New opportunities on the horizon
August 21, 2023
Eight young people who call Thyne House in Launceston home have graduated from a course that introduces them to independent living skills.
Their achievement in completing the Certificate 1 in Developing Independence through TasTAFE was celebrated during Homelessness Week.
Thyne House is one of three facilities managed by Anglicare under the Youth2Independence (Y2I) program. Y2I supports young people aged 16-24 who have experienced homelessness or been at risk of homelessness.
“This was our first graduation ceremony and it was exciting to see the pride the young people took in their achievements,” said TasTAFE teacher Karyn Crosswell.
“It was the first educational certificate that some people had received. It was lovely to see two graduates speak confidently in front of an audience about their experience of the course and other opportunities they’d taken up since moving into Thyne.”
Nina said:
I felt very supported during the course and it made me aware of all the opportunities I had available. Living at Thyne House has been the best time of my life.
And from April:
I can’t believe I finished it. I learned lots of things about living on my own, which was helpful.
Jamila Tattam is one of the Youth Development Coaches based at Thyne. She worked with Karyn Crosswell in guiding the students through the course.
“This course opened the students’ eyes to new opportunities,” she said. “They learned more about themselves. They set goals and action plans across the six key service offers that we focus on as part of Y2I: education, employment, health and wellbeing, civic participation, social connections and housing and living.
“We use a concept called Advantaged Thinking in our coaching. It’s our role to support the young people to identify where their strengths and interests lie and what they’d like to achieve with their lives.”
PIC: Justine Brooks from Homes Tasmania (second from left) presented each student with a letter and voucher. Pictured with her are students (from left) Nina, Trinity and Amali.
More information:
The Youth2Independence program is supported by Homes Tasmania. It is based on the Education First Youth Foyer model developed by the Foyer Foundation.
