Former Staff Story

“The lessons that I learned at YFS made me the practitioner that I am today, and I’ve taken them into every role I’ve held since.”

“We had so many amazingly generous volunteers in the early days, who interacted with our programs and stepped up until we could get funding – experts in community development and human services who volunteered their time to train others – and parents, teachers, professionals from the community. Everybody contributed their skills.”

“I think there are always going to be challenges for First Nations staff in any organisation across Australia. Racism is strong across all our communities [but] I believe in YFS and our values – we have a genuine, authentic approach to supporting each other and a strong understanding and awareness of diverse needs.”

“By being at YFS for a long time, I was privileged to see the changes that occurred in our clients’ lives over many years. They would return to YFS to tell us about their employment, their homes, and their children’s education – a result of YFS’ influence in their lives.”

“I think the thing that always amazed me was how resilient the people that we were supporting were. They’d get up and try again when things went wrong, they'd find ways to make things work, and with our help they could find really positive, effective ways.”