Vision to inspire youth

• Charlotte Jory is the new Dorset Community House youth development officer.

By Daisy Baker
January 25, 2023

Dorset Community House (DCH) has welcomed a second youth development officer onboard, ready to work alongside local students when school returns.

A week into the job, Charlotte Jory said she is excited to be working alongside Jacob Shanahan who was appointed late last year.

The pair will work together on DCH’s Bright Dorset project, as well as each working on sub-programs within schools.

Ms Jory said she will be responsible for delivering a women’s youth leadership program, while also working with Student Representative Councils (SRC).

The women’s leadership group will be run at both Scottsdale High School and Winnaleah District School.

“That’s based around talking about women’s health, getting the communication flowing between kids, finding out what they need, what this area’s missing, what services they may need access to,” she said.

“It’s something that I’m quite passionate about, giving the youth opportunities that say other women might have if they’re located in another demographic. It’s about trying to make it equal for all.”

She said the program could include information sessions with guest speakers from Women’s Health, that complement the curriculum. 

A minimum of six activities or sessions will be run per term, with potential
for more.

Working alongside student leadership groups, Ms Jory said they plan to have guest speakers teaching soft skills.

“It’s student-led, it’s providing them with a space where they can be creative, coming up with ideas and seeing those ideas grow into something they can have ownership of,” she said.

“We are thinking about opening it up to both schools and maybe we could do some collaboration between both schools and SRCs.

“It’s about getting them work together, rather than them being isolated. Being here in a small community we need partnership and harmony. And obviously people have different skills sets, opinions and ideas.”

DCH plan to get the ball rolling on all programs shortly after school returns.

Ms Jory said she is looking forward to creating change and opportunity in the community, hopefully encouraging collaboration between elderly, middle-aged and youth residents.

“We are quite a small community and I’m very passionate about trying to keep people in the community because we do have a lot of opportunities here that we need to tap into and take advantage of being regional and remote,” she concluded.