The challenges facing young people have only intensified. Today, 63,000 young people in Queensland are experiencing disengagement from education, a number forecast to grow to 283,000 10 to 14 year olds by 2030. One in four young people face mental health challenges, and suicide remains the leading cause of death among young people. (TRACTION Annual Report 2025)

These are the numbers Sandy Murdoch and his team at TRACTION wake up to every day.

TRACTION works with young people as early as grade five, long before disengagement turns into dropping out. Small groups. Real mentors. Practical projects like building a bike to keep. No classroom pressure, just a safe place to experience success and belonging.

The results speak for themselves: 100% of participants report feeling more motivated to finish school, and 98% complete the program. But it's the stories that stay with you: a young man who found solace at TRACTION on the day he lost his father, and a young woman who became the first in her family to finish school.

Sandy's founding belief is simple: reaching young people early, before they fall through the cracks, is one of the smartest investments a community can make.

Welcome to Episode 6: Sparking momentum with Sandy Murdoch, TRACTION

If this Episode raises anything for you, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Sandy Blackburn has spent decades asking a simple question: are organisations actually doing what they say they value? As founder of Social Outcomes and Impact Culture Australia, she helps for-purpose organisations build the systems, clarity, and culture to back up their ambitions — and she joins Adam to talk about what that really looks like in practice. From impact reporting to organisational posture, this is a conversation about what funders are looking for, what donors deserve to know, and why simplicity is often the most radical choice.

What started with a busted washing machine, a borrowed van, and a parental reality check has grown into one of Australia's most beloved charities.

In this episode, Adam sits down with Nic Marchesi, co-founder of Orange Sky Australia, to hear the story of an organisation that has never been afraid to think differently or back itself when others said it couldn't be done. From humble beginnings in a Brisbane park to over 4,000 volunteers across 57 locations, including some of the most remote communities in the Red Centre, Orange Sky has scaled without ever losing sight of what matters most.

Because beyond all the innovation and growth that keeps those drums spinning day in, day out, it comes back to one thing: what happens when people come together, waiting for their clothes to dry.

What does it mean to give without expecting anything in return? For Melissa Redsell, it's not just a philosophy — it's the founding principle of A Brave Life. Adam sits down with Melissa to hear how her own experience as a young mother in crisis became the blueprint for a registered charity now gifting hundreds of baby bundles each week to vulnerable mothers right across Queensland. An honest, hopeful conversation about dignity, determination, and what it really means to show up for someone when they least expect it.

Just one episode in, and Adam is already switching seats.

In our next podcast, Adam steps out from behind the mic, with Mike, to answer a few of his own.

In this episode, he opens up to share the story behind the Friendship Tree: the upbringing that shaped him, the values handed down by the people who raised him, and the experiences that helped channel his creativity into building a positive movement for good.

He also talks about something that's followed him through every chapter of his life: a refusal to give up. Where it comes from, and why, no matter how steep the climb, quitting has never been on the table.

It's an honest, grounded introduction to the person behind the Tree — and sets a foundation for the journey yet to come.

Welcome to Episode Two. This one's about Adam.

In this episode Zoë Black, Founder and CEO of Happy Paws Happy Hearts shares how animals help create social spaces where confidence can grow – for both people and paws. Adam sits down with Zoë to explore the power of trust, patience, and two-way healing.