Darebin/Yarra Program Week Four

We're now over halfway through the program and have had another great week of new experiences.

We started off at Headspace Collingwood on Wednesday morning, where we met Jess who talked with the students about the range of services Headspace offers. We also did some activities around stress and how different people deal with stress. Headspace is an important service who can assist young people with a wide range of things, including mental health, physical health, and even seeking employment. We also got to meet headspace's resident therapy dog!

In the afternoon we headed back to Yarra Youth Services to continue working on the t shirt designs with Ange. These were all done really well and the students worked intently to get them completed. This activity presented a number of challenges, including learning new programs on the computers to get a final digital copy of the student's original drawings. We can't wait to see how these look once they're printed on t shirts! The students will receive these at the end of the term.

Thursday was spent out canoeing on the Yarra River. We met up with Leah from Darebin Youth Services and launched the canoes at Bellbird Picnic area in Kew. Canoeing can be one of the most challenging days on the program as it requires a huge amount of team work and patience. Working with new people can be really difficult in a canoe, regardless of how much experience you have. The students had to work hard to get the hang of it and reach our lunch spot at Fairfield Boathouse. We had a change of paddling partners after lunch, where everyone got to experience working with someone new.

Friday morning we started off by preparing for camp next week. Our final camp involves two days of bike riding along the Great Victorian Rail Trail, where the students are assessed on areas such as team work, leadership and motivation. This assessment is an important aspect of graduating from the program. Organisation is also important for this camp, so we allow plenty of time to ensure we've packed all the right equipment.

We ended out the week with another TAFE taster. This time we headed out to Melbourne Polytechnic at Fairfield where we undertook a landscaping/ bricklaying workshop. This was a pretty new experience for all the students and is always lots of fun as well as gaining new skills. This workshop involves accuracy and careful construction. All in all the students participated well and it was a great way to spend a hot afternoon.