Tattoos, transformation and trust
- May 5
- 6 min read
Kylie Vaughan calls herself a ‘Spicy Christian’ – bold, unfiltered and drawn to life’s toughest conversations. The harder the challenge, the better. But she’s also grounded in faith, driven by deep compassion, and passionately believes real change starts within. As a Salvos Employment Plus Employment Consultant, she channels that belief into helping ex-offenders rebuild their lives from the ground up. In her ongoing series on The Salvation Army’s Employment Plus agency, Salvos Online journalist LERISSE SMITH chatted with Kylie about leading from the front and why change starts with what we are willing to confront.
When Jane* was just 12 years old, she was trafficked by her mother and sold for a bag of dope.
The horrific circumstances became the backdrop to a life largely spent in prison – until meeting Kylie in a maximum-security facility changed her trajectory, sparking 22 weeks of support that helped her rebuild her life and pursue becoming a youth advocate.
Kylie’s confronting yet hopeful work is driven by empathy, a passion for changing lives, and supporting ex-offenders as they rebuild – often from the ground up. It isn’t just a job; it’s a calling born from frustration, compassion and a refusal to look away.
“I was just sick and tired of seeing prisoners released who had done their time, all dressed up and quite literally nowhere to go,” Kylie reflects.
“They were hungry. They only had the clothes on their backs. They were disconnected from culture, from family, no circle of friends or positive influencers, no one to have a hot cup of tea with. I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. And I thought to myself, if, in 20 years’ time, what if either of my children were in that position, what would I want? I’m a firm believer that we can’t expect change unless we’re able to do it ourselves and to start leading from the front.”
And that question didn’t just linger there; it redirected the course of her life.
It began with opening a small outreach in Laidley, a rural town in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley Region, in December 2024, offering a cup of noodles, a coffee, and a conversation with ex-offenders – a non-judgemental service to anyone.
“It was me serving them and removing the barriers by being approachable,” Kylie says. “Being someone they can connect to and recharge to and get a positive spin on life beyond barriers.”
After a ‘whimsical conversation’ of wishful thinking with a colleague, Belinda Donova-Beggs, The Steps of Freedom Initiative (SOFI) was then born.
It has exceeded expectations.
Testament to this is that the Employment Plus program has welcomed over 2000 people whilst in custody, on parole, and entangled in the corrections system in some way.
READ MORE: More than a job for Graeme White
Currently, SOFI has nearly 100 people commencing with Kylie.
“It’s not because I’m the silver bullet,” she emphasises.
“It’s because this program does what we say we’re going to do. There’s no fictitious building up of fake. We deal with facts. We have transparent communication with Corrections. We don’t overpromise. We do what we say we’re going to do.
“If we’re goal-setting today, we’re goal-setting. If we’re making outward referrals, we’re making outward referrals. There’s no changing of faces, no manipulation. It’s almost as if we’re speaking a love language that was always there for them, but they never knew was available to them – and that’s compassion.”
For Kylie, patterns of offending are rarely a mystery.
Many clients come from loveless, hugless, structureless homes where children grow into adults who struggle with conflict, lacking the foundational building blocks that often start with family conversations at the dinner table.
And the biggest barrier ex-offenders face when seeking employment? A lack of confidence.
It’s quiet but powerful, seeping into every corner of a person’s life, fuelling destructive behaviours, toxic relationships, alcohol, and other drugs.
And how do they deal with it?
“You address it,” she says. “You agitate it, walk into those waters – get the sediment to the surface – and apply practical, genuine solutions. You start by bringing down the barriers, making sure that they can talk to me about anything.”
Trust becomes the cornerstone of every relationship she builds.
Kylie explains that after building trust, she can confidently introduce people to new resources without them feeling set up to fail. Her approach involves identifying their issues, creating an action plan, and connecting them with support services such as Salvos Doorways, first responders, and chaplaincy.
While Kylie is faith-based, she doesn’t impose her beliefs. Instead, she offers a different perspective that can challenge their existing assumptions. Interestingly, many ex-offenders assume Christianity is straight-laced or stereotypically a blonde-haired and blue-eyed person.
Then they meet Kylie.
“I’ve got more tattoos than many of them put together!” she says. “I am a spicy Christian, but undoubtedly a faith-filled Christian. In every aspect, we incorporate all of the core values of just being a good human.”
The impact is immediate.
“The response is always remarkable,” Kylie says. "They sit with me because it’s voluntary. They are not in prison ... for the first time in many of their lives, they are sitting across the table from someone who they know gets it. You start seeing them engage, you see them flicker with hope, and they start setting and achieving goals.”
It’s never about perfection. It’s about progression.
Kylie also supports employers hesitant to hire ex-offenders, while keeping victims front of mind. She respects each employer’s boundaries, especially around specific offences, and works within their comfort levels rather than pushing them beyond what they accept.
But getting a job is only part of the picture. The real challenge is keeping people engaged in work that keeps them ticking. That’s why her support doesn’t stop at placement.
“This is why I love Employment Plus,” she says. “We give a genuine 360-degree service.”
This includes removing low-lying barriers: paying for the cost of fuel, phones, car registrations, first-aid training. Accessing government-provided employment funding can take someone from survival mode to thrive mode.
And the success stories speak for themselves.
Recently, a Māori lady who was on a 501 VISA and a candidate for deportation was able to secure employment four months after being involved with SOFI.
Ex-offenders also secure work often in industries they were trained in during prison – welding, construction, woodwork. Several creative and talented beautiful minds come out of prison, Kylie added, eventually settling and continuing their passions.
If there’s one constant in her work, it’s this: people want a chance and someone to trust.
“They’ve been let down all their lives,” she says. “They want to believe in you. They want to trust you. They just need the opportunity to trust.”
And the Employment Consultant insists her work isn’t solo.
“I’m very fortunate. Employment Plus rallies behind me,” Kylie remarks. “Not just the immediate team, but the executive team, the national management team, the regional managers. There is never a door closed – and I rely heavily on that.”
Two Bible verses are also kept close to her heart: 1 Corinthians 15:33 and Proverbs 13:20, both centred on the power of relationships.
“The Salvation Army is doing things that haven’t been able to be achieved,” she says.
“The fact that we have been able to open these doors and become intertwined in this area is only evidence that God is real. We are trailblazing this because we don’t want to have applause or anything in return, but we are living up to the core values of this great army. Everything we do has to be to improve and leave this world better than what we inherited."
*Jane is not her real name. It has been used to protect her identity.
