Why you can trust Still Here Youths

A plain-English summary of our safeguarding, privacy, evidence and referral practices — the things schools, parents, churches, sporting clubs and government agencies look for before referring a young person.

Still Here Youths is an independent Australian not-for-profit youth initiative. We are not a government agency. We provide free educational resources, mentoring and guidance for young people while connecting them with trusted Australian government and community services when appropriate.
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Safeguarding first

We follow Australia's National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. Anyone working directly with young people on behalf of SHY is expected to hold a current Working with Children Check (or state equivalent, e.g. Queensland Blue Card).

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Privacy & cybersecurity

Personal information is stored on managed Australian-accessible infrastructure. Passwords are hashed and salted by our identity provider — never stored in plain text. We align our engineering practices with OWASP guidance and the ASD Essential Eight mitigation strategies.

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Evidence-based content

Academy lessons reference peer-reviewed sources (WHO, AIHW, headspace, Beyond Blue, APA) with citations linkable to Google Scholar. Alignment is not certification — we review content as evidence evolves.

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Qualified & supported team

Our founder Sahr Ellie is a trained Youth Worker and current Criminology & Law student. Volunteers receive induction on child safety, mandatory reporting expectations, and referral pathways.

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Referral over replacement

We refer young people to qualified professionals and trusted Australian services (headspace, Kids Helpline, Lifeline, 1800RESPECT, eSafety, Services Australia). We do not provide legal, medical, mental-health-diagnosis, or emergency-intervention services.

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Complaints & concerns

Concerns about safety or conduct can be raised at any time to safety@stillhereyouths.org. Reports are read by a human within 48 hours. Serious matters are escalated to authorities as required by Australian law.

Accessibility

We design to WCAG 2.2 AA goals and support keyboard navigation, high contrast, and screen readers. Report accessibility issues to hello@stillhereyouths.org.

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Continuous improvement

This page and our policies are reviewed at least annually and updated as we grow.

Clear boundaries

  • We do NOT provide legal advice.
  • We do NOT provide medical advice.
  • We do NOT provide mental-health diagnosis.
  • We do NOT provide financial advice.
  • We do NOT provide emergency intervention — call 000 in a life-threatening emergency.
  • We do NOT make decisions on behalf of young people.

Users should seek qualified professionals where required. If someone appears at immediate risk of harm, contact 000 or a qualified crisis service.

Report a concern

This page is maintained by Still Here Youths and reflects our current practices. It is not an independent certification. Last reviewed: July 2026.