Western NSW Homeless Youth Assistance Program (HYAP)

This service, operating as Veritas House Western NSW Homeless Youth Assistance Program (HYAP),provides support for children aged 12 to 15 years old who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless. It has a strong focus on supporting Aboriginal children and young people.

It covers the Bathurst regional, Blayney, Cabonne, Cowra Forbes, Lachlan, Mid-Western Regional, Oberon, Orange, Parkes and Weddin local government areas.

It provides coordinated assessment and case planning, enhanced case management and group work to support children and young people.

Through a holistic tailored approach that incorporates intensive case management with therapeutic counselling family mediation, the service works to address the cause of homelessness in partnership with the parents (where safe to do so) and link the child or young person back to their family and community.

Trauma-informed responses are used to facilitate the development of a support plan, set goals with the client, and identify needs and strategies to develop age-appropriate skills. This includes education and training; referral and advocacy to mainstream services; financial literacy; and independent living skills.

This service has a strong focus on restoring young people to their families or relatives.