry, and what better way to fuel an appetite than with some pikelets cooked on the barbeque.  It was a great opportunity for us to catch up with some of the things our matches have been getting up to.  One match had walked across the Harbour Bridge, one Big Sister was going to watch her Little Sister compete in a dance eisteddfod that afternoon, and one Little even rode his scooter alongside his Big Brother who was on a training run as a Gold Charity runner for Big Brothers Big Sisters™ in this year’s City 2 Surf!

This outing stayed true to the ethos of what the program is all about – low cost, creative, and focused on having fun and spending quality time with your Big or Little.  It was proof that sometimes the simplest things can be the most fun, and was a chance to embrace the outdoors and to celebrate the mentoring relationships being fostered within the Big Brothers Big Sisters™ community.

Melissa Hando, Manager, Mentoring Programs

Why not…

• Get scrapbooking!  Create a scrapbook of memories of your outings.
• Bundle up – get the beanie, scarves and gloves out and head outdoors for some fresh winter air!  Make pikelets and cook them on the BBQ at the local park, go for a bushwalk, have a paper airplane making competition, or head down to the beach and go looking for crabs or collect shells!  Don’t forget to take a camera with you – you can record your outings and create a journal together.
• Check out the library – look for books full of activity ideas; whether it be craft books, science experiments, origami etc…get creative!
• Look for kids go free days at museums
• Look out for something local, usually listed in your paper – local festivals, school fetes, community events

 Great resources for Bigs:

•  Sydney’s Child Magazine has a website jam packed with outing ideas and a useful calendar of upcoming events both free and paid www.webchild.com.au
• Time Out Sydney has an abundance of up to the minute activities and events across Sydney www.timeoutsydney.com.au
• The City of Sydney website is a great resource for community events – also think about looking into your Little’s local council websites for some fun local ideas www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
• Don’t forget to pick up your local paper or peruse online

Inner West www.innerwestcourier.com.au

East/South www.wentworthcourier.com.au or www.southerncourier.com.au

North www.northerndistricttimes.com.au

Most importantly remember the simplicity of childhood is found in the quality of the time spent together – enjoy each moment, create an environment of joy and excitement, learning and fun!

Stories go digital at In School Mentoring

It’s the end of another In School Mentoring (or ISM) term, and what a way to finish off! The last two weeks have seen our Sydney ISM students and mentors take part in a Digital Story-Telling Workshop. 

We were lucky enough to have an experienced digital media artist, Jordi, come along and help us with the task!  It started with some fun brainstorming- using balloons, post it notes and an array of coloured pens and students (with the help of their mentors) began thinking about the important relationships in their life, and what these meant to them. 

It was a fantastic exercise that allowed the exploration of what healthy relationships looked like, and the importance of friendships, respect and communication.  Bullying was used as an example of unhealthy relationships, and students and mentors explored how this would make them feel, and also how they could communicate these experiences to the important people in their life. 

So what happened next?  The second week saw the introduction of video recorders, cameras and voice recording into the mix.  Students and mentors moved around different media “work stations” to capture their thoughts and ideas around healthy relationships. 

Using voice recording, they interviewed one another and then they it was their turn to get in front of the camera to talk about what they had discussed and learned over the past two weeks.  They also used cameras to photograph the “story in the room” during the sessions. 

It was busy, a tad chaotic, but definitely lots of fun, for both students and mentors.  What a unique way to talk about some really important issues for young people.  Jordi is now busily working on pulling all the media together, with the aim of each student getting a copy of their own personal digital story from the workshop.  It was a fun way to wrap up the term – I can’t wait to see what the students and mentors get up to next term!