Analysis of Youth Support Advocacy, Western Health, and Taskforce

This report presents a comparative analysis of three Australian organizations: Youth Support Advocacy (YSAS), Western Health Foundation, and Taskforce. YSAS, focused on youth aged 12-21, employs the disease model, providing rehabilitation, withdrawal, and outreach programs, primarily funded by the Victorian government. Western Health, offering healthcare services to a large population in Melbourne, utilizes the public health model, focusing on wellness and harm reduction, supported by fundraising. Taskforce, serving individuals and families, applies the social learning model, addressing social issues like drug and alcohol dependency, funded by federal grants and donations. The report examines their core values, service differences (YSAS targeting youth, Western Health serving a broader community, and Taskforce addressing the general public), and resources, highlighting strengths such as YSAS's stable funding, Western Health's large staff, and Taskforce's federal funding. The analysis also notes commonalities in their nonprofit status and focus on behavior change, emphasizing their roles in addressing substance abuse and promoting health in Australia.

Youth Support Advocacy is the largest non- profit and most comprehensive youth
community service in Australia. The organization was established in 1998 and since then, it has
been spearheading the promotion of health and safety of the young people by protecting them
against drug and alcohol abuse as well as other disadvantages that prevents the youth from fully
realizing their potential (Brady, 2018 p. 38). Western Health Foundation is another organization
in Australia that provides healthcare services to more than one million people in Melbourne
along with large drug and alcohol service (Caudevilla et al. 2016 p. 41). This organization
provides healthcare services through various acute hospitals in Australia such as Sunshine,
Footscray, and Williamstown. Western Health Foundation has a special fundraising arm that
supports the work of western Health Foundation by facilitating opportunities for members of the
community through funding of research, provision of scholarship and sourcing of funds for
purchasing of equipment’s (Daniel & Cross, 2018 p. 56). Taskforce organization is the third
organization that provides alcohol and drug services in Australia. Taskforce organization was
established in 1973 and since then, the organization has been helping people experiencing
significance disadvantages, for example, issues with addition which prevent them from realizing
their potential (Glass et al. 2015 p. 1404).
The programs and services provided by YSAS organization are specifically for young
people aged 12 to 21 (Kelly et al. 2015 p. 627). These services includes rehabilitation programs
to correct behavior of the youths already abusing drugs, withdrawal programs to help those
undergoing withdrawal symptoms and outreach programs. Aside from reaching to the youths
directly through their outreach programs, the youth can access services of this organization
through their website which provides all the services the organization offers and how the youth
can access them. YSAS is a non-profit organization that depends on donations to fund its

programs and services mostly from Victorian government. In total, YSAS has 330 skilled staff
who provide a range of integrated services across the 12 sites in regional Victoria and
metropolitan (Manning et al. 2017 p.127). Regarding western health foundation, the organization
offers majorly wellness services where patients regardless of their age or status in the community
are offered injuries and stroke treatment, and most importantly drug abuse support services
(Sharma, 2016 p. 280). The community members can access the services of this organization by
visiting acute hospitals in Australia such as Sunshine, Footscray and Williamstown. The
functions of Western health foundation are funded by the organization’s special fundraising arm
which sources funds from Donnas and well-wishers (Patel et al. 2016 P. 1672). Currently, the
organization has 6500 staff who are working to deliver excellent care to patients in local
communities (World Health Organization, 2014 p.56). Regarding taskforce organization, the
services offered target both young people, adults and families. The services of this organization
can be accessed by contacting the organization directly using the contacts available on their
website online. Taskforce organization is a non-profit organization depending on funding from
the federal government and donations from well-wishers to fund its services. The organization
has 8500 staff who are implementing their services (World Health Organization, 2014 p.56)
Based on my assessment, I find YSAS to be employing the disease model to explain the
youth’s attitudes, beliefs and feelings in relations to alcohol abuse. The disease model stipulates
that addiction to substance abuse originates from both biological, environmental and genetic
factors (World Health Organization, 2014 p.56). This model provides that active substance users
must be treated where they are based on their needs and personal goals (World Health
Organization, 2014 p.56). Since the YSAS prioritizes outreach programs as means of reaching
out and providing necessary support to the young adults with substance abuse, for example,

residential withdrawal and school outreach programs target to reach to the affected people
directly and offer treatment and necessary support. Therefore, it’s right to say that this
organization employs the disease model which emphasizes treatment of people with substance
abuse at where they are. Regarding Western health Foundation, analysis of its materials reveals
that the organization is employing the public health model to explain the orientation to substance
abuse. The public health model focuses on promotion of health of general public at large through
interventions that can either reduce addiction, minimizes contact with infectious agent, and
improves living conditions (World Health Organization, 2016 p.56). Western health organization
is focused on improving the health of all the people in western Melbourne through interventions
such as creation of wellness centers which reduce harm of alcohol addiction. On the other hand,
the taskforce organization is employing the social learning model. The social learning model
stipulates that people use imitation, observation to learn from one another (World Health
Organization, 2016 p.56). This model is known to be encompassing memory, attention and
memory. The taskforce organization focuses to address social issues such as drug and alcohol
dependency in the society by offering clients support that will enable them regain their attention
and memory (World Health Organization, 2016 p.56).
Both YSAS, taskforce and western Health are nonprofit organizations. In Australia, there
are laws governing the operations of nonprofit organizations both at the federal, state and local
level (Daniel & Cross, 2018 p. 56). Tax regulations and Exemptions is one of legal requirement
that non-profit organizations operate under. The tax regulations and exemption provide that
different states and the federal government must exempt the legally registered NGOs from
paying tax. Since both YSAS, taskforce, and Western Health are legally registered organizations
in Australia, they are therefore operating under this regulation. However, this regulation provides

that for an organization to enjoy special tax exemption, the activities it engages in must not for
profit. This has affected how these organizations operate since over the years the organizations
have been depending on Donnas and funding alone which sometime proves to be a challenge
when donnas fail to meet their promises.
YSAS organization is founded in the values of respect, acceptance, honesty and
empowerment. The values of this organization focus to empower young people to realize their
potential by first, respecting the disadvantages such as alcohol abuse they are facing currently. In
doing this, the organization accepts these young people regardless of their conditions and offer
quality treatment with respect to a patient’s right to medication. Regarding western Health
foundation, the organization’s core value is safety. The organization has a comprehensive
behavioral unit that assess patients and determine their needs. Appropriate care that responds to
the needs of the patients is then administered by the personnel with the aim of promoting the
health of these patients. The core value of taskforce organization patient centered. The
organization aims to help clients realize their full potential by collaborating with the clients in
delivering their services.
From the analysis of the services of these organizations, it’s evident all their services
focus on behavior change. This is so because the services of both organizations aim to transform
people who have engaged in alcohol abuse. For example, both organizations have facilities such
as rehabilitation centers, comprehensive behavioral centers which offer services of behavior
change for these people who engaged in substance and alcohol abuse. Also, the services of both
organizations aim to promote the health of people by providing necessary support that is
necessary to promote recovery such as counselling for these people who have engaged in alcohol
abuse to regain their health. Despite those similarities, there are some differences in the services

offered by these organizations. For example, the services offered by YSAS organization such
focuses specifically on behavior change among the young adults. On the other hand, the services
offered by western Health organization on behavior change of the community members in
specifically in western Melbourne while the services offered by taskforce organization targets the
general public in Australia.
Based on the analysis of the material of these three organizations, I have come to
acknowledge that both organizations have adequate human, financial, and informational
resources to carry out their tasks. This is so because even though the organizations depend on
funding, they have not experienced serious financial issues since their inception. Also, every
organization carries out recruitment of skilled personnel who are able to effectively carry out
their functions and lastly, both organizations have adequate infrastructure that is necessary to
support their service delivery.
The strengths of YSAS organization is in its stable funding. The organization is majorly
funded by the Victorian government aside from donations from the well-wishers. The Victorian
government has included the money allocated to this organization in his budget which means that
the organization can plan for its future activities with enough financial resources. However, this
organization has inadequate staff (300 staff) which is proving to be a challenge to serve the
increasing number of young people in need of services of this organization. Regarding western
health organization, the major strength is in its taskforce. The organization has more than 6500
employees which serve its clients. However, the organization is likely to experience inadequate
finance because it lacks stable funding given that it only depends on well-wishers to fund its
activities. Taskforce organization’s main strength is stable funding that comes from the federal

government of Australia. However, the organization has inadequate staff given that it serves the
general public.

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