Neil Fairbrother is a youth worker from YASS (Youth Accommodation & Support Service) in Victoria Park, WA. Neil explains how his strong Christian faith led him to missionary work and how his faith has helped him through his work at YASS.

About YASS

YASS stands for Youth Accommodation & Support Service. We are the crisis accommodation & transitional youth housing division of Mission Australia in Perth.

The word crisis in welfare terms means immediate access short term accommodation.
We house homeless youth (15-18 years old, both male and female), with a fully supported youth worker onsite 24 hours a day and a holistic approach.

Homelessness is never just about the physical housing situation alone. There are a lot of related issues such as complexities with relationships, mental and physical health, physical and sexual abuse, trauma and grief. These can also be combined with some bad choices regarding financial, relational, substance abuse, self harm and legal matters.

I have been a youth worker for the last 23 years in Perth. I started out with The Jesus People, which then became Perth City Mission and is now known as Mission Australia. As a committed Christian I believe this is where I am supposed to be.

If I wasn't at YASS I would be spending time with my family: my wife, four children and seven grandchildren and supporting other missionaries.

Success stories

If you asked me about success stories, I would tell you that survival of another day is a success story for our clients. Being placed into suitable medium/long term accommodation or education/training are all positive outcomes.

The real buzz for me comes sometimes years later when a client calls out of the blue to say they are in a good marriage, with a healthy child and are completing their university degree, when the last memory you have of that person was every indication that they probably wouldn't make it. That is truly great success story.

Sharing the love

Homeless people, like any of us, need love and a sense of belonging. The best part of my job at Mission Australia is helping provide that, with the love God gave me, and working within a team of committed people with the purpose of helping others.

YASS and services like it can only operate within the resources supplied to us. This means we cannot operate without your support. As a non-government service we are very grateful for any government funding grants, however we cannot rely on them.

If I may use my analogy: Whilst they may supply the lawn, they do not supply the lawn mower, the person to mow it or pay our water bills.

Any help you give to us is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.