Moreland week 3 2018

Its week 3 of the program and things are really starting to take shape! The group is settling in together and a lot of good stuff is happening.

This week started back at our local hub at Oxygen Youth Services to participate in a drug and alcohol seminar with Candice from YSAS (Youth Support + Advocacy service). During this session we explored the effects that a range of drugs have on our system and how they effect our moods. We looks at the concept of ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’ and had great in depth discussion about each drug. It was fantastic to see the young people really engage with the content and all take something out of it. After this we headed to Maribyrnong Youth Club to do some boxing with Sal from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. This is our second session with Sal and he made sure that he put us to work. During the session Sal made us do boxing drills on the bag, push ups and speed rounds. We all worked up a sweat and everyone was pushed and worked really hard. Through this session motivation and determination was a main focus and each and every one of us left feeling tired but accomplished.

Thursday had the young people participate in a workshop at Reach. Reach is an organisation that is run by young people, for young people. They hold workshops that aim to break down barriers for young people to give them the tools and skills to understand themselves and others better. We don’t know exactly what happens in the Reach workshops but we know that they get free KFC lunch and walk out with a smile and a spring in their step. Upon discussion with the young people they all really enjoyed the workshop and got a lot out of the day. Friday was a more practical day as we learnt CPR and practiced our surf life saving skills at Sandringham life saving club. The session was run by Dave and a fellow member from the South Melbourne surf lifesaving club. During this session the young people learnt CPR practically on the dummies and really worked to fine tune their skills. After we were all competent enough, we took the life saving boards out and went for a paddle in the bay. While out in the water we practiced how to situation yourself on the board, how to paddle effectively and some key water safety signals. This session is an important one as it allows the young people to go into our surf camp with water safety knowledge and confidence on surf boards. Everyone enjoyed the day and left feeling excited for our surf camp next week.