Listen to thisArt and sport programs could help lower youth suicide, incarceration and foster care rates and save Western Australia millions of dollars, one of the state's peak youth bodies says.
The Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA) submitted evidence to an inquiry into Building Resilience and Engagement for At-Risk Youth Through Sport and Culture.
The council's CEO, Ross Wortham, told the inquiry early intervention strategies had to appeal to some of the state's most vulnerable youth before they hit crisis point.
"If we don't support young people early enough the likelihood of those who face complex needs ending up in detention, ending up in the mental health system or the crisis to the hospital is much higher," Mr Wortham said outside the inquiry. "The cost of those services is extraordinarily high."
He said he believed art, culture and sport could help get youth to start engaging with mentors, social and youth workers as well as their community. "Tapping into those skills is a really good thing. Do we do it enough? Probably not."
Mr Wortham said there were programs offered around the state but getting funding was the biggest challenge. He said it was critical the programs received funding because the state's rates of youth suicide, incarceration and foster care were increasing. "We need to acknowledge that we're at that level of crisis," Mr Wortham said. "We shouldn't be complacent with the numbers as they are and certainly not as they're increasing. Western Australia has some of the highest rates of, in particular, Aboriginal children and young people in care with more than 50 per cent of the young people currently in care being Aboriginal."
Mr Wortham said early intervention programs were a far cheaper option for the state in the long term. "The cost of keeping one young person in juvenile detention at Banksia Hill for one day is more than $836," he said. "In some studies, for every one dollar in early intervention you're saving four or more dollars that you're not having to put into crisis response. That's saving significant taxpayer dollars if we get it right early in a young person's life."
Mr Wortham said YACWA supported the inquiry and called on the Government to continue to prioritise early intervention services for youth at risk.
By Eliza Laschon
29 June 2016
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-29/programs-for-at-risk-youth-could-save-state-millions/7555350
