SDC - Outreach:
After a student has completed time with us we continue to support them in a variety of ways. The process of reintegration to their school may begin as a one-day visit. We usually reintroduce the student gradually back into mainstream. Students can then continue to visit us for one day a week for as long as needed. L&B staff will talk to the staff at a student’s school about recommended strategies to ensure a smooth reintegration, and remain available to assist with educational and behavioural issues for an indefinite period after this. If a student elects to return to school full time from the outset we will still prepare the school for the students return and remain available for visits, support and advice. Such a student may choose to visit on a casual basis if they feel the need. It may be that a student does not return to their referring school, but chooses to enrol in a new school, seek employment, attend a pre-apprenticeship course, or find another short course. We will still offer and supply all the above outreach services or others as appropriate.
If a school makes a referral and there is no immediate place, L&B staff are available for advice and consultation to assist teachers to better manage students until a place becomes available. L&B staff can meet at your school to help devise strategies and welfare/discipline plans for a particular student. Alternatively we are available for telephone conferencing and advice.
On occasions L&B has accepted struggling teachers as guests, working in our environment to assist them to gain strategies and practices that may improve their teaching back in the mainstream classrooms. We would also recommend that these teachers attend one of our Conflict in the Classroom presentations and our Games in the Curriculum Workshops.
L&B has also made itself available for Teacher in training and Youth Worker in training placements.
As part of our Outreach Program we have conducted Games Workshops for primary students where our students are trained to play the role of Games Facilitator and we run these sessions in various primary schools.
L&B Challenge Ropes Course is an excellent facility to assist students, teachers, youth workers and indeed any groups to work towards better communication, trust, teamwork and individual performance. We can organise and manage sessions tailored to each group’s needs and goals. Several Private Providers also work out of our Ropes Course and manage excellent programs for all groups. Over the last seven years L&B has run ropes course programs for thousands of students, youth at risk, athletes, firemen, policemen, workers and social groups.
We have strong links with a wide range of community services and organizations and there is a two way exchange occurring. Many youth workers and teachers visit for advice, to borrow equipment or to socialize. There are many ex-students who visit and even assist as adult volunteers on camps and other programs.
In 2006 L&B hosted a Work For The Dole Scheme and benefited from all the excellent maintenance, building and gardening work completed by the participants.
Camps:
Leaps and Bounds conducts an adventure and camping program based on the idea of “experiential education” or learning by doing. Each student will usually participate in at least two camps as part of this program. We believe that wilderness/adventure activities have a therapeutic value if used correctly. These camps are a way of concentrating learning experiences and personal challenges into a very short space of time, and they usually become a significant milestone and memory by which our students recognise and measure personal progress and growth. The camps enable young people to realise that they are much stronger and more capable than they previously felt.
At least one of these camps will be a “journey concept” camp where students are challenged to complete a difficult trip through a wilderness area. This may be a bushwalk, a canoeing or rafting trip, or cross country skiing, where students carry all their own gear and look after their own needs or group needs for a period of between five and fifteen days. We have completed journeys from Mount Hotham to Mount Bogong, across the length of Croajingalong National Park, down rivers like the Murray, the Thomson and the Snowy, through deserts like Hattah/Kulkyne and across the Baw Baw Plateau. All these trips include a period of preparation and training and are followed by a period of reflection and debriefing. Professional leaders from The Outdoor Experience, REFS, or Alternative Directions oversee all the wilderness trips.
The second camp is usually a two or three day camp and over the years we have held base camps, short walks, horse riding, rock climbing, mixed adventure activities, and Police High Challenge Camps where our students base camp with Victoria Police recruits and engage in structured game playing, adventure and ropes course activities.
Our one-day adventure activities have included indoor and outdoor rock climbing, surfing, walking, fishing, caving, swimming with the dolphins/seals and sailing.