Sarah Herrmann, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

“If I can help them to learn from my mistakes, I’m winning.”

Those were the words of crash survivor Daniel Woolley, who shared his story with Yorke Peninsula high schoolers as part of a risk education program last week.

It was the first time the Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) program had been delivered in the region.

Students from years 10 to 12 at Central Yorke, Maitland Lutheran, Moonta Area, and Yorketown Area Schools took part on June 17-19. Previously, students from Central Yorke School had faced a four-hour round trip to attend the program at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

PARTY state manager Sofia Carlmark, an intensive care nurse of 20 years, said expanding into regional SA reflected the greater risks faced by country youth.

“Young people in the country are almost three times more likely to experience serious trauma or injury,” she said.

“If they understand the consequences of what can go wrong and how that affects the rest of your life, your family and your peers, we hope they go out feeling empowered to make safer choices.

“The core message of PARTY is we just want everyone to get home safely at the end of the day.”

Students took part in a full-day exercise based on a mock trauma scenario involving a patient who had taken drugs and jumped off a roof, believing they could fly.

The scenario continued in the emergency department, where students gained hands-on experience working on a medical training dummy.

They also heard from a police officer, paramedic and crash survivor about road safety, drug and alcohol use, and mental, physical and psychological trauma.

YP paramedic Susan Munn presented local examples to CYS students.

“I was so excited to hear (PARTY) were coming out here,” she said.

“I genuinely believe having these conversations with kids at this age will change the statistics.

“I spoke about specific jobs and the challenges we face regionally.

“Living out here myself, I know there’s no way to get home without having a plan.”

CYS head prefect Rhys Heinrich said students also learnt about drowning risks in coastal communities.

“It was quite raw and emotional… having Daniel and the paramedics share their lived experience makes it very real,” he said.

“I’d encourage other young people to think through their choices and make sure they are making the right one.”

Lived experience

Daniel Woolley was in his 30s when he was involved in a serious crash at Moonta on Good Friday, 2017.

He failed to give way at an intersection, lost control of his vehicle and sustained life-changing injuries.

Now a trauma ambassador for the PARTY program, he said he wished he’d had access to it as a young person growing up in the regions, as it would have definitely influenced his behaviour.

“You get up to all sorts on the dirt roads and you don’t think anything’s ever going to go wrong,” he said.

“You think even if you crash you might break a bone, you don’t realise what’s at stake.

“When I woke up in Hampstead (Rehabilitation Centre in Adelaide), I could only move one arm.”

Mr Woolley learnt to walk again and even regained his licence, but he still deals with long-term consequences of the crash.

“I have 40 or 50 alarms a day on my phone to remind me to do everyday stuff, I can’t feel the right side of my body properly, I’m in pain all the time, I can’t remember my kids’ birthdays, my balance isn’t great and I can’t even put on my shoes without holding my breath four or five times,” he said.

The crash survivor said he advocated road safety for young people to remind them they “don’t have to say yes” to risky situations.

“Even if I can get through to one out of every crowd, that one equals hundreds because you think of all their family and friends who don’t have to watch that one person die or get mutilated,” he said.

This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 24 June 2025.