It’s not everyday you come across a woman like Jessica Vati.
An everyday hero working tirelessly to improve the lives of young people in the Peel region, with her service recently recognised at the WA Youth Awards.
At a ceremony on Friday, October 12, Ms Vati was named the winner of the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA) Most Outstanding Youth Worker.
A humble award recipient, the Mandurah mother said she was quite reluctant to go through the nomination process.
“My colleagues and manager have been talking about [nominating me] for a little while now and I’ve always told them not to worry about it,” she said.
“I wasn’t thinking about myself but about using this opportunity to put my service on the map and to acknowledge my support systems as well.
“I may be a sole worker but it’s because of these partnerships and collaborative approach that I can be a part of the youth services in Mandurah.”
Ms Vati has been instrumental in bringing a wide variety of vital youth intervention programs to the Peel region when no other agency have been able to.
The 42-year-old won funding from the WA Police Community and Crime Prevention fund to start the Night Hoops Basketball program in Mandurah and Pinjarra for at-risk youth.
She is also responsible for implementing Love Bites and Respectful Relationships workshops into local schools for year 7-12 students.
The programs focus on millenial issues like sexting, cyber bullying and online predators as well as domestic and family violence and sexual assault prevention.
It’s a topic of conversation Ms Vati said is crucial among young people.
“Making an impact on young people and relationship violence, that’s my passion,” she said.
“With the prevalence of domestic violence in our community as well, I think it’s really important for young people to discuss behaviours in a relationship that cross the line.
“I believe they are the key to ending violence in our community.”
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Despite almost a decade of continued ongoing work, Ms Vati said there’s still plenty of room for growth and improvement for youth programs in the Peel region.
“Where do I start?” She laughed.
“We need to make services and programs more accessible for all young people in the Peel region as services tend to be Mandurah-centric, so more support out in the Shire of Murray, Waroona, Boddington and Serpentine-Jarrahdale.
“Funding is the biggest [issue] but resources as well. To be able to increase our funding level to employ full time staff would be amazing so we can continue providing these programs to young people for free.”
Ms Vati doesn’t just dedicate her work time to the young people of Mandurah but often forfeits her personal time to assist young people needing a hand.
She’s well known for transporting young people to Perth to attend court hearings, advocating on their behalf when they have no family support and helping them navigate Centrelink.
“If I can help in any way, I just want to do my utmost to support them,” she said.
“For me, it’s about seeing young people building resilience and setting goals for themselves and seeing them achieve those goals is so rewarding.
“It’s a lot of hard work but to see a young person with complex needs improve their life or their outcomes even in just one small area, it does wonders for them and then I’ve done my job.”
