In January, I spent a day with the Armadale Youth Intervention Partnership (AYIP) Holiday Program.

AYIP is an early intervention program created by the Youth Partnership Project (YPP), utilising an innovative targeted, collaborative and placed-based approach to support better outcomes for young people who face challenges that make it hard for them to succeed in our community.

Co-ordinated by the City of Armadale backbone support from Save the Children, the AYIP Holiday Program provides an intensive holiday program engages children each day over three weeks in a series of outdoor activities and programs to build resilience, team building, respect and understanding between the participants and youth workers.

As a Federal MP, I often spend time meeting with and supporting the leadership of our key community organisations. I was proud to host the YPP Manager, Karina Chicote, at a meeting of Labors Crime & Justice Taskforce at Parliament House, Canberra at the end of 2017. But getting front line on the ground experience of these programs by spending a day with young people is very important and rewarding. I was able to learn firsthand about the AYIP program.

I joined the dedicated youth worker team from the Save the Children lead by Jamie Barr for a Kayak to Penguin Island, helping participants develop team work skills, interacting with and learning about our natural environment.

It was an honour to be able to spend time with these special young people and see how by working in a co-ordinated fashion, we can all help change their story for the better.