When a young person has someone in their corner: reflecting on five years of Youth Frontiers

There is a deceptively simple idea at the heart of Youth Frontiers: that a trusted adult, showing up consistently for a young person over time, can change the direction of a life. After five years of delivery across New South Wales, the evidence confirms what those working closest to the program observed from the beginning, that this kind of relationship-centred support works, and that it works in ways that matter most.

After five years, Kids First Australia is stepping back from Youth Frontiers. We mark this moment with gratitude for what was built, for the young people who trusted the program with some of the most difficult chapters of their lives, and for the partners who made it possible.

 

Youth Frontiers paired young people with trained volunteer mentors in supported relationships designed to last up to five years. Delivered in partnership with YWCA Australia and funded by the NSW Government, the program resisted the temptation to define success too narrowly. Mentees were not expected to arrive with pre-formed goals or move along a predetermined pathway. They were invited to shape the experience themselves, to identify what they wanted, set their own pace, and be met where they were.

 

That design philosophy reflected a sophisticated understanding of the young people the program served. Those who have experienced disruption, instability, or disadvantage rarely respond to programmatic pressure. What they respond to is reliability, patience, and the lived experience of being genuinely valued by another person. Youth Frontiers was built on that insight, and it held to it throughout.

 

Between February 2024 and October 2025, 38 young people and 50 mentors completed six-month program surveys. The results were clear: 94% of young people agreed or strongly agreed they were getting what they wanted from the program. 66% of mentors reported their mentees were making measurable progress toward their goals.

 

Behind those figures were qualitative shifts that are harder to count but no less significant. Young people described leaving the house more, managing anxiety better, re-engaging with school, accessing scholarships, finding employment, and beginning to imagine futures that had previously felt out of reach. Their own words capture it best.

"It's like having a best friend but they are older. She encourages me to do good things not 'dumb stuff'."

 

"I finally have someone to talk to and someone to take me out instead of hiding in the house like I used to do."

 

"I was able to access scholarships I would have otherwise been unable to complete on my own. I have gained the confidence to attempt to get better employment."

 

"Now I feel better because of the person I had and the way she treated me. She showed me a lot of respect and was very respectful of my culture and what I believe in."

 

The volunteer mentors who gave their time to Youth Frontiers were not passive participants. They were the program. Their consistency, curiosity, and care created the conditions in which young people could thrive.

 

Jade mentored Remi through a complete shift away from conflict, substance use, and risk. "I knew volunteering with Youth Frontiers was going to be rewarding and fulfilling," she reflected, "but I was not expecting to see this level of growth and positive change. It has been so heart-warming to see."

 

Kate stood alongside Hazel through school, an apprenticeship that didn't work out, time off, and the beginning of a TAFE certificate, attending meetings, supporting applications, and providing steady encouragement when plans changed. "It feels like I'm really making a difference," Kate said. "It has been rewarding and it gives you the warm and fuzzies."

 

Molly spent twelve months building trust with a young woman who had recent police contact and every reason to be guarded. Her approach was simple and deliberate: unconditional positive regard, patience, and genuine curiosity about who this young person was beyond her circumstances. "I feel privileged to have gotten to know such an extraordinary young woman," Molly said, "and I am confident she will go on to achieve great things."

 

Mentors also described their own growth, becoming more patient, more open, more understanding of experiences different from their own. The program changed the young people in it. It also changed the adults.

 

Kids First Director of Children, Youth and Family Services, Sharon Joy, has reflected on what programs like Youth Frontiers demonstrate: "When young people have access to trusted adults who believe in them, encourage them and help them explore their potential, it can change the trajectory of their lives." That framing matters for anyone with responsibility for designing or funding the next generation of youth services. Youth Frontiers operated at the intersection of several demonstrated priorities, youth mental health, employment pathways, family wellbeing, and the prevention of justice system involvement. It achieved outcomes in all of these areas not through intensive clinical intervention, but through the consistent presence of caring, trained adults. That is a model that is both deeply human and, relative to the downstream costs it helps avoid, highly cost-effective.

 

The partnership between Kids First Australia and YWCA Australia was central to what made this work. Both organisations brought distinct expertise and shared values. Together, with the support of the NSW Government, they created something that worked, and the outcomes earned over five years are a testament to what is possible when organisations collaborate with genuine commitment to young people's futures. Youth Frontiers continues under YWCA Australia's stewardship, and we wish the program every success.

 

Kids First Australia's involvement in Youth Frontiers has now come to a close. But the program continues, and the impact of this work does not disappear. It lives in the young people who found their footing, in the mentors who discovered what they were capable of giving, and in the growing evidence base for early, relationship-centred intervention as a model that deserves sustained investment.

 

To every young person who trusted the program, every mentor who showed up week after week, every coordinator, partner and funder who believed in this work, thank you. You built something that mattered.