Mark Holberton is Fusion Canberra’s Schools Worker. He spends the first part of his week at Melrose High working as School Chaplain and the second part of the week working at UC High School Kaleen as a Student Welfare Worker.
He also runs Breakfast Club at Melrose High on Tuesdays, organises our Breakout Youth Adventure Daytrip Program and he is involved in the Community Education Program for High School Aged kids.
Watching Mark relate to kids, you could be forgiven for thinking that he was born a youth worker. He really cares about young people and has been leading youth activities since he was a teenager.
However Mark would be the first to admit that there are parts of youth work that he finds hard. One example is when he worked hard to keep our Melrose High School Breakfast Club running earlier this year when we didn’t have enough funds and needed more support from the community.
Every Monday, Mark runs a “DRUMBEAT group” for students at Melrose High. DRUMBEAT is a program developed by Holyoak to re-engage young people through the use of drums.
It is a hands-on approach to helping kids develop self-confidence, social skills, cope with hard times, develop resilience, express emotions, see the world from a perspective outside of themselves and work as a team.
On Mondays, Mark sees students who have problems coping with everyday school life. These problems may include conflicts at home, at school, with friends, not attending class etc.
He tries his best to work with them to find a solution. Mark also organises and prepares for the following day’s lunchtime Christian group. To read more, please click on
A Week in the life of a Youth Worker : Tuesday.
If you would like to help us continue the position of Schools Worker (which includes the dual roles of School Chaplain and Student Welfare Worker) next year, please consider seriously giving us a donation or becoming a regular donor.
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