Garduwarra Mia Community & Youth Support Services Inc. formally known as the Tom Price Youth Support Association (TPYSA), has been delivering a multitude of support services to youth and the broader community since 1986.
Our services operate from the Tom Price Youth Centre and our core focus is to respond to the needs of all people in the region who require support and assistance to reduce disadvantage, vulnerability, risk status and crisis levels due to a lack of essential services that occurs as a result of living in geographic isolation in regional and remote Western Australia.
Our History
Garduwarra Mia Community & Youth Support Services Inc. formally known as the Tom Price Youth Support Association (TPYSA), has been delivering a multitude of support services to youth and the broader community since 1986.
The Tom Price Youth Support Association was a concept started in 1987. At that time the organisation was called Paraburdoo & Tom Price Youth Support Association Inc and included the youth centres at both Tom Price and Paraburdoo. The origins of the centres was very much born from the hearts and passion of ordinary community members who worked together to advocate and lobby the local mining company, Hammersley Iron, for space to provide youth with a safe place to meet and interact. They secured the old single men’s quarters in Tom Price and secured funding for a purpose-built centre in Paraburdoo.
In those early days, the centres did operate more along the lines of youth clubs, with a fairly small budget of less than $40,000 which was provided by the Department of Child Development and the Rural Youth Information Service. This meant that the centres were only open minimum hours and the focus at that time was a safe hang out for youth after school.
Over the next ten years a multitude of services was established at the Tom Price Youth Centre as it was evident that youth issues were much more complex and demanded a more structured response. In those days, it was really the personal working relationships that were developed with other agencies and organisations that provided the benefits for youth. There was little funding, but the relationships were priceless and allowed for immediate response and the cutting of red tape. It is those relationships that established the more intensive support services we deliver today including Centrelink, Justice, Counselling, Advocacy and referral.
In 1999 the Tom Price and Paraburdoo Youth Centre’s split due to distance and the difficulties in administering two services which were 80kms apart. The association changed its name to the Tom Price Youth Support Association INC (TPYSA).
In January 2009 the Department for Child Protection contacted us and asked us to assist in revitalising the Paraburdoo Youth Centre. We managed this project with great success and worked with Rio Tinto to refurbish the building, develop a structure for service delivery, appoint a worker and engage local youth. We managed this project for 18 months at which point we were asked to officially absorb the PYC into our operations. After negotiations, this officially occurred on the 1 January 2011.
Since then, the Tom Price and Paraburdoo Youth Centres operated and thrived through the community with many activities, programs, workshops, events and more. Through the years, both centres became frequently used by youth of all ages, allowing for staff to maintain rapport with youth as they aged through high school.
In June 2023, The Tom Price Youth Support Association Inc. ceased the youth drop-in services at Paraburdoo Youth Centre due to many factors that were considered by our governing body.
Fast track to 2024 – we now have a new name that we have been blessed with by local Banjima Elders. Our name is Garduwarra Mia, Garduwarra meaning Help or Support and Mia meaning place or house in native Banjima Language. Although specifically in Banjima Language, our name is also recognised by all surrounding language groups and although our services are for everyone in the community and not limited to a group, we are honoured to have a special name gifted by the people of the land. We recognise and acknowledge the land we provide our services on and are privledged to be the ” Place of Support or Help ” for Tom Price and surrounding communities.
Our Funding Partners
The core focus of the TPYSA is to provide a continuum of support that encourages our clients to participate and achieve social and personal advancement. Our multifaceted service delivery remains the foundation from which we can best assist clients. The services and programs we deliver continue to evolve to best reflect the developmental needs of people locally and ensures that we can provide support in key focus areas. We achieve this with a value-added approach which channels funds into the organisation from a variety of sources which work collectively to provide clients with effective holistic support.
We continue to maintain very positive relationships with our funding bodies, which are collaborative, cooperative and based on a high level of mutual respect. As an organisation we appreciate the financial support provided and in return we feel that our success as a community service provider is enabled, supported, and recognised.
The Tom Price Youth Support Association and now Garduwarra Mia Community & Youth Support Services continues to maintain a strong relationship with the Department of Communities, formally known as the Department of Child Protection & Family Support (DCPFS), and has worked in partnership with the department for thirty years. We are a Preferred Service Provider (PSP) and are classed as an intervention agency responding to youth at risk.
Funding from the department is utilised in a variety of ways but specifically supports the drop-in services available at Tom Price Youth Centre, and the case management that we undertake with those young people who demonstrate high risk levels from complex issues and challenging behaviours. Case management is intensive and does require a high level of response to ensure that the crisis and risk level of young people are reduced. Funding from DCP, has allowed us to sustain adequate staffing levels, extend opening hours and ensure that young people are supported in all areas of inquiry.
We continue to work in partnership with Rio Tinto and the funding provided to the TPYSA supports service delivery at the Tom Price and previously at the Paraburdoo Youth Centre. Following negotiations in the latter part of 2016, we entered into a new partnership with Rio Tinto for a three-year period between 2017 and 2019. It is now 2024 where we have recommenced another three-year partnership agreement from 2023-2025.
Our partnership with Rio Tinto is more than a one dimensional ‘financial’ arrangement but is reflective of a collaborative and consultative approach between a corporate company and the not-for-profit community sector with specific attention to delivering supports in communities which predominantly support the mining industry. The partnership with Rio Tinto has enabled the TPYSA and now Garduwarra Mia Community and Youth Support services to enhance the activities, events and services available to Youth and the broader community. This enables us to respond to local people in many areas of inquiry and fill the gaps which sometimes exist in the availability of essential services.
