“Is self-harm a drug?” was a question posed by two grade seven girls to our presenters at the end of a seminar. Clutching each other’s hands and crying, they sat down and one opened up about her struggles with anxiety. With the support of her friend and the NEO presenters, she summoned the courage to share about her Dad’s reaction to her disclosure of self-harm, and how she doesn’t talk about it with her parents anymore.

By now you will be aware that we have set out on an ambitious and faith-stretching journey to raise the funds to establish a bricks-and-mortar home for Teen Challenge in Launceston. It is with great pleasure that I write to let you know that we are so very close to achieving that goal.

We contacted one of our schools recently to let them know that we had two mentors available. They spoke to the appropriate year group, expecting a few to put their hand up for the opportunity. Twenty-two young people put their names forward!

You’ve no doubt seen Tanya Cavanagh’s face and name associated with Teen Challenge Tasmania. She is the executive director, and the driving force behind the organisation, alongside husband Peter. But we thought you might like to know a little more about this woman with the purple hair and the easy smile. So, here you go. Grab a cuppa and sit down to learn how Wonder Woman and fast cars feature in Tanya’s story.

As the demand for Teen Challenge’s Not Even Once program in schools increases, we have been training up new presenters. After training, new presenters are given the opportunity to test their new skills under the guidance of Teen Challenge director Tanya Cavanagh. One of the latest recruits is Ifeoma Obi. We caught up with her to find out more about her motivation for the role, and what else populates her day-to-day life.

“Turn on your devices!”

It’s probably not the directive that high school students are used to hearing as they take a seat for a 90-minute seminar. Teen Challenge director Tanya Cavanagh instructs the group to download the Kahoot app. She is friendly, energetic and clear-spoken, her purple hair and warm smile the first impression.

Bella isn’t wearing school uniform but she is wearing heavy makeup and chowing down loudly on a cup of 2-minute noodles, belching as she does. Her body language oozes rebellion as she takes a seat for our NotEvenOnce session. You’d be forgiven for thinking that we cringe when a Bella walks into one of our programs, but actually, we get excited!

After forty years as a psychiatric nurse, you might not expect to find Helen Gibbs behind the counter at a costume shop. But that’s precisely where she spends three days of the week, and she is loving it.

Sixteen-year-old Lillian is a very different person today than she was seven months ago. Thanks in part to mentorship through her volunteer role at Hope Thrift, she has overcome the grip that anxiety held on her life.

Dear supporters of Home of Hope, I want to start by saying thank you for staying the course through a long and winding journey. From the outside, it looks like our efforts have come to nothing. Yet, we are not defeated. We trust God for the future of Home of Hope. Some background and an update first, to bring you up to speed.