Day in the life as a Operation Flinders team leader | Stock Journal - video Dailymotion

David Russell takes you through a day in the life helping young people trek through to young adulthood with Operation Flinders.

Transcript

00:00Hi my name is Dave, I'm a volunteer with Operation Flinders as a team leader.

00:04I've been involved for about five years and Operation Flinders is an adventure

00:09therapy program up at Yankin Inner Station over an eight-day period.

00:12A usual day for a team leader would be to get up around six o'clock in the

00:16morning, I get the kids making their own breakfast and packing up camp

00:19and then we navigate for about 10 to 14 k's until we get to our next campsite.

00:23I then teach the kids how to set up their hoochies and their sleeping bags

00:27and prepare dinner. We also do a little bit of mentoring as well

00:31throughout the day. The thing that got me into Operation Flinders was

00:35just helping deliver the challenges and the program to

00:39the young people. I have seen some of the amazing changes

00:44these kids have undergone and that keeps me coming back.

00:47With a background from the Army Reserve and as a Metro Firey in Sydney I feel

00:52I've got some stories and I'm able to make a connection with

00:55kids. I guess an example of one of the kids making a great change was we had a

00:59young boy who joined us when he was about 14,

01:0215. Very angry, terrible temper and after a couple of

01:06years he really started to settle down and we

01:09were able to teach him some things so he could control his temper and I

01:13saw him at the the gather round last year.

01:16He was at work and he came up and shook my hand and said thanks

01:19for all the things that not only I'd done but the team at Operation Flinders

01:23had done and that was a heartwarming moment.

01:25There's plenty of opportunities to volunteer. You could work in the field

01:28with the young people as a system team leader or as a team leader

01:32or you can work at the volunteer at the warehouse doing

01:36a load of tasks. There's also work parties that go up and prepare things

01:41for the exercises and it is one amazing family and

01:45people just keep coming back and we get a lot out of it

01:48as well as giving a lot to the organisation.