School-Leaver Employment Supports

What are School-Leaver Employment Supports?

School-Leaver Employment Supports (SLES) is an NDIS-funded program that provides year 12 school leavers assistance to gain and maintain meaningful employment. This can look like supporting participants to develop relevant skills for successful employment, as well connecting with potential employers and commencing work.

You can learn more about SLES from the NDIS website here.

Get Involved

Connected Self is launching SLES services in 2026, and we want to hear from you to help shape what this looks like.

We see an opportunity to do things differently in this space - bringing a quality-focused, tailored approach that goes beyond tick-box and compliance. Our program will be delivered by a cohesive team of allied health professionals, mentors, and support staff, grounded in trauma-informed care and genuine collaboration with participants, their families, and support networks. Rather than treating SLES as a standalone service, we'll integrate it within Connected Self's broader ecosystem of expertise, ensuring participants receive consistent, holistic support that builds meaningful skills for life beyond school.

We're committed to getting this right, and that starts with understanding what matters most to you. If you're a school leaver, family member, or support coordinator interested in quality SLES services, we'd love to hear from you.

Want to learn more?

Want to learn more about School Leaver Employment Supports at Connected Self? Email info@connectedself.com.au.

Polyvagal Practices

Polyvagal practices aim to enhance physiological regulation, restore a sense of safety, and promote engagement through autonomic nervous system regulation.

This enhances social and emotional learning, including recognising and regulating emotions (from a physiological lens) and developing empathy for others.

This will close in 0 seconds

PACE

Developed as part of attachment-focused family therapy, PACE is a trauma-informed approach aiming to create safe, trusting, emotionally connected relationships with children and adolescents who have experienced trauma or attachment difficulties. PACE stands for:

Playfulness

  • Approaching with an open, ready, calm, relaxed and engaged attitude.
  • Not taking yourself/situations too seriously.
  • Diffusing difficult/tense situations.

Acceptance

  • Unconditionally accepting the current state/mood/behaviour.
  • Accepting that there are things unseen that lie below behaviour.
  • Acceptance supports feeling secure, safe and loved

Curiosity

  • Understanding the child gently and without judgement.
  • Supporting child to bring awareness to their inner life.
  • Wondering statements.

Empathy

  • A sense of compassion and understanding for young person’s feelings and thoughts.

This will close in 0 seconds

Expression of experience when words are not enough

Art Therapy does not rely on verbal language. It is a therapeutic approach that provides many different mediums for communication. It is a useful mechanism when clients may not yet have the language to express their experiences.

This will close in 0 seconds

Contain difficult feelings and build tolerance

Art making holds or contains the difficult feelings allowing them to be felt and experienced gradually – building tolerance to discomfort.

This will close in 0 seconds