 A lot of times we don't get to see these kids in a policing response so we will deal with parents, we'll deal with housing issues, we'll deal with drugs and domestic violence. A lot of times when our officers respond the kids will be asleep, they'll be in a back room, they'll be staying in the garage, they'll be at a friend's place. It's only when you start hearing names and understanding the connection between what we're dealing with and what we're seeing on a daily basis to start putting a few of the pieces together it just gives you a much broader perspective as to what's going on in your community. In response to St George High School reaching out for support a panel of local stakeholders was established to work together on solutions for students and their families that were at high risk of disengagement. We've tried everything that we know or that we feel that we can do and we still hadn't had success. Looking at a holistic approach for helping these kids is the only way in a small community I think you know if one wheel's flat or make an annoys you can fix that the car's good but if all the wheels are flat you need to hit it from all different directions you know what I mean and you need to work together and there's no point fixing one you got to fix all of them. For us it wasn't a matter of the school doing better it was about a community doing better and working together to achieve that. The complex care panel in St George when it first started up was a little bit skeptical it brings together a group of government and non-government workers including the police. It's a very intense process where you're talking about one or two or three individuals on a monthly meeting. And so we would case manage our students at a local level and then any students that we felt we were really at our wits and we didn't know what else to try we would then refer those students to the complex care panel. Previously some of our students had already engaged with some of the organizations that were part of our panel but there wasn't that sharing of information between the agencies feeding back to the school feeding back to the police feeding back to our NGO so I think that that was really critical. Each time the group meets they agree on a course of action for each young person and allocate tasks. They nominate a lead agency usually the one with the strongest relationship with the young person to be a single point of contact for the young person and their family. They review each case periodically and adjust their actions when they need to. We all had panel members basically sign a declaration of confidentiality that whatever was discussed within our complex care panel stayed within the complex care panel but also knowing that we did need to be open and honest with each other because only when we did share information can we really get to the core of an issue. Having that ability to input into these discussions contextualize some of the issues that are going on in the family dynamic really allows the other NGOs and also the school to be aware of what some of the things are at play. A complex care panel isn't a magic wand it's not the solution to all of the problems but I think what it does do is for the few individuals that are involved in this process they themselves have a benefit and improved outcomes. I do think for us it was about solutions focused but with those solutions they had an action component so there was something that somebody was responsible for. What I did find throughout that process is that if you really take the time to actually invest in these kids you can see some positive outcomes. Some of our students we were able to engage with certificates and training so they weren't necessarily coming back to school but we still felt there was a focus there on education and training so even though that wasn't provided within the school context you know that was still success. Probably the biggest part was the relationship so I was able to build with the other service providers in town. The networking part of it like coming together and meeting all the other service providers and seeing what they do and then discussing the same client was really really helpful because everyone's got a different approach everyone's got different skills. Being able to link in with NGOs and also through the school identify where service provisions are available made our job a hell of a lot easier. There's the opportunity to make sure that we're not doubling up on support groups and perhaps one support group is working within that family with a family or with a student and they've got to the point where they think no we can't offer anything else you know then there's the opportunity for another organisation or support group to step in. What we're looking at doing with these young people is really trying to change their trajectory. If we can identify that they're on a path that ultimately will lead to some negative outcomes we're realistic about what we can achieve and it's really just about adjusting that trajectory so that we can try and get them a better pathway to success. I think it's you know all about these kids and that that should always be our focus is what's the best interest for the young person.