The Reconnect program uses community-based early intervention services to assist young people aged 12 to 18 years who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and their families. Reconnect assists young people stabilise their living situation and improve their level of engagement with family, work, education, training and their local community.
From 1 July 2009, the Newly Arrived Youth Support Services (NAYSS) were incorporated into Reconnect as Newly Arrived Youth Specialists. As specialist Reconnect providers, these services will continue to support young people aged 12-21 years who have arrived in Australia in the previous five years, focussing on people entering Australia on humanitarian visas and family visas, and who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Reconnect breaks the cycle of homelessness by providing counselling, group work, mediation and practical support to the whole family. Reconnect providers also 'buy in' services to target individual needs of clients, such as specialised mental health services.
Reconnect service providers follow the seven good practice principles:
- accessibility of services
- client driven service delivery
- holistic approaches to service delivery
- working collaboratively
- culturally and contextually appropriate service delivery
- ongoing review and evaluation; and
- building sustainability.
Reconnect Operational Guidelines
The Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) has developed Operational Guidelines for Reconnect services
Reconnect Program - Action Research
Action research is a key component of the Reconnect program. For Reconnect's early intervention methods to be effective, all services need to respond to their clients' needs using a reflective and improvement-oriented approach to service delivery.
- Research in Action: A Guide to Best Practice in Participatory Action Research
- Reconnect Action Research Kit (2000)
- Action Research Induction Kit
- On PAR - Using Participatory Action Research to Improve Early Intervention
Reconnect Publications
- Reconnect - Departmental Review
- Literature Review: effective interventions for working with young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
- Reconnect: working with young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
- I'm Looking at the Future: Evaluation Report of Reconnect - Final Report (October 2003)
- Longitudinal Survey of Reconnect Clients (September 2003)
- Report of the Reconnect Longitudinal Study: Building Community Capacity for Early Intervention (April 2003)
Contact
For further information, please contact FaHCSIA by email reconnect@fahcsia.gov.au.
More Information
Mother-daughter relationship improves with the help of Reconnect
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