The massive burden facing Lismore's young people

TEENAGER wants to see more support for young people who have been left disillusioned and falling through the cracks.

RIGHT Child care worker Lily Hotko, 19, is concerned that young locals are slipping through the cracks and not accessing services due to long waiting lists. Picture: Marc Stapelberg

YOUNG, vulnerable people who are crying out for help are falling through the cracks.

And it's the whole community's responsibility to fix that, according to a Lismore teen calling for a better safety net for the region's youth.

Lily Hotko, 19, wants to see all levels of government and support organisations lend a hand to young people who have been left disillusioned when repeated calls for help aren't followed up quickly enough.

A driving force behind her call to action was the recent imprisonment of a male friend who began his foray into crime at the age of 14.

A supportive family background and a keenness to seek help wasn't enough, she said.

"I've seen him reach out to service after service," Ms Hotko said.

He wanted to go to rehab, but couldn't get a place.

"When he was arrested, they said we'll put you on the priority list for rehab ...but that could have been prevented if they had put him in rehab in the beginning," she said.

"They didn't make him a priority until he'd gone too far."

She said a girl, 15, had meanwhile been sleeping rough in Lismore after accommodation at friend's homes dried up.

When the girl first sought housing help, she was told she wasn't a high priority because she'd been "successful at couch surfing", Ms Hotko said.

With youth witnessing stabbings, exposed to drugs and surrounded by much older people, Ms Hotko said they were left extremely vulnerable.

In the wake of the alleged murder of 25-year-old Courtney Herron - who had been homeless - in a Melbourne park on Saturday, Ms Hotko said in her experience, there was a serious gap between our most vulnerable young people seeking help and that help being actualised.

"I think they're all at risk, at high risk," she said.

"They're doing all the right things to reach out and get help ...and they're getting no response. I feel like after they've reached out for so long, they're drained and they give up."

Ms Hotko said one local politician she reached out to acknowledged her concerns but urged her not to "take on the burden of the young people of Lismore".

"But it is our burden," she said.

"It's really sad and I think, it's just sad to see that these children do want to go somewhere in life but our government and social services are making it so hard for them to have a go. It just seems so unfair."