Dogs are key in BackTrack’s work with troubled youth in the Armidale NSW and surrounding area.
BackTrack offers holistic support to some of the most vulnerable young people in Australia to navigate complex and challenging times in their lives.
Issues faced include disengagement from education, early contact with the criminal justice system, insecure housing, trauma, and disadvantage.
BackTrack walks alongside young people for the long haul, “whatever it takes, for as long as it takes”.
The end game is to help as many young people having a hard time as possible; to break the cycle of youth incarceration and multigenerational disadvantage and to ensure that every young person has a place to turn to for genuine and well-rounded support when things go off the rails.
BackTrack provides holistic youth work, education, a safe place to stay, training, employment and the wraparound support to help young people get back on track, shifting from survival mode to active participation in their lives and within society.
BackTrack’s work often introduces young people to new experiences, including working on a farm and with animals.
PawsUp is a program connecting young people with BackTrack’s highly trained and beautifully natured dogs. Young people care for and train the dogs, help deliver the program, and are counted on to show up and follow through.
Young people are naturally drawn to individual dogs, forming strong bonds. The calming presence of the dogs is grounding, whilst the achievement of learning new skills in dog handling and training builds confidence and lays foundations for future success.
Coolaroo Foundation is a passionate ongoing supporter of the BackTrack PawsUp program as it continues to work on breaking the cycle, keeping kids alive, out of jail, and chasing their hopes and dreams.
“Backtrack has helped me in ways that I felt like no one else could help me… I had nowhere to go… in Backtrack I have a home and a family.”
If you spend any time at BackTrack, one thing becomes clear fast: the dogs are everywhere. Not as a mascot or a sideline, but as a genuine part of how the organisation works with young people, every single day.