Dec 2024 – Delivered the Coastal Connector program, supporting at-risk young people transitioning to secondary school through experiential learning, with 20 of 21 participants successfully engaged at follow-up.
Jul 2025 – Thrive & Connect became Far North Queensland's first Kickstarter recipient, securing funding to deliver the Thrive Guiding program.
Aug 2025 – Moved into our “Hub” at 2-32 Behan Street, Manunda within the North Cairns Tigers Australian Football Club.
Sep 2025 –Finalist in Cairns Chamber of Commerce, Business Excellence Awards for Community Contribution
Oct 2025 –Commenced delivery of our “Future Ready” program in partnership with AFL Cairns and Major Training within the Northern Nest Graduate Program.
2025 Impact Snapshot
55 young people engaged across the year
43 young people demonstrated improved engagement behaviours.
30 young people demonstrated leadership or peer-support behaviours.
6 young people stepped into peer mentor roles, supporting others.
APR-JUN-2026: Delivered our first girls program “Her Way” delivering our 10-week Thrive Guiding program to girls aged 11-15.
9 young people through 11 group sessions with participation growing steadily throughout the program.
Every participant improved across assessed wellbeing domains.
Overall wellbeing more than doubled
JUL-2026 – Cast N Connect, our fishing mentoring program available to the public launches.
Our Story So Far
5-JUL-2024: 11 Volunteers from the North Cairns Tigers Football Club delivered a 1-day team building and connection workshop to 40 players and staff from the AFLW Hawthorn team during a short pre-season camp in Cairns