Kimberly Byers was on a familiar, destructive path until someone said: 'You need to meet Pete'

Kimberly Byers was prepared for a life of trouble.She'd resigned herself to her lot in life, but a fortuitous meeting changed everything.It wasn't what she wanted, but after a tough upbringing in a family that struggled to make ends meet, the young woman didn't know what else to expect.

"I struggled to deal with my disability, my epilepsy, and at that time my anxiety and depression weren't good. It was all bad," she said.Kimberly was at a tipping point and had just narrowly avoided time behind bars when someone told her: "You need to meet Pete." One of the key reforms the annual Close the Gap Campaign calls for is "preventative and rehabilitative approaches" to over-incarceration.

This fibro-cottage in the cattle town of Casino has been the backdrop to all of his childhood achievements and anguish. "It's a second chance and a third chance … and you know what, sometimes it's a fourth and fifth chance," he said. He has worked at the local youth justice centre for years as a local chaplain. Frustrated by the cycle of re-offending, he started this program.Pete tells stories of young people who leave youth detention with nothing, no birth certificate, no bank account, no home or money, and definitely no job or formal education.

"I'm doing this to show our young ones, myself included, we can do this, be strong in our culture, pay our bills, we can all have a good life," she said.Callum Marriot in his Commodore — something he treasures and sees as a sign "life is picking up". About 60 per cent of young people in youth detention have a story similar to Kimberly and Callum. They are Indigenous teenagers, many from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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