We Help Ourselves
Awards & Accreditation
National awards, government honours and a place on the honour roll — earned across five decades of treatment and recovery.
- Australia’s 1st therapeutic community
- Australia’s 1st NGO licensed for pharmacotherapy
- 50+ years of national recognition
Since 1972, WHOS has grown from a single Sydney service into a national provider of drug and alcohol treatment — and along the way its programs and its people have been recognised at the highest levels of government and the sector.
The recognition below spans organisational awards, national honours for our Executive Director, and the government milestones that mark WHOS’ growth.
Awards & national recognition
A selection of the national awards, pioneering firsts and accreditations WHOS has earned across more than fifty years of treatment and recovery.
National firsts
Australia’s first therapeutic community
Founded in Sydney, WHOS was the first therapeutic community for alcohol and other drug dependence established in Australia — a model of care it still leads today.
First NGO licensed to dispense pharmacotherapy, 2012
The first NGO in Australia licensed to provide an onsite opioid treatment dispensing clinic.
First modified TC for coming off opioid treatment
Australia’s first residential modified therapeutic community designed to support people whose goal is to come off prescribed opioid treatment (OSTAR).
Awards
NADA AOD Award for Excellence in Harm Reduction, 2023
Recognised by the Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies for excellence in harm reduction.
National Drug & Alcohol Awards, 2017
Recognised for its RTOD residential service, a national first, presented alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
National Drug & Alcohol Awards, 2013
Excellence in Treatment, for WHOS’ OTP services, OSTAR and RTOD.
NADA Outstanding Contribution Award, 2010
For WHOS’ contribution to the NSW non-government drug and alcohol sector.
Accreditation
ACHS EQuIP6 & ATCA Standard, 2025
Hospital-level ACHS EQuIP6 accreditation held alongside the ATCA Standard for therapeutic communities.
Continuous ACHS accreditation
Independently accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards across successive four-year cycles.
Recognition
Leadership of the national peak body
A leading member of the Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association (ATCA), the peak body for therapeutic communities across Australia and New Zealand.
Among Australia’s largest AOD providers
Recognised as one of Australia’s largest non-government alcohol and other drug treatment providers, supporting more than 40,000 people over five decades.
Garth Popple — Executive Director
Under Garth’s leadership WHOS has grown from a single Sydney service into a national provider — and his own contribution to the field has been recognised at the highest level.
- 2010Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence & Outstanding Contribution
- 2007National Honour Roll — National Drug & Alcohol Awards
- 2025Honorary Fellow, University of Western Sydney — for Services to the Community
- 2011–2013President, International Federation of NGOs (IFNGO)
- 2026New Life Member, ATCA
Garth has also served on the Australian National Council on Drugs under four Prime Ministers — Howard, Rudd, Gillard and Abbott.