We first met Chris through his older brother, Sione, while delivering our leadership program inside Cobham Juvenile Detention Centre. Sione, seeing his younger brother walking the same dangerous path, he said:
“Can you please keep an eye on my brother Chris? He’s headed down the same road I was.”
At the time, Chris was a young teenager caught in the grip of peer pressure, school disengagement, and youth crime. With his brother behind bars, Chris was getting in fights, running with local gangs, constantly in trouble at school and on the radar of Police. But underneath the chaos was a young man full of potential and talent, just waiting for someone to believe in him.
That’s when Ready 2 Change stepped in.
We engaged Chris with intensive support:
⚫ One-on-one mentoring that helped him navigate anger, identity, and choices.
⚫ Leadership programs that reconnected him with purpose.
⚫ Team sports like baseball and rugby league to rebuild discipline, teamwork, and pride.
The change wasn’t instant, but it was real and lasting.
Today, Chris is a powerful example of what’s possible when someone is given a second chance.
✅ He graduated Year 10 and Year 12 — something no one thought possible.
✅ He’s now studying Certificate IV in Youth Work at TAFE, determined to give back.
✅ He has earned his driver’s license and is actively involved in community sport.
✅ He now helps train young kids in baseball and rugby league, becoming the role model he once needed.
✅ And most powerfully, Chris is now a Ready 2 Change Big Brother Mentor, guiding youth who are exactly where he once was.
Chris also volunteers his time to feed the homeless and give back to the same community he once pulled away from.
His transformation isn’t just a win for him, it’s a win for his family, for his community, and for the next generation of young people who now see him and believe change is possible.
Chris is just one of many lives transformed through Ready 2 Change, but he represents the heart of what we do: Turning breakdowns into breakthroughs, and former mentees into the mentors of tomorrow.
