Quality, Research, & Innovation

Brisbane Youth Service has a strong commitment to evidence-informed practice and collaborative research and evaluation to drive innovation.

Research and Evaluation at BYS

Our research and evaluation centres the voices and experiences of young people and their children.

We actively collaborate and consult with young people, academics, sector partners, and community  to address gaps in knowledge and identify emerging support needs and challenges impacting the wellbeing of young people. We are committed to using evidence to continually improve the effectiveness of our work with young people.

Key Topics

7 Year Data Project
Domestic & Family Violence
Families
Homelessness
Mental Health
Youth Participation

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February 17, 2020

Safer inside? Comparing the experiences and risks faced by young people who couch-surf and sleep rough

As youth homelessness has increased globally, so too has the proportion of young people who are couch-surfing. The risks involved in couch-surfing, compared to other forms of youth homelessness, are poorly understood. Drawing upon intake records from 808 homeless youth in Brisbane, Australia, the authors examine how couch-surfers compare to rough sleepers as well as other homeless youth on the basis of (1) general demographic characteristics; (2) mental and physical health; (3) legal issues; (4) relationship support; and (5) drug use.
November 9, 2018

Digital Technology and Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing

Putting therapeutic tools for wellbeing directly into the hands of vulnerable young people, on their phones and devices, seems to make good sense. There are a great number of apps and websites which provide guidance and strategies for enhancing wellbeing, including mental health issues and other life challenges common to young people who are dealing with homelessness and other life crises. This paper shares key learning emerging from youth consultation research into how young people accessing crisis services understand wellbeing and view the potential use of online tools for both therapeutic benefit and to enhance connection to support.
November 1, 2018

How Meaningful Change Can, and Does, Happen for Homeless Young People

Innovative mental health approaches are needed to increase access to services that are timely, appropriate, youth-friendly, affordable, and support meaningful recovery. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Recovery Orientation Model, used in an on-site counselling service for homeless young people who experience a dual diagnosis (meaning a mental health concern and a substance misuse issue). This paper suggests that youth based mental health approaches need to include clinical indicators of change as well as addressing the impact of social determinants of health.
February 1, 2018

Sustaining Young Tenancies Evaluation Report

An evaluation of the Sustaining Young Tenancies initiative, a pilot project delivered by the Brisbane Youth Service and funded by the Queensland Government. The initiative provided mobile support services to assist young people aged 16–25 who were at risk of becoming homeless to sustain their social housing tenancy.
November 9, 2017

The Recovery Orientation Model in Action

The Recovery Orientation Model in Action: How Meaningful Change Can, and Does, Happen for Homeless Young People. Innovative mental health approaches are needed to increase access to services that are timely, appropriate, youth-friendly, affordable, and support meaningful recovery.
November 1, 2017

Exploring Difference in Young People’s Experiences of Couch Surfing Versus Sleeping Rough

While young people couch surfing may experience a degree of instability or reduced comfort, the assumption is that it is considerably safer and healthier than sleeping rough. There is considerable research that supports the highly negative impacts of rough sleeping including violence, poor physical and mental health, social isolation, substance abuse and juvenile crime. When framed by this research, couch surfing seems like the preferred option, promoting less risk and less exposure to harm. But does couch surfing live up to this assumption?
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Innovation

Innovation ensures we continuously develop strategies, tools and programs to enhance the level of support available to vulnerable young people.  Examples of this include:

Cross-Organisational data collection to measure and understand our impact.

Couch-surfing research to address a critical knowledge gaps.

A focus on the intersection of homelessness and violence in recognition of the complexity of working with intimate partner and family violence in a homelessness context.

Youth-led practice informed by our Youth Participation Strategy to ensure young people’s voices and experience guide our work.

Evaluated trials of new programs that enable young people to be diverted from or transition out of the homelessness system.

 

View some of our programs

Research Guiding Principles

Research at BYS has four key guiding principles:

  1. Our research centres the voices and experiences of young people and their children, strategically prioritising forms of learning that have most capacity to benefit young people in navigating life challenges to thrive in the community.
  2. Our research is proactively collaborative and consultative in ensuring that we engage with academics, sector partners, community and young people at all stages.
  3. Our research upholds principles of reciprocity and pragmatism in ensuring that young people’s wellbeing is consistently the highest priority; and that research methods are adapted to ensure that young people benefit from their participation
  4. Our research recognises that young people’s experiences are highly complex, dynamic, intersectional and context-specific; and as such we strive to ensure that young people are ethically, respectfully and appropriately represented in all research outputs.