November 2002

Activities aim at safer state

Young people and staff in juvenile justice centres participated in a range of training opportunities and took advantage of new safety equipment during Community Safety Month 2002.

Community Safety Month promotes a safer Victoria and encourages Victorians to think Safe, act Safe, feel Safe, be Safe.

Four themed weeks—focusing on crime prevention, emergency services, injury prevention and business and community safety—provided a platform for a range of activities and programs.

To promote a safer working and living environment in Victoria’s juvenile justice centres, the Department of Human Services’ Community Care Division provided $20,000 funding for activities during and beyond Community Safety Month.

The funding provided a range of training opportunities for staff—including epilepsy awareness, advanced first aid and certificate four training and assessing for nurses and bronze medallion, surf rescue certificate and canoeing safety training to help staff co-facilitate a Wilderness therapy program.

Other training initiatives funded by the grant were peer support training to increase juvenile justice centre staff’s capacity to respond promptly and effectively to critical incidents and training to support a new emergency response system.

Community Safety Month funds were also used to purchase resuscitation masks and first aid books and equipment.

Activities focusing on young people included level one first aid training and the launch of a Protective Behaviours Program at Parkville Youth Residential Centre (YRC), providing them with the skills to identify and articulate risk situations and practical strategies to reduce and manage risk.