Hi Tia! Tell us, what do you do at the Hub?

As a case manager, once we receive a young person’s referral, we make phone contact to arrange a meet and greet.

The referral has most of the young person’s information and support needs, but I prefer to speak to the young person directly to hear their story and allow them a platform for their voice to be heard.

My most important role is to build a relationship and rapport that is honest and transparent and makes the young person feel safe and supported. This is why I encourage them to come to the Hub and see our space for themselves.

We then work with the young person to identify goals that they would like to achieve whilst with our service.

We aim to support them with the tools and resources they require so they can make informed choices and feel empowered to achieve their goals and dare to dream.

What’s the best part of your job?

• Working in an amazing like-minded team
• Hearing and seeing the happy faces of young people at the Hub
• Bringing about positive change and outcome for our clients

What’s different about the Hub and how you support young people?

The Hub provides a safe, inclusive space for young people to be themselves. It doesn’t look like a typical doctor’s office or clinical setting, which allows them to feel safe and comfortable to share their story without judgement.

We provide a drop in service Monday to Friday from 12pm to 5pm – no questions asked. Come and hang out until you’re ready to chat!

We differ to mainstream clinical services in that we are creative with our service delivery.

Although we have scheduled appointment times, we won’t hurry you out the door until you feel comfortable to do so, or when you are done sharing your journey.

Sometimes, after an appointment, a young person might stay back at the Hub, either joining a yoga class or just reading a book while their phone charges.

Assessments and goal settings are often done over a game of table tennis, making a cheese toasty, while chilling in one of our pods, playing the Nintendo Switch, or doing an activity like colouring or craft.

Sometimes we find it hard to follow through on our goals. What advice would you give around how to make long-term healthy changes?

The path towards our goals may not always run smoothly or be easy, but setting goals, whether big or small, is part of what makes life better.

Goals give us a sense of meaning, achievement and purpose. They point us in the right direction and allow us to have hope and to dare to dream of bigger and better things.

Tia’s tips for setting and reaching goals:

• Decide: think of something you want to do or work towards and if you want help to achieve it.
• Write it down: seeing it make us accountable.
• Break your goal down: set small , specific and realistic mini goals.
• Plan your first step: visualise what starting looks like.
• Keep going: resilience is important.
• Don’t be so hard on yourself: sometimes life gets in the way and there are setbacks. It’s ok! We can always start over.
• Celebrate: enjoy little miles stones and achievements.