ECOLOGY CULTURE

CONSULTING SERVICES

Community Support Programmes for "children at risk".....

	Jonathan Bogais sponsors and co-ordinates a range of community support projects for "children at risk", including "New Horizons Leichhardt". These mentoring and coaching programmes are critical to rebuild self-esteem among the children and help them develop boundaries necessary to move forward into adult life successfully.

What is it all about? History & recent developments..

Building self-esteem in a safe and challenging environment is a contributing factor to help making a change for children at risk

Children are facing challenges that can make it hard to get through school and move on to other training or work. Many of these challenges are outside their control. These can throw them off track, preventing them from achieving their potential. These challenges may include school issues, personal issues social, cultural and community issues.

These challenges can lead to a rejection of what teachers say or to behave differently from the way other people think they should. Often, an accumulation of these factors causes internal conflict, making things hard to handle for young people. Although finishing school and moving on in life is made possible for many by the support they receive from their school, family or other groups, many other young people don’t receive this needed support and at risk of dropping out of school.

Intervening at this point is critical to ensure children at risk realise there are other ways to make things work. Showing there are people out there who care and are prepared to listen and help can make the difference for a lifetime.

Three years since New Horizons started, eight programmes, 98% attendance and 100%  results. How do we do it?

At the end of each term we visit the schools, presenting the programme to those children who are present and through various authorities attempting to reach those who do not attend school. Addressing truancy is a major focus. By inviting the children to participate, we offer them the means to make a decision that could change so much for them.

Enrolments conditions into the programme are 100% attendance to the sessions, going back to school after each session and appropriate behaviour.

Each session starts with a briefing on the day’s outcomes. Boats must be prepared and rigged as traditional sailors would so that participants learn the fine points of sailing. This happens under the supervision of competent sailors as well as experienced volunteers. There is a syllabus for each session and a practical examination at the end of the programme. Participants are then encouraged to continue their sailing experience or move into other activities, one of which is boat-building.

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It is attitude, not aptitude that determines who you are! On that day, it was all about getting there for a young member of the team, and he did it.