The not-for-profit organisation works with adolescents and young adults who have become disconnected from the community, or are at risk of doing so.

Whitelion works with with more than 150 young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 by pairing each program participant with their own mentor.

Programs are created based on individual needs, with education qualifications and employment the end goal for most young adults involved with Whitelion.

The new St Helens office will be its fourth after Hobart, Launceston and Devonport. 

Tasmanian state manager Barbara Walters said the St Helens area was identified as an area lacking in support services for young people. 

“Through some consultation and research, we found that there’s a gap in services for young people at St Helens,” she said.  

“We’ve established a steering committee of local stakeholders [at St Helens], and it all started through a small group of participants in our Three Peaks Challenge, where they raised money to climb mountains.

“The community raised over $15,000 for that and it’s just snowballed from there really. We’ve been working with St Marys and St Helens as well as partnering with Neighbourhood House.”

Mrs Walters said that the presence of Whitelion at St Helens was sure to put a lot of at-risk teenagers and young adults back on track. 

Post-program employment figures were indicative of the program’s success, according to the state manager. 

“We do a lot of evaluations for our programs and they come back that young people had increases in self esteem and re-engage with education,” she said.

“We had 60 people placed in employment last year, and we match 60 new young people with a mentor each year, and some of our mentor matches are still going after a couple of years.

“It really helps young people make positive life choices.”

Whitelion’s new St Helens project will be funded by a mixture of private capital and state government funding. 

Mrs Walters said she expects state government funding will be approved shortly.