A beacon of light for our young people

Hands-On-Health (HOH) Australia and The Lighthouse Foundation are seeking to establish support for a Hands-On-Health service for the young people served by Lighthouse in Hawksburn (East Prahran). Lighthouse is a Foundation that provides homes for young people at risk. The Lighthouse Foundation currently has four homes - Richmond, Keysborough, Geelong and Hawksburn and another four planned to open in the next twelve months. They provide family styled accommodation for young people in the 15 to 23 years age range.

Key elements of the outreach provided are:

• Young people go to them on a voluntary basis and remain as long as needed – up to five years in some cases.
• The two carers in each house are full time residents and effectively surrogate parents for the young people.
• They seek to provide holistic care – supporting education, job training, counseling etc.
• Support in provision of natural therapies – chiropractic, osteopathy, naturopathy, massage, art therapy etc.

In Victoria, Hands-On-Health Centres operate at the Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda, at Oasis in East Brunswick, in Echuca and Mildura.The HOH centres provide a range of therapies to people who are struggling. Those who access the services frequently participate in the joy of service by themselves contributing their gifts.

Hands On Health and Lighthouse are working to establish a fully equipped centre at Lighthouse’s Resource Centre in Malvern Road Hawksburn, modeled on the existing Oasis facilities in East Brunswick. The essential purpose is addressing the health needs of our most vulnerable young people and extending the service to the broader community.

Oasis, Sacred Heart Clinic and Lighthouse already have strong links with RMIT. Oasis and Sacred Heart have chiropractic students from RMIT participating in the outreach clinics supervised by Drs Marita Smith and Dr Johnie Markov. The HOH clinics provide the community with a much needed service whilst also sensitizing students to the broader needs of people in need. Students invariably learn much from the exchange and are personally enriched by the exchange.

Lighthouse is also supported by RMIT in its carers’ training program, which is based on Certificate 4 in Youth Work. This provides its staff with the necessary skills and knowledge required in helping young people in need. Several chiropractic and osteopathic students and members of the profession have expressed an interest in using their skills in caring for young people. HOH and Lighthouse require a clinical supervisor to volunteer his or her time (initially a half day per week) to supervise chiropractic and osteopathic students. They also welcome practitioners who would like to volunteer their time personally assessing and treating the residents of Lighthouse. The hope is to eventually develop the clinic so that it reaches out to the broader community.

Those who are interested in helping out can contact: Susan Barton on susanb@lighthousefoundation.org.au, or Dein Vindigni on dein@teksupport.net.au