In over ten years of providing programs, activities and information, CREATE has supported hundreds of young South Australians in care to create their futures. CREATE’s South Australian State coordinator Claudine Scalzi explains how clubCREATE membership is used to make initial contact with young people in care and to provide them with information and connection to other young people.
‘Membership of clubCREATE entitles kids to all sorts of goodies, publications and information about what’s going on as well as competitions, puzzles and stories.
‘We get together with the clubCREATE members at times throughout the year. We can get around 250 kids, carers and families for fun activities at places like the Beach House and Greenhills Adventure Park.
‘For older young people looking at moving toward independence we have the CREATE Your Future life skills program where they can learn practical things like shopping and cooking but also to look at where they might want to go with their lives and the sort of education and prepare them for employment options that are open to them.
‘We want to challenge them to try new things and learn new skills but always in a safe and supportive environment.
‘With the Speak Up program we train young people with the skills to become Young Consultants.’
Sonja Brown is a Young Consultant who first attended a camp when she was 13.
‘I loved the camp and got all of the information from clubCREATE for the next few years, but I didn’t get involved again until I was 16.
‘I did some of the courses in CREATE Your Future which were pretty useful and also did the Speak Up training to be a Young Consultant.
‘I got a lot of confidence in public speaking and interviews from the Young Consultant training. I’ve done an interview on the radio and we do a lot of work in the CREATE camps where the younger people find it easier to talk to us.’
Claudine told us that CREATE is moving to ‘bigger and more suitable’ premises in 2015. Each state office of CREATE is independent but they come together as a national peak to make sure that the voice and interests of young people in care are represented on the national stage and to jointly develop products and information. For more information on South Australian and national CREATE, go to the CREATE website.
