For the past 30 years, the Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services (CAAPS) has been providing much-needed support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families struggling with alcohol and substance misuse.
CAAPS is the largest not-for-profit, family-focused residential alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre in Northern Australia. Through education and prevention programs, CAAPS staff members work tirelessly to break the cycle of dependency and put at-risk youths on the path to a brighter future.
As part of its Indigenous Participation Plan, Viva Energy has pledged $300,000 over the next three years to help CAAPS continue its invaluable efforts.
A serious issue
CAAPS’ 16-week residential Volatile Substance Misuse (VSA) Program is aimed at adolescents from aged 12 to 24. The VSA Program focuses on teaching young people about health, hygiene and nutrition as well as numeracy and literacy.
All participants who enter the program are given a full health check and monitored during the program to ensure their health improves during their stay. CEO Jill Smith says the average age of participants is just 13.
“This is a time when young people are still trying to learn how to regulate their emotions and interact with other people. If their judgement is impaired and development is halted at this stage, it can have devastating and far-reaching effects.
“If we can catch them before too much damage is done, then we have a much better chance of achieving an optimal outcome.”
Viva Energy’s contribution comes ahead of its commitment to invest $3 million over three years to Indigenous programs as part of the low aromatic fuel supply contract. The petrol sniffing prevention program has already contributed to a marked reduction in the occurrence of volatile substance misuse.
“If you think about our business, which is basically selling fuel, petrol sniffing is a very direct and confronting issue associated with the products that we sell,” says Viva Energy General Manager Dan Ridgway.
“So when we started looking into the work that CAAPS does, we saw a really powerful opportunity to help.”
Working together for a brighter future
Because research has found that youth with poor literacy are more likely to be at risk of substance abuse, the CAAPS program that Viva Energy is supporting will focus on improving literacy and numeracy skills.
However, its dedicated and inexhaustible caseworkers aren’t educators by training, and don’t have the time for individual mentoring. The Viva Energy partnership will allow them to redouble their efforts towards education.
“Our staff work really hard being with the young people every minute during the week, it’s a very busy job,” says Jill.
“Having extra money will enhance our capacity to provide for these youth by allowing us to employ an educator. It means we’ll employ an extra person to focus on literacy and numeracy, to spend time with those who are struggling to understand, and to try to follow up with them and support them when they leave.”
Jill talks about one young man who came into the program struggling with his sexuality. His caseworker was able to get him a place in a pre-apprentice course, and set him up with the equipment he needed.
While he didn’t end up staying in Darwin, Jill believes that the experience may have helped him make better choices.
“To have that young person go away knowing that his caseworker really cared about him, that’s a huge thing, so I don’t think any of that effort was wasted.”
The CAAPS program can be challenging, but it has a positive impact on both the staff and the young people involved. “It can be a hard job,” says Jill, “but it’s really heartening to see the progression over the 16-week period. It’s lovely to see the transition from young people who came in emaciated, despondent and angry start to put on weight and become outgoing and cheeky.
“Just recently we’ve had program participants write poetry and letters to our staff to say thank you, which really makes it all worthwhile.”