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For a long time, Emily Coronel thought she’d stay in hospitality. As a single mother of three, the idea of finding a more meaningful career felt out of reach. “I just kind of fell into hospitality at a young age, but then I got over it,” she says. Eventually,…

Nathan Lambie’s office at YSAS Ringwood is covered from wall to ceiling with music posters. He used to work at a music station, so his taste is eclectic – he listens to everything from hip hop and R&B to heavy metal and rock. And it’s this musical knowledge…

In 2024, YSAS launched our Lived and Living Experience Workforce Framework. It has been designed to guide our efforts to develop and incorporate lived and living experience expertise as a formally recognised, applied and supported skill set within our workforce. The framework will enable us to create confidence…

Rose Deng knows how difficult it can be as a newly arrived refugee in Australia. At 6 years old, she came to Australia from Ethiopia via South Sudan, and says, “there weren’t a lot of people like me”. Growing up in Australia, Rose experienced challenges including bullying, discrimination and…

Katra never thought she’d work with young people. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to engage with them very well,” she says. “I was cautious of English being my second language, so I thought they wouldn’t be able to understand me.”

But, like many in the sector, the Zimbabwe-born…

When Sharon O’Hehir heads out with a police officer on an evening shift with the Embedded Youth Outreach Program (EYOP), she embraces the unpredictability. “For most people that would freak them out, but I’ve always loved change and the unexpected,” the EYOP Team Leader says.

Every night, an…

Emily Baisman never believed she’d make it to university. “I had really severe mental health for a long time,” she says. “I had to drop out of school because of it, and then because of issues at home I left home when I was 16.”

Emily experienced homelessness and…

Sarah Hiley knows how life-saving harm reduction can be. She’s worked with people who use drugs and alcohol for over 20 years, most recently overseeing Melbourne’s Medically Supervised Injecting Rooms and other AOD programs run by the North Richmond Community Health Centre. For her, harm reduction measures like ensuring…