ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15
In December 2014, YFS started a youth alcohol and drug service, SHIFT, in partnership with the Mater Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service, ADAWS. For SHIFT Senior Worker Stacie Allis, the first six months for the service have been a whirlwind.
“It’s been a big learning curve,” she says.
Stacie has worked at YFS for more than three years since she graduated from Social Work studies, starting as a Case Manager for the ReSolv program and coming up as Senior Worker in SHIFT.
Her passion and commitment are evident to those who work with Stacie in the SHIFT program.
She’s very good at making eye contact, and a great listener. She believes that feeds into her engagement with her clients and the relationships they create together.
“I’m sort of the eternal optimist in a way. I’m still really optimistic about the future, the possibilities that are available to the clients that I’m working with, and the opportunities for change and
improvement for our young people.”
This outlook guides Stacie in her work. Ask her what she brings to work every day and she answers straight away:
“I’m a really reflective worker and it’s something that I hold very dear. I have a really high standard that I hold myself accountable to, even though the expectations of our work here are pretty high.
A high standard is really great for our staff, our clients and our community as a whole.”
She admits it hasn’t been easy. Starting a new program which nobody really knew about takes time and a lot of effort.
“It’s been a bit unique with SHIFT. The first two months it was quiet in terms of client work. We focused on developing the program, getting ourselves off the ground and doing that foundational work. Then the client work took off, and we’ve just been really busy ever since.”
Stacie explains how SHIFT is constantly working towards building independence and participation in the lives of our clients.
“It’s the ultimate goal of any work that we do at YFS. For them to be able to make a new life free of substances, they need to find new connections, new belongings and positivity to bring into their
lives.”
“SHIFT works from a harm reduction framework and the whole point of that is working with young people where they’re at right now, but always looking at where they’re going and what’s next."
“Working with young people is fun. All my clients are amazing young people. Hearing their stories, spending time with them, developing those working relationships is really rewarding.
They’re awesome.”
“What I like the most about my job is that you never know what a day is going to bring. It’s just a constant adventure. I feel really honoured to get to do the work that I do.”
“We have such a diverse scope of work and different services available. That’s something that YFS does
really well.”
YFS is funded by the Australian Government and the Queensland Government.
YFS acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are Australia's First Peoples and the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we meet and work.
