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The short version

About Yosmerys

I came from Venezuela with a Criminology degree and spent eight years on the floor of Western Sydney youth services. The version of the system on the brochure is not the one young people live. Everything I built since came from closing that gap.

STRENGTH-BASED · CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE · YOUTH INDEPENDENCE · COMMUNITY FIRST · STRENGTH-BASED · CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE · YOUTH INDEPENDENCE · COMMUNITY FIRST ·

From Venezuela to Western Sydney

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas, Founder of Supporting Communities Australia and Creator of Elevate Youth Lab

I came from Venezuela with a Bachelor of Criminology from the University of the Andes. The qualification did not transfer the way I expected. So I started where most overseas-qualified women start: support work shifts, agency rosters, learning the system from underneath. Then I added a Diploma of Counselling here. That double lens shapes everything I build.

Eight years working directly with young people across OOHC, the NDIS, Youth Justice and community services in Western Sydney. Long enough to see what works, what does not, and which kids fall through where. Long enough to build something better.

Today, four ventures. SCA, the NDIS service for ages 12 to 20. Elevate Youth Lab, the four-stage mentoring framework. Team with the Queen, the podcast that asks founders the questions LinkedIn does not. Coaching for immigrant women breaking into the sector, and for the organisations that employ them. None of it is theory. All of it came from the floor.

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas
"I came from Venezuela with a Criminology degree and no map for how Australian youth services actually work. Eight years later, I am the one drawing the maps."
Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas Founder of SCA · Creator of EYL™

How I actually work

Start with what is already there

I work from what a young person already has, not what they lack. Their resilience, culture, existing relationships. Goals start there, never from a deficit list.

Cultural safety, lived not declared

I have been the family on the other side of an interpreter trying to make sense of an Australian system. That experience shapes how I run a service and train mentors. It is not a slogan.

Independence is a sequence

Independence is a sequence of small skills practised in the right order until they hold under pressure. Teaching that sequence to mentors is what EYL is for.

Keep the team aligned

Lasting change comes from a family, a school, a coordinator and a service pointing at the same goal at the same time. My job is to keep that alignment visible.

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Independence isn't assumed. It isn't given. It's built deliberately, with the right people beside you.

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas, Creator of Elevate Youth Lab™

Let's Connect

Whether you're interested in speaking, coaching, collaboration, or just want to say hello, I'd love to hear from you.

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Find Me

Based in Liverpool, NSW. Servicing South West and Western Sydney, with a vision for national reach.

Location

Liverpool, NSW 2170
Servicing South West & Western Sydney
Expanding our reach across Australia

Phone

0480 800 521
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