Michelle Bryant Email and Phone Number

The Community Restorative Centre (CRC) provides a range of services to people involved in the criminal justice system and their families. CRC is the lead provider of specialist throughcare, post-release, and reintegration programs for people transitioning from prison into the community in NSW. All CRC programs aim to reduce crime and break entrenched cycles of disadvantage, offending and imprisonment.

The Helmsman Project is a not-for-profit organisation that runs an innovative coaching program designed to build life skills (hope, self-regulation, resilience) in year 9 students from schools located in communities affected by disadvantage.The year-long program starts with a 12-week personal and team coaching process that integrates two intense adventure education blocks to complement the students’ learning processes. Participants learn to develop a broadened perspective of the opportunities available to them in the future, a sense of hope, self-regulatory skills and increased resilience – all attributes that will help them navigate through life’s challenges and achieve their full potential.Following the first 12 weeks, participants are supported to develop and implement a community project, learning work readiness skills such as project management, presentation skills, teamwork and time management, in addition to pursuing the development of the 'soft' skills learnt during the initial 12 weeks.The delivery of The Helmsman Project is complemented by a research program overseen by the University of Sydney and ACU. The aim of the research (i.e. longitudinal randomised control trial) is to evaluate outcomes and inform future program enhancements.