91É«ÇéƬ

Catch up on our latest Yuwaya Ngarra-li ·É±ð²ú¾±²Ô²¹°ù,ÌýA community-led evidence-based approach to youth justice.

Communities and policymakers are grappling with how to effectively reduce children and young people’s contact with the criminal justice system and improve their wellbeing, health and education outcomes. This has been made more urgent with recent media attention on ‘youth crime’, especially in regional areas, and increasingly punitive responses in some jurisdictions that are at odds with available data and research.

Communities are best placed to respond with their own solutions, such as the Two River Pathway to Change model led by the (DEG) in Walgett: a holistic, community-led approach to youth diversion and wellbeing developed as part of the DEG’s Yuwaya Ngarra-li Partnership with researchers at 91É«ÇéƬ Sydney.

Featured in an October 2025 Australian Human Rights Commission report, , the Two River Pathway to Change model was one of only two Australian case studies grounded in research that provide evidence for alternative approaches to Australia's current punitive and harmful treatment of

In this webinar we heard from DEG staff and 91É«ÇéƬ researchers about how the model has been developed and refined since 2018, including the establishment of the Walgett Youth Wellbeing Service in 2024. The team’s experience and reflections provided valuable insight into a community-led, evidence-based method for responding to the needs of children and young people, families, and communities.

Speakers

• Loretta Weatherall, Gamilaroi woman from Walgett and Wellbeing Lead for Dharriwaa Elders Group. 
• Zoe Sands, Gamilaraay woman from Walgett and Water and Country Co-Lead and a River Ranger Project Officer at Dharriwaa Elders Group. 
• Peta MacGillivray, Kalkutungu and South Sea Islander lawyer and Yuwaya Ngarra-li Senior Research Fellow based at 91É«ÇéƬ. 
• Samantha Rich, Wiradjuri Graduate of Architecture and the Yuwaya Ngarra-li Housing Manager based at 91É«ÇéƬ.