Dunlea Centre is a co-educational residential program for young people at risk of disengagement from school and family breakdown. The majority of our youth are victims of domestic violence and bullying and struggling with mental health issues. Many are engaged in anti-social activities and at risk of becoming involved with the Juvenile Justice system. Dunlea runs a school onsite and a structured residential program to assist our young people re-engage in learning, develop positive social skills and healthy habits and routines. We also work closely with parents and carers to upskill them to improve outcomes within the family environment.

We have taken groups of our students to Escape Rooms and they have had a fantastic experience working as a team and having fun, escaping from the every day challenges they face. It has been so successful in increasing team skills, problem solving and self-confidence that we would like to establish our own Escape Room onsite without the ongoing costs and limitations of using third party providers as we are a charity.

The project would be led by our young people in terms of design and fit out so it could be changed and altered to accommodate different Escape Room stories and scenarios. The Residential Services Manager and Residential Youth Workers would oversee the project and provide guidance where appropriate but it would ultimately be driven by our young people.

There are numerous benefits to establishing this project onsite from skill-building, financial and ultimately giving our young people an outlet where they can escape the difficulties they face on a daily basis. We think this would be an awesome resource for them!