Every day in Youth Off The Streets schools, you’ll see young people greeting each other at the door, celebrating small wins, sharing decisions with teachers and taking part in service-learning projects that give back to their communities.
These moments aren’t accidental – they’re grounded in a philosophy that has guided Youth Off The Streets for decades: the Circle of Courage.
Described by our founder Father Chris Riley as “the most powerful framework I have worked with”, the Circle of Courage is a youth development framework that identifies four universal growth needs of all children and young people: belonging, mastery, independence and generosity.
These four needs “counteract the conditions that place young people at risk, namely destructive relationships, climates of futility, powerlessness and loss of purpose,” says Amy Gill, Education and Impact Practice Specialist.
“These needs are universal but are especially powerful for young people who have experienced trauma, exclusion or disrupted education,” says Amy. “The Circle of Courage doesn’t define young people by their experiences of adversity – instead, it offers a shared language and structure that supports young people to understand themselves through strengths rather than deficits.”
This framework is particularly important in Youth Off The Streets schools, where many students have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including neglect, parental substance misuse and exposure to family violence.
What sets the Circle of Courage apart is the way it draws upon Native American – specifically Latoka – child-rearing ideologies, using Indigenous wisdom to illustrate contemporary, evidence-based Western psychology.
The Circle of Courage, conceptualised by Brokenleg, Brendtro and Van Bockern in Reclaiming Youth at Risk (1990) and drawn here by Latoka artist George Blue Bird, is represented as a medicine wheel. Medicine wheels represent the interconnectivity of all aspects of oneself.
Making growth visible
The Circle of Courage isn’t just understood – it’s made visible in countless ways across our schools, reshaping how students interact with each other and with staff.
“When belonging is explicitly valued, students actively support new peers to feel welcomed and included,” says Amy. “When independence is foregrounded, power is shared rather than imposed, leading to more respectful and collaborative relationships between students and staff.”
The Circle of Courage is also visible symbolically.
Young people and staff at our schools work towards earning their Circle of Courage jackets – a symbolic recognition of going above and beyond in all four universal growth needs.
At EDEN College, the celebration of little wins is also visually represented through a community bulletin board. On it, staff write the accomplishments and positive behaviours they see among students, recording them within the relevant universal growth need. An example might be “Independence: Kayla has attended a full week of school,” or “Belonging: Fahim played chess at lunch with Caitlyn.”
Throughout the term, staff at EDEN College will fill the bulletin board with the daily achievements of students.
“This acts as a continuous visual reminder that growth, no matter how small, is occurring within the school,” says Amy. “It underscores the impact of recognising and celebrating every step of student growth, reinforcing the school’s commitment to fostering an environment where each individual’s development is valued and encouraged.”
The Circle of Courage in practice
Walk into a Youth Off The Streets classroom and you’ll find the Circle of Courage operating quietly but powerfully.
New students are welcomed with belonging rituals designed to help them feel seen and safe. Differentiated and strengths-based learning is developed so students can build mastery at their own pace. Teachers share decision-making with young people to build independence. And service-learning experiences give students opportunities to contribute to others – nurturing generosity and a sense of purpose.
One example of this was the ‘Wisdom Exchange’, a program where Year 9 and 10 English students at EDEN College visited a nursing home each week to engage in recreational activities with the elderly residents.
“Through this service-learning, students explored the concept of age through personal connections and storytelling,” says Amy.
The program wasn’t just developed to address the goals of the English curriculum.
“By partnering with elderly peers and engaging in conversations that bridge generational gaps, students gain insights into the diverse life experiences and perspectives that shape people’s identities.”
It takes a village
The Circle of Courage emphasises that responsibility for nurturing young people sits with adults and community collectively. As such, families and carers play a vital role in strengthening each young person’s circle.
“At Youth Off The Streets, families and carers are recognised as essential members of each young person’s therapeutic and educational web,” says Amy.
The four growth needs – belonging, mastery, independence and generosity – appear in students’ Individualised Learning Plans and are shared with families, helping everyone understand how to support a student’s growth in consistent, connected ways.
“This reinforces the understanding that it truly takes a village to raise a child and that strengthening a young person’s circle is a shared endeavour,” says Amy. “The Circle of Courage has the capacity to reorient schools away from a culture of control and compliance and towards collective care, relationality and shared accountability across the entire community.”
This commitment to shared responsibility is also reflected in the way Youth Off The Streets teachers approach learning.
“Our teachers use what we describe as conscious pedagogy,” says Amy. “This means they deliberately select teaching strategies that evidence shows will strengthen belonging, mastery, independence and generosity.”
Growth is recognised – and encouraged – in every area of a young person’s development.
“Achievements are recognised across all four quadrants, not only academic success,” says Amy. “This ensures that students receive consistent messages that growth is holistic and relational, not narrowly defined.”
In a society often preoccupied with behaviour management, the Circle of Courage shows us a different way forward. Instead of “managing students”, Youth Off The Streets’ schools invest in relationships, trust and shared responsibility – knowing that young people thrive when adults work together to raise, support and believe in them.
As Amy says, “It gives educators a shared scaffold for understanding risk, nurturing growth and walking alongside young people in ways that honour who they are and who they are becoming.”
