Planting Pathways is for young people aged 12 to 17 — and in some cases up to 21 — who are carrying more than their share. Many have experienced trauma and are navigating child protection, out-of-home care, alcohol and other drug issues, or contact with the justice system. Just as often, they’re at risk of these pathways rather than already deep in them, and early is exactly where the program does its best work.

It suits the young person who hasn’t clicked with traditional, office-based or classroom-style supports. Where talk-only sessions and sitting still haven’t landed, the garden often does — the work is hands-on, the days have a steady rhythm, and progress happens shoulder-to-shoulder rather than across a desk, which gives young people who’ve disengaged elsewhere a genuine way back in.

We design around complexity, not against it — disrupted schooling, housing instability, substance use, the after-effects of trauma. You don’t need a diagnosis or a particular threshold to refer; if you think a young person would benefit from a stable, practical, relationship-based environment, that’s usually a good sign. Planting Pathways sits alongside your case management rather than replacing it, and before anyone starts we’ll talk through suitability honestly — because the right fit matters more to us than filling a place.

Every session follows a familiar rhythm, and that consistency is part of what makes the program feel safe — young people always know what’s coming. The day opens with an introduction to the tasks and activities ahead, followed by a “weather report” check-in where everyone shares how they’re arriving that day. From there it’s into the hands-on gardening, then an AOD or restorative practice session pitched to where the group is up to. Lunch is shared as a group, with shorter breaks throughout, and the day closes with pack-up and a wrap-up to reflect on what was done and learned. The structure stays steady; what happens inside it flexes to the season, the garden, and the young people in front of us.

We’re not tied to a single catchment. Being based in Sunshine puts us close to the CBD, and with transport available within a 25km radius we can take referrals across a wide spread of LGAs — Brimbank, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Moonee Valley, Wyndham, Hobsons Bay, Melton, Hume, Darebin, Yarra and Banyule among them. If you’re just outside that and want to talk it through, get in touch.

We start from a place of yes. You don’t need a diagnosis or a particular threshold to refer, and we welcome young people with a disability or an NDIS plan — the key is capturing it early, during baseline intake and the youth consultation, so we can adjust the site and the program to suit the young person’s needs and capabilities. For that we’ll ask for access to relevant information about the disability and any support strategies in place, so we can respond well and, importantly, reduce any chance of restrictive practices arising.

There are really only two situations where we’d say “not yet”: a young person who needs immediate medical attention, or one experiencing withdrawals that require detox first. Neither is a permanent no — the program is deliberately built to allow more than one attempt to enter, and a young person is welcome back once those needs are met. As part of intake, the baseline form runs a compatibility check to work out whether a young person can attend and take part, even at a reduced or limited capacity. We take it as a given that behaviour sits on a scale and will vary and settle over time, so we plan for that rather than screen for it. One thing to note: we’ll always prioritise young people aged 12 to 17 ahead of an applicant who is 18 or over, simply because of the program’s focus.

Our facilitators hold at least 5 years experience, hold Diploma Qualification directly relevant to the industry, along with AOD and Trauma-Informed skill sets. On top of that, they’re trained in restorative practice and keep all their regulatory compliance current — NDIS worker screening, First Aid, Victorian Working with Children Checks, and national police checks. We invest in ongoing development too, because the young people who come to us deserve facilitators who keep growing alongside them.

I lead and deliver the program. A 1:2 ratio — one staff member to every two young people — so it never feels like a classroom. At a full cohort of four, a second qualified facilitator joins me on site, so the ratio holds at 2:4.

How young people are grouped together matters. We understand the real risks and benefits that come with matching. We treat it as a shared decision and work through it with you during the baseline intake process.

Safety starts before day one. During the youth consultation we take time to understand each young person’s individual risks and what helps them, so the facilitator can prepare and tailor the program around them. On their first day, every young person completes an induction covering OHS, the site, and risk management, and we set out clear rules and responsibilities they’ll be supported to follow while they’re with us. Please request a copy of our WHS Risk Management Policy

Our facilitators are first-aid trained with a kit on site, the 1:2 ratio means no one slips through the cracks, and the site itself has clear 360-degree line of sight throughout.

If a young person discloses harm or there’s a serious incident, we manage the situation first — including alerting emergency services where needed — then move straight to reporting. While we don’t have direct access to CIMS or PRODA, we run our own internal incident-reporting system and hold ourselves to the same protocols: an incident report completed immediately afterwards, followed by direct contact with you as the referring worker or case manager. If you’d like a copy of our incident reporting policy to keep on file, we’re happy to provide it.

Please request a copy of our Incident report Response Policy and Mandatory Reporting Policy

Yes to both. We carry professional indemnity cover of $1 million, public liability of $20 million, and vehicle insurance. We also meet the Child Safe Standards through our policies and everyday practice, and every facilitator holds a current Working with Children Check alongside a national police check. If your agency needs copies of our certificates of currencies for your own records, just ask and we’ll send them through. Please request a copy of our Child Safety and Welbeing Policy, Mandatory Reporting Policy and Reportable Conduct Scheme Policy.

Planting Pathways operates on a fee-for-service model, which means your organisation is never paying in full for something that hasn't happened. We can invoice weekly, and each invoice reflects exactly what was delivered — program sessions, AOD and restorative practice sessions, and any optional transport are itemised separately, so you can see precisely what you're paying for. All fees are GST inclusive.

You can choose between two program models: a six-week intensive or a ten-week program, both delivering the same 90 hours of structured content across community gardening, AOD education, and restorative practice.

Our rates are benchmarked against DFFH unit prices for comparable community-based therapeutic and case management services and sit at or below that range, giving you a clear, defensible basis for cost when seeking internal sign-off.

If a participant is unable to attend a session, a placement maintenance fee holds their place in the program and covers the upkeep of their garden space, so they can return to continuity rather than starting over.

There's real flexibility in how the program is funded, and we'll work in with whatever arrangement and approval process your organisation already has in place. The simplest next step is to request our pricing guide — it sets out session costs, transport, and the placement maintenance fee in full, so you've got everything you need to take through your own channels. Just ask and we'll send it straight through.

From first contact to exit, the journey runs across five stages, and we've designed it so you're never guessing about where things are up to. It starts when you reach out — by phone or through our online referral form (and if you'd prefer a hard copy of the referral form, just email us at contact@plantingpathways.com.au or send an enquiry through our Contact page and we'll get one to you).

From there, I walk through the baseline form with you. The baseline is how we get to know the young person and set the reference point we measure everything against later.

Next is the youth consultation, a 30-minute garden visit where the young person sees the program for themselves and starts building the plan that will shape their time with us. We encourage you to come along, because a trusted worker beside them makes a real difference.

After the consultation comes the part of the pathway I take most seriously: the suitability and enrolment decision. This is a genuine decision point, not a formality. I personally review everything gathered along the way — the baseline form, what emerges at the consultation, and how the young person would fit the current group — and I document the decision and the reasoning behind it. There are four possible outcomes: a young person may be enrolled; enrolled with specific adaptations in place to support them; placed on a waitlist if they're suitable but there's no current vacancy; or, on occasion, assessed as not the right fit for now, in which case I'll talk you through the reasoning and any alternatives. Whichever it is, I'll contact you directly to discuss it — and if you'd like to talk through a young person's suitability at any point before or after this stage, you're welcome to call me directly.

Once enrolled, confirmation of the start date and what-happens-next information is sent to everyone involved. The young person receives a welcome pack to settle in on their first day, you stay in the loop throughout, including a mid-point check-in, and transition planning begins towards the end of the program. At exit you'll receive a full summary — progress, strengths and recommended next steps — and we check back in three months later to see whether the change has held.

Fast — subject to availability, a young person can begin as soon as the next day. The only things we need in place first are the youth consultation and all the paperwork signed off; once those are done, there's no waiting list and no drawn-out approval process holding things up. We also aim to respond to every referral within two business days, so you're not left waiting to hear back either. If you've got a young person who's ready now and we've got a place, we can move at that pace with you.

You haven't lost anything — the enrolment fee is not charged if we determine a young person isn't suitable. Usually when this happens, it's because there are more acute or physical matters that need attending to first. We'll talk that through with you honestly, and the young person is always welcome to re-apply in three months, or whenever they're ready.

Consent and information sharing are discussed and confirmed with the young person during the youth consultation, then formally signed off once enrolment is confirmed. Nothing is shared or actioned until that's settled, so everyone's clear on what's been agreed before the program begins. Please request a copy of our Privacy and Infortion Sharing Policy.

We're a five-minute walk from Sunshine train station, so for many young people getting here is straightforward. Where it isn't, the youngperson may be transported by staff or case worker. Where you may require assistance, we can facilitate transport within 25km of the site if that's agreed. Transport is first raised with you during intake and the baseline form, then confirmed and documented directly with the young person at the youth consultation.

Very little, by design. We carry the day-to-day, send you the weekly progress updates, and notify you straight away of any emergency or absence, so you’re informed without having to chase us. Where you can help, if you’re able: you might agree to transport the young person to and from the garden, help sort appropriate clothing if they don’t have any, and follow up any leads that come out of transition planning toward the end of the program. None of this is a heavy case-management load — it’s the practical support that helps a young person get the most out of their time with us.

Not much — just clothes suited to the season and closed-toe shoes (no open-toe footwear, please). The one thing worth flagging to young people early is that the garden waits for no one: it needs care whatever the weather, so wet days call for warmer clothes and water-resistant shoes, and summer for lighter clothing with proper sun protection. Young people bring their own lunch and a refillable water bottle — food isn’t provided, there are no shops nearby, and we ask young people not to share food simply to avoid any issues with allergies.

We provide the rest. There’s sunscreen and hats through summer and beanies and ponchos through winter, and on their first day every young person receives a welcome pack that’s theirs to keep, whether they complete the program or not: a gardener’s satchel for carrying their gear, gardening gloves, an all-weather hat, hand cream and exfoliating gloves for looking after their hands after a day’s work, a mini compost bin to collect scraps at home and bring in, a client workbook tied to the AOD and restorative practice sessions, and an induction and orientation manual setting out our safety, privacy, child safe, and cultural safety statements.

Life happens, especially for the young people we work with — a court date, an appointment, a rough morning, or simply a day where getting out the door feels impossible. We plan for this rather than penalise it, and we keep you in the loop the whole way through.

In the lead-up to every session we stay in contact with the young person, and we’ll always call the day before to confirm they’re coming. Where getting to the garden is the barrier, we can arrange transport to and from site, charged at cost (reach out for our Pricing Guide). If a young person doesn’t arrive and we haven’t heard from them, we don’t simply mark them absent: we’ll actively try to reach the young person, and we’ll contact you, their worker, to make sure everything’s okay. We’ll also offer them the chance to keep that week’s AOD or restorative practice session going remotely, by phone or online, so the momentum isn’t lost.

How this affects billing: planned absences you let us know about in advance (court, medical, respite) carry no placement fee for that session — though if the young person still wants their AOD or RP session remotely that week, that session is billed accordingly. Unplanned non-attendance carries a placement maintenance fee, which holds the young person’s place in the cohort; any remote AOD or RP session we deliver that week is billed as normal, and if our facilitator has already left to collect the young person with no notice given, the travel already incurred is also recovered. Three consecutive missed garden sessions means we close the young person’s garden placement and offer that spot to the next young person waiting — they’re warmly welcome to continue their AOD and RP sessions remotely, and we’ll review the path forward together with you and the young person.

If we ever have to cancel a session ourselves — staff illness, unsafe weather, a site issue — you’ll be contacted and not charged. The structure is deliberate: you only ever pay for what’s been delivered or genuinely held for your young person. If anything here sits awkwardly against your procurement process, call us before the referral — we’d always rather talk it through.

Everything is measured against the baseline form, which sets out the young person’s own goals, so you can see how they’re tracking against what matters to them — and alongside that we write to the discussions we’ve had around the sessions delivered. You’ll receive progress updates throughout, and a full report at the end covering progress, strengths and recommended next steps, plus any disclosures the young person has made, copies of any incident reports, and a copy of their transition plan. These reports can support court or your own internal reporting, and we’ll endeavour to work to a specific format if you need one. Separately, the young person keeps a workbook for their own thoughts and responses to the sessions — that belongs to them, but they can choose to share it with you if they’d like.

Cultural safety is built into how we run, not bolted on. Every young person is welcomed as they are, and our practice is shaped by policies that actively support cultural diversity. In practical terms that means an Acknowledgement of Country at the site, a cultural safety statement in every young person’s induction manual, and genuine flexibility around cultural and community obligations — if something culturally important comes up, we work around it rather than treat it as an absence.

We’re also honest about where we’re headed. Building real, purposeful relationships with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations is a deliberate priority — and we’d rather take the time to do that with merit than reach for something tokenistic. If you’re referring an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander young person and there are particular cultural supports or connections you’d like us to hold in mind, tell us at intake and we’ll build them in. Please request a copy of our Cultural Saftey Policy.