from YAPRap February 2004
by Al Bingham, YAPRap Feature Writer
I was talking with a young person over lunch one day in the city. Casually, I asked him what he had been doing lately. He answered that he had been busy promoting a Violence kit that he had helped to compile with the YASC which, he explained, was short for the Blacktown City Youth Advisory Sub-Committee. (The YASC is a committee of young people that provide advice to Blacktown City Council, and who undertake project work with young people in conjunction with Council.)
I was intrigued. Often, when I ask young people what they have been doing with their lives, they answer that they have been studying or working or skating or watching television. As I spoke with this young man about the kit he had been working on I realised that this was a story I had to cover for YAPRap, as its implications for working with young people are quite astounding.
In the past Blacktown City Council has hosted six-monthly forums for community representatives to discuss Domestic Violence (DV) issues for people living in the Blacktown LGA. Some representatives from the YASC attended one of these forums, to see if anything was being done for young people dealing with DV. One representative, a young woman named Caroline Mulas, was particularly inspired by attending the forum. It was clear to her that current material addressing DV was not well suited to young people, particularly young men. Caroline decided to do something about this.
She approached the YASC to see if they would like to start a project to put together a pamphlet to let young people know what can be done about DV. The YASC threw their support behind the idea, and six young people formed a sub-committee to work on the pamphlet. The initial idea was to fold an A4 sized sheet of paper in three and fill it with enough information to assist any young person who was dealing with DV.
The sub-committee began by talking informally with youth services and young people currently dealing with DV.
'We were conscious that we wanted to make something targeted directly at young people, by young people, to make it the most useful,' Rey Reodica, one of the sub-committee members explained.
The sub-committee spoke with young people accessing youth drop in services, the Western Area Adolescent Team and other YASC members. Most importantly, they spoke with Sivane Kemal, a worker for the Blacktown Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme and young women she was working with. This proved to be an important part of their consultation, as Sivane was able to assist with lots of information about DV, and the young people consulted throughout the process were able to relate stories of how they had dealt with DV in their lives.
As the YASC DV sub-committee spoke to more people about the issue of Domestic Violence they began to realise that a pamphlet would not be enough space to convey DV information to young people. There were too many essential facts that they couldn't afford to leave out. They decided to work on a booklet, instead. This would allow them to include various phone numbers for young people needing assistance with DV issues.
From their discussions with young people and youth workers the sub-committee became aware that many contact lists available for young people were often quite confusing to them. This is because the lists make mention of the names of services that young people can call, but don't actually describe what those services do. Many young people said that they didn't know which service they should actually call, if they were involved in a DV situation. The committee thought that they could develop a resource that would give young people a clearer idea of the best person to talk to, when faced with Domestic Violence.
The group realised that the best way to do this would be to include a brief description of each service listed in the phone contacts section of the booklet. It was becoming apparent that the contact list would become large enough to be a booklet in its own right. However, there was other important information that needed to be included, such as describing different forms of violence and the cycle of violence. Most importantly, violence in all forms needed to be addressed, not just Domestic Violence. It was at this point that the pamphlet evolved into a kit.
The project was becoming larger all the time. Sub-committee members were feeling less enthusiastic as their energy levels decreased. Some were starting to put more of their effort into studying for their Higher School Certificate. Caroline, however, kept shifting the focus back to the original concept. Other members of the sub-committee, inspired by her commitment, kept reminding each other of why they started the project. In particular, they talked to people who would benefit from the kit. Some of their friends were dealing with different forms of violence. The project needed to be completed.
An important lesson was learned by the sub-committee. 'We realised,' said Rey, 'that it's better to get something useful out there than to keep trying to make a resource perfect, and never finishing it. Although, in the case of the kit, members of our group just kept working until it was the best thing we could possibly do.'
At the next DV forum the YASC asked if they could do a presentation about the kit they had been working on. The YASC project hadn't been officially sanctioned by the forum, but they were given time to talk about what they had been doing. After a power point presentation outlining work done on the kit so far, and what needed to be done to complete it, YASC representatives were flooded with questions and interest by community workers at the forum.
Eighteen months after the initial idea, the YASC put the finishing touches on Family, Friends and Violence: An Information Kit for Young People. The kit is quite remarkable in the breadth of information it provides, and its professional presentation. So much so that workers from across NSW have been requesting copies of it, and it has been covered as part of the SmartLove Project being conducted by Triple J.
There are seven main sections in the kit. They include posters, facts sheets, a pamphlet on relationships and the forms of violence, contact information, testimonies and scenarios, an explanation of the violence cycle, and ideas for starting a violence discussion group. Joy Bramham, another sub-committee member, outlines the reason for the section on the violence cycle.
'A lot of people think that things will get better and don't realise they are in a cycle that doesn't end unless you change something.'
The violence scenarios are also tools used to clarify what violence is. 'It is more easy to recognise violent behaviour than a whole lot of words describing it theoretically.'
Most impressively, the kit is written in language that young people can understand and use. It is so squarely aimed at young people that every detail, including the graphics used in it, is 'very youthy' explains Joy. Hence the use of pool balls and the outstanding 'people hiding in the shadows' graphic, developed by a YASC member.
Blacktown City Council has given Friends, Family and Violence the support it so richly deserves. So far it has paid for 700 copies of the kit to be printed and distributed, along with 1500 violence crisis cards, and more printing is to take place in the near future. Council will make the kit available on its web site in a couple of months, to keep up with demand from places such as DV services and school counselors.
A clear message can be taken from this story: never underestimate the tenacity of young people with a vision and a purpose. Next on the agenda for irascible Blacktown City Youth Advisory Committee is Odyssey 2004, a conference for Blacktown young people. Oh, and if you'd like them to speak to groups of young people or youth and community workers, they are more than happy to share their wisdom.
more information
The YASC Violence Sub-Committee are: Joy Bramham, Jan Francisco, Madel Guevarra, Kristy Mounsey, Caroline Mulas, Rey Reodica
For copies of the kit, or to contact the YASC, call the Youth Planner, Blacktown City Council on 02 9839 6086.
