A new program in the Illawarra aimed at breaking the cycle of domestic violence is already showing results.
With two decades of experience in the youth and criminal justice system, Vaughn Winther is helping lead a new, early intervention trial designed to support young people who have breached or are at risk of breaching an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO).
Now CEO of the Australian Community Support Organisation (ASCO), Mr Winther said domestic violence statistics had not changed in the past 20 years.
"I have worked with a lot of young people who've been incarcerated, who have committed family violence offences and to see a program that specifically focuses on those behaviours means I truly believe that women's lives will be saved in the future," he said.
"A woman is killed by her intimate partner once every 10 days in Australia, we should not walk past that."
Called Boost, the new program started after ACSO staff in the Illawarra were approached by local police and youth justice officers looking for help dealing with an over-represented group of young people breaching AVOs.
ACSO reached out to the University of Wollongong and created three programs based around helping at-risk young people develop the skills necessary for a violence-free life.
Without a focus on clinical intervention, it is believed to be the first program of its type in New South Wales.
"You drop one of these young men in a behaviour change program and the first thing that happens is they close their ears and minds, and they go, 'We don't do therapy'," Mr Vaughn said.
"So, the hook of this program is we engage them around their wellbeing and along the way we are also going to work on the fact that their behaviours are dangerous.
"The evidence is crystal clear that the risk of violence is previous incidents of violence.
"So once it starts, these 14, 15, 16 year olds, they're [likely to become] very serious perpetrators of violence towards women and we are obligated as a community to try and do more about it."
The trial will accept 65 participants who will work in groups, and directly with a mentor, for 14 months.
Boost received a grant from the Safer Communities Fund, one of the programs created by the former Coalition government and cancelled by the Labor government in this week's budget.
Instilling patience, life skills
Program manager Colin Renton said participants could be referred by police and youth justice and Boost would be advertised at Port Kembla court.
"It's a voluntary choice on their behalf to say, 'Yeah, I want to work with a mentor, and I want to work on these things: understanding my emotions, healthy relationship, and effective communication'," he said.
"[It will] help them learn to deal with the frustrations of life without the anger, and how to deal with conflict in a way that's not violent, not coercive, and not controlling.
"We are not telling young people to be a door mat because a lot of the time we say you have to stand up and be proud of yourself, but we work on how to that assertively without getting in trouble."
Mr Renton said many young people in the target group were also victims of crime themselves and adolescence was a critical time in their development.
"For us it's an awesome opportunity to work with someone to break that cycle of crime before they get further entrenched into the criminal justice system, before that anti-social identity gets further reinforced each time they have an interaction with police," he said.
Participants 'craving' connection
Program facilitator and mentor Madelene Graulund said in just the first few weeks she had noticed results.
"Those who have been keen and motivated to take on the program have just totally taken off," she said.
"They're just embracing any moment they can. Some of the young people have seen their mentors every day and that just shows how much they're craving some sort of connection."
Ms Graulund was excited to be part of the pilot program.
"We are putting our hearts and souls into the trial and hopefully it will be shared across the state and even country," she said.
"Any opportunity to divert [young people] from going to [juvenile prison] is so important."
