Youth Disadvantage	Mental & Physical Health	Family & Relationships
Crime and Violence	Education and Training	Employment and Community Engagement

Disadvantage in youth

When we think about disadvantage, our minds often turn to places far away from Victoria, Australia. We may think of children starving in Africa, war-stricken countries, or natural disasters like the Tsunami, making it sometimes hard to see what is happening in our own country - in our own backyards.

What does disadvantage look like? Disadvantage has many faces and presents itself to Evolve in different ways. Regardless of its appearance, there is one commonality: no-one chooses disadvantage.

Our young people often come from environments where their families experience social, economic or geographic disadvantage, which can sometimes lead to negative mental health, self-harming and suicide, abuse and neglect, homelessness, educational disengagement and juvenile crime. When we meet and interview such young people, they are desperate for change, for a fresh start and for the opportunity to have an ‘advantage’.

In a 2008 study peformed by Youth Action & Policy Association (Ferguson, J, Poverty and disadvantage among young Australians - How are young people going?", 2008) 657 young people aged 12-25 completed a survey to analyse poverty and disadvantage.

The results were confronting.

• Approximately 5% were deprived of somewhere safe or stable to live, and a further 10% were unable to access dental treatment.
• Regarding economic exclusion, approximately 18% do not have enough money to get by on and 15% live in a jobless household.
• In the area of disengagement, worryingly, one in five young people had not participated in community events in the last 12 months, and more than 1 in 3 had missed an important event due to a lack of transport.
• In the category of service exclusion, 12% had been unable to access mental health services, while approximately 1 in three had been unable to keep up with basic payments for water, gas or electricity.
• Around 1 in 10 respondents were experiencing psychological and emotional deprivation. These young people reported no sense of belonging, no confidence in what they do, nor having the support or his or her family.

Young people need our help. Help Evolve provide more young people with an 'advantage'. Support Evolve.