We are so very, very excited about this project because we will get to work with Father Chris Riley and the wonderful people at Youth Off The Streets (YOTS). Together, CFEF and YOTS will establish a program to educate, support and empower young people around good food choices, eating and exercise habits called feed yourself / be active.

YOTS is a community organisation based in Sydney, working to assist disadvantaged young people who are dealing with issues of homelessness and substance abuse. They support young people in their efforts to turn their lives around and overcome immense personal trauma such as neglect, physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse. YOTS follows a harm minimization philosophy and aims to reduce young people’s interaction with police and exposure to the criminal justice system.

YOTS provides a continuum of care from a crisis refuge through to semi-independent living programs, with over 20 services, including:

• Outreach services
• Crisis refuge
• Drug and alcohol program
• Accredited specialist high schools
• Long-term residential treatment & support programs
• Semi-independent living program
• Aftercare service
• Aboriginal services
• National Scholarship & Schools anti-drug competition (GetREEL) program
• Mentoring program
• Crime prevention programs
• Parenting support
• National early intervention & prevention resources for schools & groups (Values Education Kit)

YOTS staff are acutely aware of the “bad” food habits of young disadvantaged people, especially as most of the youth in their care have spent time out of school, homeless and living on the streets where surviving and trying to keep safe is their all consuming focus. In addition, this group of young people have rarely had positive role-models in their family backgrounds and come to YOTS with established poor eating habits and a lack of understanding of the role that food, diet and exercise can play in maintaining their well-being. Many of these young people have very poor self-esteem, low levels of trust, respect or connection with adults due the abuse or neglect they have experienced, often from an early age.

Recent research has demonstrated a link between diet and mood, and that a poor diet can contribute to obesity, depression, and behaviour related disorders. Across YOTS services it is becoming increasing evident to front-line staff that young people in care are in dire need of targeted support to develop healthy eating and exercise habits to sustain their physical and mental health and well-being into the future.