Francis L1, Hoad J
1Youth Justice Services
Biography:
Judith is the Program Manager of the Youth Justice Consolidation project.
Luke is the Senior Occupational Therapist for Youth Justice Services, South Australia. He works as part of the multi-disciplinary Youth Justice Assessment and Intervention Service.
Research in recent years has shone a light on the prevalence of disability and trauma-related needs among the youth custodial population. While this has led to a rise in multi-disciplinary support in some jurisdictions, traditional custodial environments and operational models still struggle to proactively respond to the varied needs of individual children and young people.
Within Kurlana Tapa, a youth detention centre operated by the Government of South Australia, construction is underway on a new Enhanced Support residential unit. From its inception, this unit was intended to be unique to existing residential units in the way it aims to respond to the complex needs of residents.
Through 2021-2022 a separate project completed in partnership between Youth Justice Services and the University of South Australia utilised the voices of residents and staff to develop a Sensory and Environmental Framework for Kurlana Tapa. The construction of the new unit provides a clean-slate opportunity to translate the Framework’s learnings and recommendations into a real-world setting. This includes design principles that consider the physical, sensory and psychological influences of a custodial environment and a staffing model that promotes the wellbeing of staff and residents.
The presentation will have two key focus areas. Firstly, it will explore the influences the custodial environment has on meeting long-standing goals of enhancing the wellbeing of young people and staff. Additionally, it will discuss how operational and therapeutic perspectives, traditionally viewed as conflicting entities, can support one another to form a cohesive model of care for young people in custody.