Knox Young Citizen of the Year Carly Brewster.By Ed Merrison
THE strength and inspiration of two young women honoured on Australia Day has flowed to and from their parents, as well as being freely given to the wider community.
Belgrave teenager Jessie Alley was named Young Citizen of Year at the Shire of Yarra Ranges Australia Day awards ceremony, while Ferntree Gully resident Carly Brewster received the same accolade at Knox City Council’s local awards breakfast on Thursday, 26 January.
Jessie, 15, whose mother Jodie was diagnosed with bipolar when she was roughly Jessie’s age, has spent the last few years helping people of all ages understand mental illness.
Meanwhile, Ms Brewster has been a tower of strength to mother Lynn and a source of unflagging encouragement to father Alan, who suffered a debilitating stroke almost exactly two years ago.
Mr Brewster was completely incapacitated by the stroke, and was initially given a week to live by doctors.
Ms Brewster said she and her mother chose not to believe the bleak prognosis assigned to Mr Brewster, and dedicated themselves to his continuing recovery.
Ms Brewster and her mother have remained resolutely positive, an attitude that has delivered heartening results, with Mr Brewster disproving doctors’ predictions he would never walk again by taking steps aided by a stick.
“If you believe in something, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. We’ve been determined to get dad to be determined,” she said.
Ms Brewster, 18, had begun helping the wider community long before her father’s stroke, and she has balanced care at home with various volunteering roles.
In the past three years she spent over 360 hours assisting disabled children at Interchange in Ferntree Gully, and she has also attended 15 camps and numerous day activities as part of the program.
A recent graduate of Boronia Heights Secondary College, Ms Brewster said she had most fun working with children aged two to six in the Interchange program, and aims to be a primary teacher after university.
Ms Brewster has also been deeply involved with the Guides, receiving the Queen’s Guide Award in October 2005 and developing skills which have seen her participate in many Statewide leaderships programs.
On top of this, she has coordinated charitable events for organisations as diverse as the Red Cross, Melbourne City Mission, Breast Cancer Foundation and wildlife groups.
But Ms Brewster said the most important aspect of her voluntary work had been attending to her father.
“Seeing dad’s progress and him getting better has been the highlight and the most rewarding thing,” she said.
Like Ms Brewster, Mater Christi student Jessie Alley said she was surprised and overwhelmed at being named Young Citizen of the Year.
Jessie has been involved in mental health ever since she participated in Paying Attention to Self (PATS), a program for children aged between 12 and 18 who have a parent with a mental illness.
Jessie has been a strong advocate for mental health not only within her community but at a state and national level, and represented young people of the shire at a parliamentary inquiry into rural communities in 2005.
Jessie is also a speaker for the Supporting Kids in Primary Schools (SKIPS) program, which focuses on professional development for teachers as well as educating children about mental illness.
A key leader in the young carers’ reference group, responsible for a number of mental health promotion opportunities, Jessie said she particularly enjoyed her role as a peer leader for VicChamps.
Run by Eastern Health, the program entails spending time on camps with children aged 7 to 12 who have a parent with mental illness.
“Those young kids are going through the same thing I have, so that is the most rewarding thing,” she said.
Jessie said she thought nothing of giving her time because volunteering was a challenge she loved to take on.
Though Jessie was excited to be recognised by the shire, she was especially pleased to have made her mother proud.
“She’s so proud because she’s had bipolar since she was my age and there was nothing like this around. She’s stoked I could get involved,” she said.
