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There’s an old saying in social work: if you want to help people, you have to meet them where they are. For Akash Nadar, that meant heading over to his parents’ house in the back of a police van.*

The year was 2019, and Akash’s home life, which…

They call it the Experience Paradox: to get a job, you need experience; but to get experience, you need a job. Larry De’Corso understands the problem well. After completing their Master of Social Work, Larry spent months looking for work in their chosen field of youth mental health.…

When Kelly* came to YSAS, she was 17 and looking for help. “I was having problems with alcohol,” she remembers, “and using marijuana and ice.” After chatting with a case worker, she decided to enter one of YSAS’s withdrawal units. And though she occasionally found detox “overwhelming”, she…

Sometimes the best candidate for the job isn’t the person with the longest list of qualifications or the most technical experience – they’re the person with the most time spent at the coalface, who understands the task from personal experience, rather than a textbook.

By this definition, Sione…

The idea of ‘bringing your whole self to work’ has become something of a corporate trend in recent years. But for Georgia Willmott, tearing down the wall between your professional and personal lives is just business as usual.

As a Youth Advocate, it’s Georgia’s job to ensure that…

Sport has been a part of Scott Krakouer’s life for longer than he can remember. The son of an AFL athlete, Scott began playing football when he was just five. He always enjoyed the rush that came from winning. But as he got older, he came to appreciate…

There are many reasons young people come to YSAS. For Tara Schultz, it was a problem with marijuana. “I was nervous,” Tara remembers, “because I thought cannabis wasn’t a big enough deal to seek help.” But Tara wanted support to stop smoking. And so at age 16, she…