St Joseph's Nudgee College

June 1, 2009

Hendry Oval was a hive of activity last Friday as St Joseph's Nudgee College hosted the second annual CRYPAR Community Against Youth Violence Expo.

The Expo, which was a joint partnership between the Queensland Police Service and the Coordinated Response to Young People at Risk (CRYPAR) program, incorporated a touch football competition with stalls from some of CRYPARs service providers.

Run by the Queensland Police Service, CRYPAR is a whole of government initiative which aims to assist young people by addressing issues which have been identified as contributing factors in the development of criminal and self-harming tendencies and anti-social behaviour. To date, in excess of 600 young people and families have benefited from CRYPAR referrals.

CRYPAR is a simple referral process that allows police officers to refer ‘at risk’ young people to an appropriate agency that has agreed to respond to CRYPAR referrals within 48 hours. These agencies then work intensively with the young person and/or family to address their specific issues.

Six teams participated in the round robin touch competition including teams from the police service, Australian Women's Rugby League, Kurbingui Youth Development and Nudgee College. Teams competed for the Matthew Stanley Memorial Shield.

Matthew was killed in September 2006 after being bashed outside a teenager's party. He was 15 years old. Matthew's parents Paul and Kay Stanley established the Matthew Stanley Foundation in response to the outpouring of grief in the local community after Matthew's death.

Paul told spectators at the Expo that the Foundation was honoured to have the shield named after Matthew and said the day provided a perfect opportunity to raise awareness.

"Today's Expo is a great way to reinforce to young people the tragic consequences that can occur while having fun. Matthew went off to a party and through the actions of someone else, he didn't come home. If being involved with events like this and telling Matthew's story helps just one young person think about the consequences before they act, we've achieved what we wanted too."

Paul's sentiments were seconded by Nudgee College Dean of Students Mr Paul Begg who said the College was more than happy to host future CRYPAR Expos.

"Nudgee College is proud to work with the Queensland Police Service and CRYPAR. It was wonderful for our Year 9 and 10 students to have the opportunity to speak with the organisations and stall holders that were here today. The information provided to them will prove invaluable in the boys lives."

Image Gallery

Click an image to see a full version: