Alyssa Fritzlaff
MORWELL’S Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS) is starting off 2022 with a bang.
YSAS are seeking critical information about how young adults would like to learn about support services via an online survey.
They want to hear directly from those who are in the able to access their services, the young people (ages 12 to 21) of Gippsland.
“It’s a Gippsland-centric survey,” Morwell YSAS Community Programs manager Mark Tanti said.
“We really want as many people as possible to tell us what is the best way to reach them.
“We are keen to hear what the best practice is from young people.”
The survey asks basic questions, such as what suburb the participant is from. It also asks about their knowledge of support services and how they would prefer receive information about what’s available.
YSAS is aiming to use the information recorded to make Gippsland support services more accessible for young people and their families.
YSAS senior AOD practitioner in Gippsland Julia Lazaris said that in order to effectively provide services for young people, support services need feedback directly from their clients.
“We want to allow them to drive it… it needs more of a young person’s input,” she said.
February is a special month for YSAS in general, the Morwell team are not only launching the survey but are excited to be participating in febfast – a fundraiser that runs across Australia.
The fundraiser raises much needed funds for YSAS, so that the organisation can continue
delivering important support for young people across Victoria.
Those participating in the fundraising efforts give up alcohol, sugar or another vice for the month of February to support young people suffering with alcohol or other drug issues.
Funds raised go to YSAS, who disperse it amongst their different branches and programs.
Mr Tanti said funding is an important part of YSAS doing it part to support young people. With more funding they can put on additional programs and help even more people.
“We’ve had people from Melbourne come up here to run some of the programs,” he said.
“We’ve been doing training for residential staff in Gippsland, building their knowledge about
working with kids who use illicit drugs and alcohol to excess.”
“We are keen to work with our partners… we are all in this together. Everyone wants to see these young people succeed.”
To learn more about febfast visit: https://febfast.org.au/ and the YSAS survey is available at www.ysas.org.au/youthconnection
