Aboriginal Elders from Yuendumu, a remote community 290 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, have passionately appealed to those leading Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT to look at their community-run youth program as an alternative to putting kids in detention.

Warlpiri leaders told commissioners Mick Gooda and Margaret White the program, formerly known as Mt Theo, had been successfully rehabilitating young people for more than two decades and could be replicated in other communities.

Mt Theo was established in 1994 by a group of Warlpiri Elders in response to the petrol sniffing epidemic that was plaguing their community.

At its peak in the early 1990s more than half the community's teenagers were sniffing petrol and many lost their lives to the addiction.

Warlpiri Elder Ned Hargraves recalled the dire situation.

"It was very, very hard and for us, and for the community, it was so new to us," he said.

The elders took their troubled young people to the sacred and remote Warlpiri country on Mt Theo outstation, about 160 kilometres from town, where they taught them to connect with their culture and country.

Mr Hargraves said they taught the youths traditional skills such as hunting and gathering, which helped give them a sense of identity.

"We'd tell them, it's your land, the ground is yours … you're rich, you're not poor … you've got something significant to hold onto," he said.

The program is now called the Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation (WYDAC) and includes youth diversionary activities, counselling and case management.

Two decades of experience in youth diversion

Now in its 23rd year, the program has broadened to rehabilitate any "at risk" kids who may be battling drug and alcohol addictions, relationship and family violence, suicidal thoughts, neglect, criminal behaviour, depression and sexual health issues.

It has successfully rehabilitated hundreds of kids from Yuendumu and surrounding communities, with some going on to become leaders in their community.

WYDAC chief executive Matt Davidson said he hoped the commissioners would look to the program as a blueprint that could be implemented in other communities.

"I'm really hoping that what we do could translate to other communities and you know maybe the concepts of how WYDAC works and how Mt Theo works could really be useful in other places," he said.

Mr Hargraves said the Government should investing in more youth diversion and rehabilitation programs such as Mt Theo and Bush Mob, instead of youth detention.

He said Mt Theo worked because it was driven by community elders who were passionate about seeing their young ones have positive futures.

"We want a strong environment place where children can be safe and to be well looked after and to learn."