For young people recovering from trauma, support doesn’t always begin with big breakthroughs – it begins with consistency.
In our crisis accommodation, trust is built slowly through small, everyday actions that show young people they are not alone.
For Ben*, one of those moments was a cup of tea offered by a youth worker.
To many, it’s a normal gesture. But for Ben, it was compassion offered in a way that felt safe enough to accept.
For young people experiencing homelessness or recovering from trauma, these early moments of connection matter.
“When a young person arrives in crisis accommodation, we see so many signs of trauma, including anxiety, hypervigilance and withdrawal,” says Joseph Ratuvou, our Team Leader Crisis Accommodation. “They don’t trust adults because they’ve been let down by them. This often shows up as anger, disengagement or frustration.”
In this environment, support doesn’t begin with solutions.
“Our youth workers sit in silence and allow the young person to have a moment to self-regulate before beginning to build the relationship,” says Joseph. “From there, we might say, ‘I’m here – what do you need, expect, feel or want right now? And how can we work together to get there?’”
How connection is built
In crisis accommodation, these small moments take many forms.
“Having a cup of tea, sharing a meal, checking in after a tough day of school or work or when they return from seeing their family – these moments help young people feel seen, validated and valued for who they are and what they’re experiencing,” says Joseph.
What might seem small can carry significant meaning for a young person who has experienced trauma, instability or neglect.
Over time, these consistent, human moments begin to rebuild trust, creating the conditions for deeper support to follow.
“It can take a few months of consistent small moments for a young person to open up to youth workers about what’s happening under the surface,” says Joseph. “It’s different for everyone and shaped by their individual experiences.”
“At the end of the day, it comes down to consistency: reliable day-to-day support and following through on even the smallest commitments. Something as simple as saying, ‘let’s grab a cuppa later’ and then showing up for it can make all the difference.”
Feeling safe is a critical first step for young people recovering from trauma.
“Once we’ve established safety, young people have the capacity to achieve so much, including finding a safe and stable home,” says Joseph. “Our role is to help them stabilise, build trust and connect with supports when they are ready.”
What small moments make possible
Small moments create the foundation for everything that follows.
Young people need stability, says Joseph, before they are able to think about goals like education or employment.
“They need a safe place to sleep, regular meals and people around them to role model healthy, supportive relationships,” says Joseph. “It starts with getting through each day, then each week, before young people can begin to think month to month and eventually year to year – working towards long-term goals like a stable home, family connection and trusted adult relationships.”
At Youth Off The Streets, this is where wraparound support becomes critical.
As trust grows, young people can begin engaging with the broader supports available to them – from counselling to education, training and employment pathways. Our alternative high schools provide a safe, trauma-informed environment for young people who have disengaged from education – often because of homelessness or domestic and family violence – to reconnect with learning.
The need is significant. In 2024–25, only 28.2 per cent of young people aged 12–24 presenting alone to crisis accommodation were enrolled in education, compared to 67 per cent of the general youth population. The unemployment rate among these young people needing housing support was 84 per cent, compared to 10 per cent of their peers.
That’s why at Youth Off The Streets, we don’t treat housing as a standalone intervention.
Our wraparound model brings together safe accommodation with integrated supports across education, employment, mental health, case management and living skills, helping young people move beyond survival to build stability and independence over time.
For Ben, that first cup of tea was more than a gesture – it was the beginning of trust. Through ongoing support from adults he came to trust, he was connected to the right services at the right time, empowering him to undertake training and forge his own path.
Today, Ben is no longer experiencing homelessness and works as a youth worker himself. And that same small act of kindness that once helped him open up?
It’s where he starts with young people, too.
*Name changed to protect the privacy of the young person
