What BackTrack Does
For young people who are having a hard time, BackTrack offers holistic, flexible and long-term support. Everything we do is designed to help a young person: to find their place and belong; to learn and grow; to explore ways to chase their dreams; to become independent; and experience generosity. To do this we:
- connect and engage with young people in need
- provide individualised care and wellbeing
- organise diversionary activities
- support personal development
- provide learning, training, work experience & employment opportunities
- help young people to contribute and connect with their community
Each young person that BackTrack supports has different needs and is given space to develop skills at their own pace. BackTrack understands this, and we give support via a personal development pathway that includes ongoing assessment of the specific life and employment skills each young person needs to find their place in a community, keep a job, and to live independently.
Why We’re Needed
1 in 4 young people aged 16-24 are living with a mental health disorder
1 in 5 young people are not enrolled in formal education
30,000+ young people under the age of 25 sleep without shelter each night
1 in 10 young people aged 14-17 use illicit substances
BackTrack’s Method
BackTrack works out how best to help each young person – we do whatever it takes for as long as it takes. From legal support, to gaining skills and knowledge, to offering a feed and somewhere to stay, to mentoring in the workplace.
Each young person’s educational support is delivered with BackTrack’s signature flexibility and often with the help of a team of dogs. By removing time pressures and offering various options in how the learning is delivered, our young people feel supported and empowered to study, achieving rewarding breakthroughs in literacy and numeracy.
For some young people who need a safe place to stay, Warrah, the BackTrack home, becomes their safe, supported environment where they can find stability, learn essential life skills, connect with peers and adults and establish a sense of belonging. Through this BackTrack helps develop the practical and social skills young people need to confidently transition into independent living.
Hands-on training is one of the methods used by BackTrack to help young people master skills and gain independence. We offer opportunities to pick up a range of abilities, through a structured program that guides young workers through non-accredited and accredited employment training and practical work experience.
BackTrack assesses and tracks each young person’s evolving growth, the goal being to help them take up traineeships or independent employment. BackTrack’s effective transition to employment achieves two things: it offers up skilled tradespeople to industry and it continues to help its trainees and graduates grow towards, and thrive in, the workplace.
BackTrack Works
BackTracks’ stand-alone social enterprise business – BackTrack Works – gives BackTrack’s vulnerable young people supervised employment that’s deliberately aligned with the regional job market. In this way young people are able to gain relevant skills, and they’re using them in local, authentic settings. For customers, BackTrack Works is a quality contracting organisation, competitively tendering for local projects in agriculture, asset maintenance, construction, fabrication, traffic management and disaster recovery.
The Tracker Network
BackTrack has been around since 2006 and it’s proved to be effective long-term. Due to its success, we’re now recognised as a national leader and advocate for disengaged young people and this has led to calls from other regional communities on how best to support their young people. Our core work is to deliver BackTrack locally to young people in the Armidale region. On top of this we share what we know by guiding other self-driven community programs. This coaching mentorship has led to seven completely separate programs adopting and adapting BackTrack’s principles and methods to suit their own unique setting.