Peer Support Foundation Closure

About this Item
Speakers - Macdonald Dr Peter; Aquilina Mr John
Business - Private Members Statements

PEER SUPPORT FOUNDATION CLOSURE

Dr MACDONALD (Manly) [6.16 p.m.]: It is an interesting coincidence that the matter of youth suicide raised by the honourable member for The Entrance bears very much on the matter I seek to draw to the attention of the House, which is the serious risk of the closure of the Peer Support Foundation. I asked that the Minister for Education and Training be present to hear this statement. The northern beaches area of Sydney has just as bad a record as the central coast in regard to youth suicide: five youth suicides in the last seven months. The peer support program is a community-based non-denominational student-help-student program. Its aim is to develop a sense of self worth, dignity and caring in individual young people and to assist them in managing threatening peer pressure. The foundation’s consultants conduct workshops, usually of two days duration, in which volunteer teachers study program content, practise typical exercises and discuss implementation techniques. They then pass on the training and provide background support to senior students who volunteer to accept group leader responsibility, in other words, peer support student-to-student.

The program is very much in keeping with the main thrust of the Burdekin report recommendations which emphasised the importance of the detection of symptoms and prevention, whether prevention of youth suicide, which is the worst possible outcome, or the prevention of other morbidity in youngsters. Peer groups create the environment in which children gain the confidence to express their innermost feelings and concerns. The Peer Support Foundation, which was founded by Elizabeth Campbell in Manly 14 years ago, in the last year provided training to more than 2,000 teachers from government and non-government schools. Those teachers trained 25,000 leaders, who led 200,000 students through the program, which operates in over 1,000 schools throughout New South Wales.

The peer support program is at risk. Its future is in jeopardy, possibly within the next three to four months, due to the lack of cooperation and moral support from the Department of School Education. As the Minister for Education and Training said, this is the Government which has allocated additional funding for youth suicide prevention, and that is to be commended. But there needs to be more than rhetoric. The Peer Support Foundation must be supported. The reason there is a problem is that at the moment the Department of School Education provides no direct funding to the peer support program but provides relief teachers.

The Department of School Education has reduced the allocation of training and development to schools so that teachers cannot get relief to attend the two-day workshops. They have to get out of the schools to learn about peer support so that they can bring the message back. School development days, when staff are trained at the school, and pupil-free days are now prescribed by the Department of
Page 8628
School Education because of the resultant savings on school bus services. Unfortunately, a lack of flexibility is affecting the training operation. Representations have been made to me by Julie Dawson, the General Manager of the Peer Support Foundation Ltd. Representations have been made also to every parliamentarian.

The Peer Support Foundation Ltd is in crisis. I am desperately keen for the Department of School Education to provide the necessary support. The only other Government support the foundation receives is $160,000 a year from the Department of Health. It seems as though the Department of School Education is not prepared to negotiate on peer support access to schools. It is this lack of flexibility and current lack of funding that is putting peer support so much at risk. The foundation has had the imprimatur of Brian Burdekin, who has been in contact with the Chairman, James Dibble, of the Peer Support Foundation Ltd, who said in his newsletters:

It seems clear to me that effectively operating school peer support groups are creating an environment which greatly contributes to preventing the despair which leads youngsters to experiment with dangerous lifestyles. I see particular value in the "grass roots" link made available between those with developing problems and sources of professional help within the school.

When one considers the millions we are spending on trying to help the homeless and afflicted it is clear that the very small investment we are making in Peer Support is cost-effective.

I am delighted to commend the Program to anyone who might be able to help you to accelerate the valuable work of the Foundation.

I ask the Government to support and to save the Peer Support Foundation Ltd.

Mr AQUILINA (Riverstone - Minister for Education and Training, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Youth Affairs) [6.21 p.m.]: I share the concerns of the honourable member for Manly in relation to the peer support program, which has now been functioning for 14 years and has grown to be a very successful operation. Older students can learn leadership skills, interpersonal relationship skills, problem-solving skills and many other very valuable attributes. Younger students often establish relationships with their mentors, which may result in longstanding friendships and provide excellent role models. As the honourable member for Manly said, the Government provides substantial financial funding for the peer support program throughout the State, but I am aware from recent correspondence that various schools - not universally across the State, but certainly some schools - are concerned about the impact of lack of relief teachers to enable teachers to undertake training in various programs, such as normal in-service training and training for peer support groups.

However, nothing was specifically directed in recent changes to that issue. Prescribed staff development days save about $5 million a year in bus fees, which is a substantial saving. It would now appear that specified staff development days impact upon the capacity of various teachers to undertake peer support training. I will certainly investigate these matters and try to find a solution so that teachers can continue with their training and support the peer support program.

Private members’ statements noted.

Last modified 05/12/2007 16:28:29 : Update this page