How music in youth detention can create new futures

Music allows incarcerated youth with opportunities to redefine themselves from young offenders to young artists, writes Alexis Anja Kallio.
The ACMF music program at Cobham Youth Justice Centre NSW. Photo: Supplied. Two people in red polo shirts sitting outside on a bench. One is holding a guitar with the head down while the other appears to be teaching.

Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education.

These complex traumas often manifest as addictions to drugs or alcohol, mental health challenges, poor physical health and wellbeing, and conduct disorders.

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