Warrawong will get a dedicated social worker and peer support worker for the next three years, after youth charity Youth Insearch secured philanthropic funding to work directly in the suburb’s schools, community centres and public spaces.
Warrawong’s violent crime rate has climbed to 154.7 per cent above the NSW average in the year to March 2026, up from 117.5 per cent the year before, according to BOCSAR data,
Youth Insearch CEO Stephen Lewin said the workers would target young people who typically avoid mainstream services.
“The young people experience very high disadvantage and systemic family trauma,” Mr Lewin said.
“They’re not the young people that would walk into a counsellor’s office or go into a headspace centre,” he said.
“They usually have no trust in the system. Their trust has been broken by adults.”
The model relies on staff with lived experience of issues similar to those of the young people they support, Mr Lewin said.
“Young people who have walked a mile in their shoes, who have experienced similar issues, they’re the ones that get them and understand them,” he said.
Acting General Manager of Development and Engagement Tara Van Toorn said the organisation had spent months consulting local partners, including Barnardo’s Bundaleer Community Centre and PCYC Lake Illawarra, before committing staff to the area.
“We’re not just coming into a community and dropping a social worker in without any connections or foundations laid,” she said.
“The community has been crying out for this type of support for a long time.”
Mr Lewin, who was a Youth Insearch participant himself before spending 19 years in child protection and family services, pointed to one graduate, 20-year-old Khalani (last name withheld), as evidence the model can work. Khalani overcame significant challenges to complete Youth Insearch’s leaders’ training, and has since found full-time work while training to become a peer worker.
“It’s broken the cycle for the rest of his family,” Mr Lewin said.
The Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing funded an evaluation of the Youth Insearch program, which found the program delivers $7.36 for every dollar invested, through reduced costs to health, justice and welfare systems.
Separately, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found 26 per cent of Australians aged 16-24 experienced high psychological distress between 2020 and 2022, a trend Mr Lewin said was reflected in demand for the organisation’s services.
“There’s a great group of young people in Warrawong, despite all the bad press the area gets,” he said.
