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The Redcliffe Area Youth Space (aka RAYS or "the Youth Space") is a youth organisation and registered charity that works in the communities of Redcliffe and North Lakes. We're a dynamic, inclusive, crazy place that's all about young people and making life better for them. If you're between the ages of 10 and 24, check us out!

LATEST NEWS!

IT'S COMING TO THE END OF THE YEAR - AND SOME INTERESTING MENTAL HEALTH STATISTICS!

So much has been happening in the Youth Sector these last few months, the Youth Space has barely had time to scratch it's collective head! Good news, bad news, lots of uncertainty - but one thing is for certain, out of all the craziness we've come to learn as an industry that there's strength in numbers and in working collaboratively together.

We have some big plans for next year, as the Youth Space continues to grow and evolve into a truly holistic service that aims to do the absolute best by the young people who need us. We'll be launching our social enterprise, the UCRE8 Project, next year and we'll also be exploring new funding opportunities and hopefully bringing in new programs to our region.

Most importantly, though, today (Wednesday the 7th of December), we're saying good bye to a bunch of our amazing young people who are graduating from our Checkpoint flexi-school and our Get Set for Work program. About 30 amazing young men and women will be going out into the world today to either return to school, go on to other learning opportunities, or embrace a brand new working life. We're so proud of each of them, and we're going to miss them like crazy! If any of you are reading this, please remember that we're here for you when you need us. Drop by and tell us how things are going for you, and if you need help with anything just come and ask. We're always happy to have visitors and everything we do is all about helping young people to have a better, stronger, happier life!

Now, we need to change track a little and talk about a more serious issue. This morning some brand new statistics from the Mental Health Social Support Service came to us. They're pretty sobering:

45% of adult Australians will experience a mental illness.
1 in 5 will experience a mental disorder in any 12-month period.
Mental illness is the leading cause of 'healthy' life lost.
3 million Australians will experience a major depressive illness.

Frighteningly, our young people are the most at risk:

An shocking 26% of 16-24 year olds have experienced a mental health disorder in the last 12 months!
Mental disorders are the leading contributor to the total burden of disease among young Australians - accounting for 49% of that total.
12% of 13-17 year olds have reported having suicidal thoughts.

These statistics are shocking and the bad news is our mental health system can't cope with the numbers. Mental health is the third largest contributor to the total national health burden yet it only gets 6% of the total expenditure on health - most of that goes into clinical service provision and not into early intervention.

If this concerns you, we encourage you to go to www.mhfa.aipc.net.au and read up on ways you can help.

If someone in your life is having issues with their mental health, or is just feeling down, sometimes the best thing we can do is simply ask them if they're okay. You'd be surprised how much bad stuff can be prevented by reaching out the hand of friendship and checking in with someone you know or someone in your family. From there, you can get in touch with professionals if you're still worried and possibly save a life, or save someone a fair bit of anguish.

Who should you check in with if you're really concerned?

Here are a few great suggestions:

- www.suicidepreventionaust.org/
- www.suicideprevention.com.au
- www.livingisforeveryone.com.au/
- www.health.gov.au

- Lifeline: 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
- The Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
- Lifeline's Standby Response Service: Brisbane 0438 150 180 and Sunshine Coast 0407 766 961.

You can also call your local Youth Service - just be aware that the demands on Youth Services are pretty extreme. We should know, we are one! Sometimes it's best to drop in and say hi rather than make a phone call.

Remember - check in with the people in your life. Ask them if they're okay and ask how things are going, and be ready to be a good listener and give a big hug. Sometimes all it takes is a good friend being attentive to save a life.

SUICIDE PREVENTION - TODAY, TOMORROW AND EVERY DAY

Suicide has been an issue affecting young people and adults alike for a very long time. No one really knows why a person will feel the need to take their life, but what we do know is that suicide leaves behind it a trail of destruction and forever changed lives.

Suicide is a growing issue in our region, but it's not constrained to our region. It's a massive issue everywhere.

We recently posted some support information on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheYouthSpace) and had some great responses - we thank everyone for all the comments they've made and the additional information they've provided.

One poster, Jenny, provided the following numbers for people with suicidal ideation:

- The Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467. This service provides ongoing telephone counselling with the same person.

- Lifeline's Standby Response Service: 0438 150 180 (Brisbane) and 0407 766 961 (Sunshine Coast). This service provides counselling support to those people who are affected by the suicide of a friend or family member.

Jenny also went on to highlight a very important point - hearing about the suicide of a friend or family member can sometimes increase the risk of other young people attempting suicide. This is why, whether we've known someone who has taken their life or not, we need to keep an eye out for each other.

In recent months there has been "Are You OK Day" and the "Soften the fuck up" initiative. These were two fantastic public awareness campaigns that we all need to apply with everyone in our lives today, tomorrow and every day because no matter how well we know someone, we never really know if they're actually really and truly okay. We simply can't know how the pressures they're facing in life are affecting them, and we can rarely ever know the trigger that will cause someone to take the step from thinking about suicide to actually taking their life.

We encourage everyone to check in every day with the people they love, because sometimes just knowing someone cares and is consistently interested in their well being makes all the difference.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, or if you're worried about someone, come talk to us or call the Suicide Call Back Service, or go see a mental health professional. It's not a sign of weakness. Life can get hard and sometimes stuff just gets on top of us. Kids are bullied at school, online, at home, at work and while out socialising. SO ARE ADULTS. When you add on all of the other pressures everyone faces regardless of age it can all overwhelm even the strongest person. It's not weak to ask for help and it doesn't mean you're crazy if you need help. It means you're brave because you're taking your life in hand and trying to sort stuff out, and it means you're amazingly self-aware because you know something is wrong and you're choosing to do something about it.

If you need help, and don't know where to start, try one of the helplines above or give us a call and we'll help you to start the ball rolling.

Remember, suicide prevention starts today, it happens again tomorrow, and keeps happening every day of our lives because you, your family, your friends, ALL of us are precious and we're all in this thing called life together. YOU'RE NOT ALONE. You might feel like you are, but we guarantee you that you're not and we guarantee you that someone, somewhere cares about and believes in you. That's why youth services and community services exist, because sometimes we get isolated from family and friends and we really do feel isolated and alone. But even then, we're not because there are services all over Australia that are staffed by people who aren't just paid to care - they really do care and they really will help you.

If you need to get in touch with us, call 07 3283 8769, e-mail us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or jump on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheYouthSpace.

Also, another poster on our facebook page, Danni, said that an upcoming issue of the BE VOCAL BE HEARD magazine will be dedicated to Youth Suicide and Mental Health. Keep an eye out for it.

You can learn more about BE VOCAL BE HEARD at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002424140072

Remember. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

SURGE SK8, BMX & SCOOTER COMP 3 SEPTEMBER 2011!

The SURGE comp is on again, this Saturday September 3rd to launch the brand new revamp of the Redcliffe Skatepark!

The comp kicks off at 10am (Rego's), for a 10:30/11am start. Come on down and compete - registration is $5 with all proceeds going back into programs that support young people in need.

If you're not into competing, then come on down to support the amazing young people who will be rocking up and putting it all on the line to win some great prizes and give Redcliffe an AWESOME day.

Big shout out to the following:

- Councillor Rae Frawley and Moreton Bay Regional Council for working hard to revamp the park! The park's upgrade would never have happened without you guys!

- The Federal Government's Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for funding the event through their Youth Connections program!

- Worklinks Inc. for helping put the event together!

- Brad and Chris for all their help getting all the prizes together and for helping the staff run the event!

- Redcliffe Cycles and SkateSauce for providing all of the prizes!

- Paula, our wonderful nurse, for giving up her Saturday to come on down and take care of any spills and chills we might get!

- VC (Velvet Couch) Clothing for donating t-shirts as encouragement awards for the BMX section of the comp!

- And of course the totally INCREDIBLE AND OUTSTANDING Youth Space staff for once again volunteering their time to support the young people of Moreton Bay!

We hope to see you at the event on Saturday (yes, the paper got it wrong - SURGE is Saturday, NOT Sunday as was advertised... we have no idea what happened there). See you on the weekend.

IT'S TIME FOR AN UPDATE!

It's time for our regular update for our official website. Our Facebook page is updated daily and is gathering heaps of likes and lots of great comments - which is awesome! Big thank you to everyone who is a part of that. :o) If you're interested in checking us out on Facebook click the fancy link thingy and it's take you there for a look: fancy link thingy!

So why have we been so busy? We've had lots on!

Firstly, the huge Skate Park Upgrade that's been going on for a while is now complete and the results are amazing. Everyone loves it and we've heard so many great comments from the BMXers, Skateboarders and Scooter riders! We've even seen a few people in roller-blades visiting the park and we haven't seen many roller-bladers at the Reddy Skate Park in a LONG time.

The Youth Space wants to give a BIG thank you to all of the people who made the upgrade possible: Councillor Rae Frawley, the guys at Moreton Bay Regional Council - especially Rick Kelly, Naomi Rayward and Brendan Arthur, Chris Bierton of Core Operations, the builder dudes who were great, and most importantly... the young people who took our suggestions of doing a petition and went out there and collected hundreds of signatures to support the park upgrade. SPECTACULAR! We're so proud of you guys. So is the community! The upgrade and the efforts of our young people even made the front page of the paper!

Front page newspaper article about the Youth Space's involvement in the Redcliffe Skate Park upgrade.

What else has been going on?

Our amazing Green Army guys also made it into the paper today (24.08.2011) for their OUTSTANDING work re-vegetating and undertaking conservation work around the Redcliffe Peninsula in collaboration with the awesome guys from Moreton Bay Regional Council.

This group of young people WORKED THEIR YOU KNOW WHAT'S OFF and created some amazing change in areas that were run down, or had been misused (illegally) by Dirt Bikers and 4WDrivers.

If you want to check that article out - click on this nifty link right here!

Also, we just completed the Youth Workers Retreat, which was many months in the making. The Redcliffe Area Youth Space's Manager created the Retreat idea way back in 2008, and in 2009 the Youth Space hosted the very first one for the region - it was a massive success. The Retreat was designed to be every two years (biennial), and when the two year mark rocked around again Council asked the Youth Space to host it just one more time. And we did. And it was awesome!

The Retreat is all about supporting professional Youth Workers in the Moreton Bay Regional to better support young people. People who attended the Retreat received training from some of the best in the business in youth mental health, alternative education, homelessness, faith and working in the secular world, drug and alcohol education and heaps more. There were also a lot of workshops on self care - boundaries, reflective practice, yoga, Tai Chi... even Zumba! The Retreat was just a great experience and everyone loved it! Thanks to all of those services who helped out and sent people along. Big thank you to Naomi Rayward, Howard Buckley (Deception Bay Community Youth Programs) and our very own Manager Jarryd Williams for designing up the whole event. Massive thank you to Mitch, Amy W and Jarryd for pulling it all together and setting it all up and making sure it ran smoothly.

The Youth Space is also heavily involved in something called the Collaborative Action Group which is all about making things better in our region for young people. The CAG is massively important, because Community Services are always at the mercy of government agendas, and those agendas change. We need to be able to advocate for the issues we know are important to the young people we work with, and the CAG gives us a united voice that lets us do it. The CAG is unique, and a lot of people are interested in it. The Youth Space is very proud to be one of the founding members of the CAG along with Deception Bay Community Youth Programs, Moreton Bay Regional Council, Pine Rivers Neighbourhood Centre, Youth Outreach Service, Intercept Youth and Family Services, Worklinks Inc, and Integrated Family and Youth Services.

So lots of stuff has been going on - what we've listed above is just the tip of the iceberg! And every drop of it has been all about young people.

If you want more regular updates, check out our Facebook or Twitter accounts.

SKATE PARK UPGRADE!

For a number of years now, we've been trying to get the Redcliffe Skate Park upgraded. As you can imagine, that's an expensive undertaking!

Last year the young people who use the skate park banded together and, off their own back, put together a massive petition which they signed, their parents signed and a good number of the general public signed. The petition was a simple request to resurface the park which had slipped into disrepair over the years.

The young people brought the petition to us, because they weren't too sure what to do with the hundreds of signatures they'd collected.

We drafted a letter to the CEO of Moreton Bay Regional Council and to the Mayor and sent it off, hoping for the best.

Council was so impressed with the petition and with the fact the young people had gone to all that effort, that they not only put aside money in their budget for a resurfacing, but for a basic upgrade to improve some of the park's features.

The upgrade is underway, with the first stage having been completed a couple of months ago! In the coming weeks, the second and final stage (for now) will be finished and the Redcliffe Skate Park should be back to being a high quality facility for skateboarders, scooter riders and BMXers once again.

People power. It's a wonderful thing - especially when it's young people banding together to make a positive change in their community.

YOUTH SPACE WINS STATE AWARD!

Moreton Bay Regional Council just let us know that the Youth Space won the Queensland State Young Legends Award! We won the regional, which we've done for the last few years, but never won it at the state level. So... YAY! That's pretty cool. It's a huge thing to us because it's about Youth Workers and young people working together to make a community a better place to be for everyone.

Huge thanks to all of the young people who made it possible with their incredible dedication and work. We luvs ya all!

YOUTH SPACE ON THE NEWS!

Channel 9 has given us permission to put the news story that featured the Youth Space on our various websites... so it's now live on our YouTube and our facebook sites. It was up here on our official website but we sort of got sick of it, so now it's gone. If you still want to see it, check out our facebook or YouTube.

The Youth Space would like to thank Channel 9 News/WIN Television, Big Splash Media, Westfield, Stockland and Moreton Bay Regional Council for the opportunity to showcase one of our programs. We've already received a ridiculous number of phone calls, facebook posts and e-mails about the news broadcast which is great, we guess! This is all very strange for us and we're certainly not used to all the attention! We've very humbled by it all and appreciate of everyone's support and kind words!

Our team works very hard to deliver programs that will support young people and the communities we work in. The staff of the Youth Space actually volunteer their time to do North Lakes every Thursday and to do our Friday night outreach in Redcliffe! Unfortunately there's rarely ever enough money around, so when we can, and when a community is in serious need, we do what we can to help out.

So what's up next for us? Check our Events List just to the right of this page for upcoming events. You'll see a big skate comp at Bribie Island this weekend, and of course the North Lakes Project every Thursday night... we also continue to run a variety of award winning programs throughout the week - check out the "Our Programs" page of the website if you would like to know more. The link is on the left hand side of the page.

And now for a little word from our sponsors!

Check out these amazing businesses and organisations below.
They help us out whenever they can and without them
we wouldn't be able to do the good work we do.

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Coles Kippa-Ring