About
Founded in 2020.Driven by passion.
Our passion drives our vision and commitment to deliver long-term, sustainable solutions that encourage and empower youth to strive for outcomes that will see them form strong connections in the community and break the cycle of homelessness, substance and alcohol abuse.
Our holistic approach includes a balance of bespoke services that meet our youth's needs whilst maintaining case plan objectives. Our services are transparent, flexible, and of a high standard, meeting both government and private agencies needs and ensuring that we identify long-term solutions.
We work with our community service partners to ensure that we have on-the-ground knowledge and stay ahead of the needs required in the community. We are responsive — not reactive — in our approach, ensuring that systemic patterns are addressed so that we can see our youth succeed and integrate back into the community.
Programs developed by AASW certified social workers, focused on real-life skills and long-term goals.
Real-life skills
Developing practical skills, engagement within the community, and long-term goals that empower youth to break patterns and look forward to living their best lives.
Family home environment
We build and strengthen young people by supporting them to identify and develop their skills through mentoring, creating a family home environment where they can become stable and transition successfully.
“Who I am makes a difference.”
Young people bring strengths, stories, and possibilities into every relationship. Our role is to create the conditions for those things to be recognised and supported.
It takes a villageto hold a placement.
The PYCC Village Model is designed for young people known to be extremely complex — those who have moved from placement to placement and carry the weight of repeated rejection.
Our answer is a village, not a pod: a larger, well-trained community of carers who share the load, so placements stay open and young people stay home.
A wider circle of carers
Rather than a small pod that burns out fast, a larger pool of experienced youth workers holds the placement — so it stays open, even when a worker moves on.
Stability first
Drawing on Maslow's hierarchy, our first objective is a safe, stable home. Higher-level needs — belonging, esteem, self-actualisation — are built from that foundation.
Fewer goodbyes
Young people form attachments across a broader team, so the loss of one worker no longer unravels their whole living environment.
Workers who are supported
TCI, Hopes & Healing, MAYBO and PART training, ongoing supervision and reflective practice protect the wellbeing and longevity of our youth workers.
The sector loses the very people young people need most.
Residential youth work carries a persistent, high turnover of dedicated workers — people who entered the field with a sincere desire to make a positive impact, too often undervalued and under-supported.
Workers engaging with the complexities our young people present face a 90–95% chance of experiencing assault or emotional and mental abuse during their shifts. When they burn out, placements close — and a young person loses their home again.
The Village Model is built to interrupt that cycle: share the load across a community of carers, protect worker wellbeing, and keep the placement open.
Stability is about creating a resilient, supportive environment capable of weathering the storms of behavioural episodes without resorting to placement shutdowns.
Specialist-level, and always current.
All training is delivered by accredited, course-specific educators, with refreshers and requalification tracked against course requirements.
TCI
Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, mandated for residential practice.
Hopes & Healing
Trauma-informed foundations for working with young people.
MAYBO
Required company-wide for any worker actively engaging with young people.
PART
Specialist training for the complexity and challenge of daily practice.
PYCC induction
Our policies, processes and program structures, refreshed as risk changes.
Reflective upskilling
Ongoing training shaped by the identified risks of each placement.
Our social workers also collaborate with external agencies to provide individualised training around a specific young person — a needs-based model of care, delivered with strength-based and trauma-informed practice.
Not the absence of crisis — the refusal to close the door.
Stability doesn't mean there are no escalations. It means the placement holds through them, and the young person learns they are not defined by their behaviour.
Therapeutic needs hierarchy — worked from the bottom up
- Feeling safe — emotionally and physically
- Developing relationships
- Comfort and co-regulation
- Empathy and reflection
- Resilience and resources
- Explore trauma
After Golding (2015) — working from the bottom up is key in therapeutic intervention.
Our staffing structure
Senior Social Worker
Provides oversight and support to case managers, key workers and the youth work team, while holding their own caseload.
Social Work Case Manager
Manages cases and coordinates service delivery, tailoring support to each young person's individual needs.
Key Worker
The main worker allocated to a young person and their care team — on the ground weekly, identifying needs and guiding the youth work team.
Youth Worker
Provides role-modelling, guidance and daily support in the home. A familiar group of four to six workers is established for each young person.
House Coordinator
Ensures the physical environment of our homes is maintained to PYCC standards and remains compliant.