Reflections, resources and thinking on behaviour support, youth development, prevention and the power of connection.
Nothing has shaken me more than watching my 18-year-old daughter enter the dating world. The young men she meets harbour attitudes toward women that clash violently with the equality I’ve instilled in my three strong daughters. This isn’t just personal; it’s a symptom of a broader masculinity crisis.
I’ve never thought of myself as “political.” But lately, as I watch the way we are responding to fear, harm and difference, I find myself asking: What kind of world are we actually handing to our kids?
Every day in Queensland, too many young people are slipping through the cracks. Youth detention costs $669,000 per person per year — yet outcomes remain poor. Are we investing in the right solutions?
As Australia prepares for the rollout of Thrive, our landscape for supporting vulnerable children is shifting. We’re moving towards placing timely, multidisciplinary intervention in the heart of our schools and communities.
A tough-on-crime narrative is shaping our justice policies. But the evidence from the United States overwhelmingly shows mandatory sentencing doesn’t work. Why are we choosing a punitive path?
The Rat Park experiments tell us isolation drives addiction, while connection can heal it. What if we could offer youth something radically different — a "park" of belonging?
There’s a question I come back to often — what really matters in the end? And for me, the answer is always the same: Connection. Not performance. Not perfection. Just real, human connection.
More articles on the way.
When we shift from asking ‘what’s wrong with you?’ to ‘what happened to you?’ — everything changes. This article explores why behaviour-as-communication is the foundation of effective support.
Australia spends billions reacting to crisis across child protection, youth justice, mental health and family violence. What would it look like to invest in prevention instead?
You can’t teach a dysregulated child. But you can create environments where regulation is built into the culture — not treated as an afterthought.
When we frame young people as risks to manage, we miss the point entirely. This article explores what happens when we recognise them as resources to nurture instead.