Recording now available | Therapeutic Pathways for Children report launch

The Social Determinants of Justice Research Hub is pleased to be sharing the recording of the Therapeutic Pathways for Children Report launch webinar we hosted with Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) and Mounty Aboriginal Youth & Community Services (MAYCS).

The report, as encapsulated by co-author and Senior Research Fellow Peta MacGillivray, "is really asking, how do we shift from reacting to harm to preventing it?...There's a strong message running through the report that children are being criminalised for unmet needs, not because they pose some inherent risk". Lauren Stefanou, launch speaker and Principal Solicitor at the ALS, added "it really makes a clear case for moving away from punishment as the dominant paradigm."

The importance of this approach to systems change was highlighted by Adam McKellar from MAYCS: "policies must be shaped with young people not for them... with permanent structures to influence system reform... they don't want to be left out in these conversations that are about them."

We heard from Peta MacGillivray, Theresa Lake, Lauren Stefanou, Adam McKellar, Isaiah Sines and Jessica Brown as they outlined what therapeutic pathways look like in practice, what systems changes are needed and what practice on the ground looks like.

You can read the report here and catch up on the launch below.