Rural Health examples
CHAMPS
(Community Health Adolescent Murraylands Peer Support)
CHAMPS is a project for young people aged between 13 and 18 in the Murraylands Region of South Australia. CHAMPS holds youth forums twice each school term informally discussing youth issues in the area. Thirty young people from different cultural and social backgrounds throughout the region make up the forum. Issues like mental health and peer support are discussed.
Aims
CHAMPS seeks to address social justice issues and foster practices of inclusion both of and between young people. Social justice issues pertinent to the Murraylands rural area include isolation/distance, gender equity, racism, classism, learning disabilities and heterosexism. Further, important to the practice of inclusion is the acknowledgment and valuing the personal resources each of the young people brought to the project.
The goal of the forum is to improve the health and well being of young people in the Murraylands region by enabling them to have a voice in shaping the way in which services are provided to youth. It also aims to promote positive health for young people by encouraging them to participate in health promotion activities.
In our society, it is the adults who have most of the say about what happens to people. They make the decisions about lots of things in young people's lives. Sometimes these decisions are helpful decisions, sometimes they are not. Many times, adults make decisions without checking how young people feel or what they think about them. If adults talked more with young people about decisions that have to be made, really listened to young people and used their ideas, this would mean they are trying to work in partnership with young people.
(from K Stacy in M Carr-Gregg et. al. (eds) Harnessing Peer Influence in Adolescent Health Promotion, 1997, Melbourne for Centre for Adolescent Health)
What the Program does
- CHAMPS by the River - a youth-designed youth-friendly recreation area in Murray Bridge.
- CHAMPS Camp - a camp which incorporated extensive planning for projects.
- Media Liaison - where young people write for and/or participate in media activities.
- YARN (Youth Access and Resource Network) a young person to young person peer support phone service.
- CHAMPS Youth Art - free workshops to promote youth art and prepare a piece of public art.
- The Rage Cage - a sporting facility consisting of a court designed for a variety of ball sports and skating in a safe youth friendly environment.
- Youth participation in consultations with government and other agencies and community groups.
- Talking Together: Young People Educating Adults - Inaugural CHAMPS Conference to educate adult health, welfare, educational workers and community members on youth friendly practice, the principles of youth partnership accountability and discuss the community's commitment to supporting a sustainable future for CHAMPS.
Image:
The official opening of the bike track, CHAMPS members riding through
the ribbon
while representatives of the media look on.
In April 2000 CHAMPS hosted a statewide youth camp/conference called RnR (Rural and Rap) for young people involved in youth projects or community work in rural South Australia. Young people from Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Kangaroo Island, the Southern Fluerieu Peninsula, Adelaide Hills, Torrens Valley and the Murray Mallee attended the camp along with their adult support workers.
The theme of the camp was safe alcohol use for young people as well as addressing the need for young people to have input into policy formation. Workshops were held with representatives from the Policy and Planning Divisions of the SA Department of Human Resources, which meant that young people had direct input into the background paper which will eventually form the Department's youth policy. Other workshops involved work with an artist, a musician and a drama teacher resulting in artworks being produced, drama skits performed and a song being written.
The camp was so successful it will become an annual event during Youth Week in South Australia. Next year's camp will be called R2R (Race to Reconcile) and will focus on South Australian Indigenous culture, especially young Indigenous people.
What makes it successful
- Management support is fundamental to the effective running of the Program. Due to the unorthodox management methods implemented, a supportive management is needed. For example, taking young people away on a camp or building a bike track/skate park is outside the 'normal' business of the State Government's Community Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). But the support that CAMHS has given to CHAMPS has added to its success.
- Fun! Enjoyment was a key element in keeping young people interested and involved. Many young people identified one of the things they liked best about CHAMPS was meeting new people which was made possible by the involvement of young people from outlying areas.
- Young people can say what they feel and others, especially adults, will take their ideas seriously. They know this because real, tangible things happen - they know they've had an influence.
Image: A young person enjoying the completed skate ramp.
Difficulties encountered
While CHAMPS has received funding from a variety of sources for 'one off' events or short term projects, it is ongoing funding that is critical to the development of the Program especially with regards to its long term goals.
Cindy Turner is the Co-ordinator of CHAMPS. She argues,
These types of projects should not be short term. It is not ethical to set up a youth participation Program for the short term and then say 'thank you we have to finish now the money has run out'. Sustainability should be addressed from the beginning and young people should always be fully informed of this.
Cindy further suggests that others wanting to set up a similar project should cite the success of CHAMPS when applying for ongoing funding.
To ensure real equity to young people in rural and regional areas consideration is given to things like transport when allocating the budget. Crucial to the success of the Program are things like picking young people up and driving them to the meeting place. This makes forums truly accessible to young people. Also important to the process is budgeting for food and drink.
Just as we adults like to socialise around food and drink this is a crucial ice breaker for young people and it should be youth food and drink, not just tea and coffee. The young people here constantly comment on the food and drinks and how they love it. It is an important and legitimate expense.
Funding sources
The initial funding for CHAMPS was a Primary Health Care Advancement Grant from the South Australian Health Commission for a 13-month period. The project was also successful in obtaining a grant from the Australian Youth Foundation to build an outdoor youth recreation area in Murray Bridge. After the initial funding period ended funding for an additional period of 11 months was obtained from the SA Health Commission.
