For more than 60 years, yourtown has stood beside young people. We believe every young person has the strength to tackle life’s challenges, and that they deserve a safe place to turn to. We also believe lasting change happens when people and communities come together with shared purpose and vision.
The difference you can make
yourtown is focused on preventing and addressing youth mental health, long-term unemployment, youth suicide, child abuse and neglect, and domestic and family violence.
Our ambition is to support more young people in deeper and more meaningful ways. Through your philanthropy, you can provide a safe, accessible, and empowering place that transforms young lives and strengthens communities.
In 2024-25, these figures reflect some of the ways children, young people, and families found support with yourtown. Behind every number is a story of courage, connection, and hope.
Kids Helpline
Kids Helpline counsellors responded to 136,424 contacts from children and young people.
3,122 new registrations brought our My Circle online community to more than 23,500.
127,460 primary and secondary school students participated in Kids Helpline @ School.
Parenting programs
188 parents and 258 children found guidance, connection, and new ways to grow together.
Family services
133 families built strength and resilience in times of need.
Education and employment
6,174 young people participated in programs that helped them learn, train, and prepare for their future.
Parentline
Counsellors responded to 6,392 contacts from parents and carers across Queensland and the Northern Territory.
51,000 users nationwide accessed the Parentline website for self-help.
Your impact
You may choose to support a specific program or area of interest or provide flexible funding that can be directed to the greatest need. The three priority areas where your investment could deliver transformational impact include:
A national safety net for children and young people
Challenge: Every 90 seconds, a young person contacts Kids Helpline. However, right now, despite our very best efforts, we can only answer 3 out of every 5 contacts. Not because their cries for help aren’t urgent, but because we simply don’t have the funding to put more counsellors on the line. It’s a heartbreaking gap.
Opportunity: Kids Helpline is Australia’s only free, professional 24/7 counselling service for children and young people aged 5-25. We are the safety net for Australia’s mental health and child protection systems.
More children and young people than ever are reaching out, late at night and early in the morning, when most other services are closed. They’re dealing with mental health challenges, bullying, abuse, family breakdown, loneliness, and thoughts of suicide.
Every day, our counsellors undertake 13 emergency interventions to keep children and young people safe from immediate harms like suicide and child abuse.
Your impact: Nearly half of Kids Helpline’s funding comes from the community. Right now, thousands of children and young people are going unheard because we simply don’t have the resources to put more counsellors on the line. With your support, we can make sure no child in crisis goes unheard.
As a community we must ensure every child and young person has access to the support they need when they need it. In the words of a beautiful young person no longer with us, “Everybody matters, every day.”
A safe place for women to heal and rebuild lives
Challenge: Domestic and family violence is a pervasive issue in our nation. One woman is killed every week by their current or former partner, and the rate of physical and sexual violence and abuse is far, far greater.
Domestic violence can have profound impacts on women and children including physical injury, psychological trauma, and emotional suffering. It can also affect extended family members and friends, and broader community. Effects that can be long-lasting and passed down to the next generation.
Sadly, one in five women are forced to return to violent partners after they leave the stability a refuge provides, due to a chronic shortage of transitional housing and affordable private rentals.
Opportunity: yourtown’s domestic and family violence services stand beside families as they move from crisis to safety and on toward independence. Our refuge offers a place of safety and strength where women and children can begin to rebuild their lives through trauma-informed care.
When families leave our refuge, they are offered six-to-12 months of transitional housing, providing a foundation of stability, care, and practical support as they reconnect with community and step into safer futures with dignity.
Your impact: yourtown’s refuge and transitional homes are funded solely by the community. With your help, we can ensure more women and children have access to safe and stable homes as they rebuild their lives free of violence.
Keeping young vulnerable families together
Challenge: Over 45,000 children are in the out-of-home-care system. Young parents exposed to disadvantage, domestic and family violence, abuse, and neglect are often at high risk of having their children taken into care.
Separating children from their family can be a traumatic experience, compounded time and again, as they move between facilities and homes.
They are more likely to experience mental ill-health, substance misuse, leave school early, have children earlier, be unemployed, fall into homelessness, and become involved with the youth justice system. Tragically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people remain vastly over-represented.
Opportunity: yourtown’s San Miguel Family Centre supports children to remain safely with their parents, diverting them from out-of-home-care. It also supports parents to reunify with their children.
San Miguel is situated on a beautiful 19-hectare property in Western Sydney and can accommodate up to 20 families. Parents aged 25 and under receive stable long-term housing and intensive wrap-around support to process trauma, build skills, create safe and nurturing relationships with their children, and secure stable accommodation in the community.
Following their time at San Miguel, families receive outreach support that tapers off as they settle into independent living.
Your impact: San Miguel is primarily funded by the community, with limited supplementary fee-for-service income from the state government. With your support, we can ensure this vital service continues to support the most vulnerable families in changing their trajectories.
Our approach
yourtown’s work is informed by the voices of children and young people, data and research, and best practice. Our programs and services are underpinned by a program logic, theory of change, and performance framework. We monitor, evaluate, and improve our work to support young people in achieving the best possible outcomes.
Our commitment to you
yourtown has strong governance and administration – giving you confidence in your investment. As a partner, we will share the impact of your generosity in ways that are meaningful to you. For example, site visits to witness your contribution first-hand, opportunities to engage with yourtown strategically, regular program updates, impact reports, and invitations to events of interest.
Get in touch
If you too believe that no child in crisis should go unheard, that women and children’s lives should be free of violence, and that young families deserve a chance to thrive, we would love to hear from you.
Amy Rymer
Strategic Partnerships and Philanthropy Manager
0402 427 351
[email protected]
