Mind Australia and One Door Mental Health (One Door) are merging to establish one of the largest community managed mental health and wellbeing service specialists in Australia, offering a full continuum of mental health services, ranging from early intervention to complex care.
This merger marks a significant milestone, bringing together two organisations with a deep history of commitment and dedication to enhancing the wellbeing of people living with significant mental health concerns, as well as their families, carers, and supporters. Collectively, Mind Australia and One Door share more than 80 years of evidence-based service delivery, supported housing, research, and advocacy, with lived experience at the forefront of all their practice, thinking, and workforce design.
One Door Mental Health will become part of the Mind Australia Group, an affiliation of companies with a shared vision to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of people, families and communities across Australia. This collective purpose is deeply grounded in their commitment to providing comprehensive services driven by lived experience, research, and other evidence-informed practices.
The Group includes Mind Australia, The Haven Foundation Victoria, The Haven Foundation Australia, and One Door Mental Health and marks a significant step forward in the provision of mental health support in Australia.
With a nationwide presence, the group has the following aims:
- Put lived experience at the centre: Build on their commitment to valuing the expertise, strengths and skills of people with lived and living experience of mental health challenges. From Board to frontline staff, lived experience and expertise will be embedded into all parts of the organisation.
- Lead with purpose: Empower a national mental health workforce through purpose-driven ways of working informed by principles of trust, valuing lived expertise, transparency, local decision making, and efficiency.
- Innovative services: Offering financial stability and scale, to create opportunities for innovative solutions and provide greater flexibility to develop and expand into new service offerings with proven outcomes for the people they support.
- Comprehensive mental health supports: Deliver a full continuum of mental health services, ranging from early intervention to complex care that ensures people with varying mental health needs can access appropriate support.
- Largest specialised housing with support provider: Provide a national housing service for people with significant mental health challenges, that has a proven track record of enhancing their overall wellbeing.
- Advancement in research: Leverage One Door’s Research Trust Fund and decades of Mind and One Door’s research expertise to grow, drive, fund and influence the development of more effective interventions, new service design and strategies.
- Mental health advocacy: Actively drive advocacy in the hope of eliminating stigma, increasing awareness, and influencing policies that prioritise mental health and wellbeing.
This transformative merger combines expertise in research, advocacy, and policy development to establish a leading, national voice on issues that impact people living with mental health challenges.
One Door will officially become a subsidiary of Mind Australia on 1 January 2024 with both organisations retained as separate legal entities. As the organisations merge, the focus for the following 12 months will be on maintaining stability and continuity for the people who access services and the staff who support them.
Quotes attributable to Gill Callister CEO Mind Australia
“I am excited to be able to announce Mind Australia's merger with One Door Mental Health.”
“Our organisations have strongly aligned values, and a shared vision to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of people, families and communities across Australia.”
“Bringing together Mind, Haven and One Door Mental Health creates a strong, national organisation to deliver innovative services developed in partnership with the people we support. With our combined strengths in research and evidence-based practice we intend to break new ground and achieve better outcomes and more effective services.”
“I am particularly proud to be merging with an organisation that mirrors our demonstrated commitment to valuing the lived experience of people with mental health and wellbeing challenges. This merger will help us to continue to be sector leaders in this vital work.
Quotes attributable to Kathi Boorman CEO One Door Mental Health
“I'm thrilled to collaborate with Gill Callister and the Mind team as we forge ahead in creating innovative, evidence-based mental health services for communities across Australia. Together we plan to expand upon the strong foundations of our respective organisations, envisioning brighter futures for the people we support.”
“I look forward to continuing the great collaboration between our two organisations as we hope to deepen the service opportunities for people living with mental health challenges and their families.”
“Both our Boards are committed to ensuring lived experience is embedded throughout the organisation. The new Board will have the lived expertise of both consumers and carers, and most of the Board Directors will have lived experience. From the Board to our workforce, lived experience will be at the core of everything we do.”
“This merger opens the door for great learning opportunities as we strive to innovate and enhance our services beyond NSW. It’s such a pleasure to join the Mind Australia Group and partner with an organisation with strongly aligned values and a shared commitment to making a positive difference for the people we support.”
About Mind Australia
Mind Australia is one of the largest providers of community-managed psychosocial services in Australia with a range of residential, mobile outreach, centre-based and online services. We provide individualised, evidence-based and recovery focussed support to more than 11,000 people experiencing mental health and wellbeing concerns in Australia every year.
About One Door Mental Health
For 38 years, One Door Mental Health has been a NSW provider of specialised mental health services. Our multidisciplinary teams deliver diverse clinical and peer-supported programs, such as care coordination, housing assistance, and support for carers. Operating across sectors, funding streams, and policy frameworks, we emphasise collaboration and service navigation. Guided by the principles of "stronger together" and "no wrong door," we prioritise building relationships and trust with providers, funders, individuals, and communities. Creating a world in which people with a mental illness are valued and treated as equals is at the heart of everything we do.
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Image caption: (L-R) One Door Mental Health CEO Kathi Boorman, Mind Australia Chair Professor Allan Fels AO, One Door Mental Health Chair Professor Anthony Harris and Mind Australia CEO Gill Callister PSM are proud to announce Mind and One Door’s merger.
Media contacts:
Mind Australia Marketing and Communications Manager Max McLean: [email protected] or 0497 333 545 (Monday – Thursday)
Mind Australia Senior Media Advisor Keagan Ryan: [email protected] or 0474 000 433 (Friday)
One Door Mental Health Community Engagement Specialist Valerie Tarela: [email protected] or 0455 450 576