Programme de personnel de sensibilisation pour les jeunes
The Youth Outreach program is a prevention and intervention program that supports at-risk youth to make healthy life choices and is designed to connect youth, 12 to 21 years of age, and their families to services in the community. Further, the Youth Outreach Workers (YOWs) will seek to help youth and their families navigate systems and to engage youth in pro social activities in their community. As such, our YOWs can be seen at a variety of events as well as walking/talking around Kingston. Our program also links to an Enhanced Youth Outreach Worker (E-YOW) from Maltby Mental Health & Autism Services for Children and Youth who are available to assist with clinical advice and support. Meanwhile, our YOWs remain connected to a wide variety of social, employment, health and partner services that might be called upon to resolve ongoing risks/challenges with the youth and family. YOWs invite referrals from other connector organizations, schools, families and even self-referrals.
Détails complets du programme
Youth Outreach Worker Program Information
The purpose of the Youth Outreach Worker (YOW) program is to help marginalized and at-risk youth, ages 12 to 21, and their families to better navigate and connect with services and pro-social opportunities in their communities to improve youth outcomes.”
YOW area of service includes: Kingston, Loyalist Township (including Amherst Island), South Frontenac Township and Frontenac Islands
Further, YOWs work to:
- Promote youth and family engagement in their communities; and,Facilitate better access for youth to services and pro-social opportunities.
- Help youth and their families to identify and articulate their needs
- Support youth through a process to make positive changes in their lives
- Raise awareness of, and facilitate access to, locally available prevention and intervention resources by providing information and referrals that address individual needs and risk factors and reinforce strengths
- Foster communication and linkages among community agencies/organizations to improve access and mitigate barriers to services and supports
- The target population for the program is marginalized and at-risk youth aged 12 – 21 who:
- Face multiple barriers to success and/or are disengaged from their communities (education, employment, training, legal, etc)
- Are in an identified priority community and/or belong to a distinct priority population approved by the regional MCYS regional office.
A ‘typical’ Youth Outreach engagement might be a relatively casual chat with a youth at an event, playing sports, or just chatting while walking through the neighbourhood. Further, YOWs can speak with family members to gain awareness and to enable possible supports. With consent, YOWs can link the youth and their family to ‘connector’ organizations who specialize in one or more aspects of community support ( housing, employment, education, addictions, etc).
We also offer various events through our Preventions team at Youth Diversion that are open to Outreach clients. Connect with our Outreach worker and the Preventions team to learn more about these offerings.