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The Arclight Initiative

The Arclight Initiative

Discover how Arclight is transforming the lives of at-risk young people, and community safety in the Kwinana community as a result.

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About the Arclight Initiative

The City of Kwinana spearheaded Arclight in partnership with key stakeholders to address criminal and anti-social activity by youth which cost the community several million dollars in 2023.

Fundamentally, it is a systems shift in how a community has and does wrap itself around young people.

Community safety is a top priority in Kwinana, and the Arclight initiative was developed to address this need with a targeted, effective solution.

With ‘tough on crime’ approached seeing up to 70 per cent of young people return to detention within a year, and each detention costing more than $1 million per child annually, Arclight offers a targeted alternative model, working intensively with a small group of youth at a time.

Arclight addresses the root causes of disengagement, and creates an individual plan for each participant that also ensures family and community commitment.

It uses the framework known as ARC (Attachment, Regulation and Competency), which was based on an award-winning program known as the Youth Intervention Partnership, by Save the Children, and it had previously been run in Armadale.

Arclight’s 2024 pilot offered three-day a week engagement, with 43 life skills workshops, 59 sport and fitness sessions, 37 immersive skills-based excursions, and 168 hours of specialist education.

There are now separate programs run annually for boys and girls, at no cost to the City of Kwinana’s ratepayers.

Results of the Arclight Initiative

Arclight is a safe and supportive alternative to traditional school, with excursions, small class sizes and strong relationships with staff playing a key role in engagement.

Young people described significant personal growth including better anger management, greater confidence, and improved social skills.

During the 2024 pilot period, WA Police reported a significant reduction in offending by participants. Curtin University also measured the pilot’s success, as the funder of the pilot through the Safer Community Grant Fund 6. In this period, school suspensions fell 94 per cent, while school attendance and attainment improved from 24 per cent to an average of 74 per cent.

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The Arclight journey

The City of Kwinana spearheaded the Arclight initiative as a pilot in 2024, in response to a high level of criminal and anti-social behaviour by a group of boys aged 12 to 14 years.

The Arclight initiative is a holistic model grounded in the Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) framework, which is a research-based model designed to support children and adolescents through trauma-informed care.

By building trust and fostering strong mentoring relationships, the ARC framework creates meaningful opportunities for learning and personal growth.

The successful pilot became a fully-fledged program in April 2025, funded by the Department of Communities ($375,000) and WA Police ($250,000).

The City also advocated heavily for leading not-for-profit Outcare WA to deliver a version of the Arclight program to girls, funded by Telethon and the Department of Social Services from April 2025, in direct response to community-identified needs.

The program was put together at no cost to ratepayers and key to the program was the partnership between Gilmore College, WA Police, the Department of Communities and the Department of Education, among others.

Arclight program elements

Relationship Building Activities

Intensive relationship building activities are co-designed with young people to fast-track trust and rapport. Participants bond with Youth Workers five days a week for the first month, and these workers remain with them through the duration of the program.

Comprehensive Functional Assessments

Arclight then uses these established relationships to facilitate cognitive assessments with a dedicated neuroscientist and psychologist.

Alternative Education

Participants are then re-introduced to an alternative learning environment with a specialised teacher on a modified timetable. Youth Workers and educational assistants support each young person one-on-one and help with focus, engagement and positive behaviour.

Berry Street Education Model training is provided to both youth workers, education assistants and teachers to enable a trauma informed, shared strategy.

Life skills, volunteering and goal setting

Afternoons feature life-skills workshops, volunteering, sports and other activities that encourage personal growth and learning. Particular focus is centred around developing abilities for long term success in life, such as resilience, independence, money management, cooking, hygiene, conflict resolution and positive relationships.

Coordinated partnership working

Arclight works in partnership with multiple Government Departments.

Through consent forms that allow sharing of information among Arclight partners, young people and families receive coordinated, collaborative case management that allow fast-tracked results.

Existing facilities, resources and partnership, and relationships with stakeholders and the community, including Indigenous Elders, are used to create an intensive trauma informed support service for disengaged young people.

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City of Kwinana kaditj kalyakoorl moondang-ak kaaradj midi boodjar-ak nyininy, yakka wer waabiny, Noongar moort. Ngala kaditj baalap kalyakoorl nidja boodjar wer kep kaaradjiny, baalap moorditj nidja yaakiny-ak wer moorditj moort wer kaditj Birdiya wer yeyi.

The City of Kwinana acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, work and play, the Nyoongar people. We recognise their connection to the land and local waterways, their resilience and commitment to community and pay our respect to Elders past and present.

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