For over 20 years, the annual One Door Mental Health Symposium has brought together leading advocates, researchers and practitioners to share research and workshop insights that drive meaningful change in the mental health sector.
The theme for the 2026 Symposium was 'Shaping Community Together: Lived Experience and Innovation in Mental Health’. Lived experience perspectives were embedded throughout the program and the entire day, shaping conversations on reform and community-led innovation. The event brought together approximately 150 people united by a shared commitment to building a better mental health system for New South Wales.
The NSW Minister for Mental Health, Rose Jackson MP, provided an opening address about the mental health agenda for New South Wales and the role of lived experience-led and centred services in building better mental health supports in the state.
The Keynote Address, titled “Here I am! Lived experience, human rights and community”, was delivered by Tim Heffernan. Tim is the Chair of BEING – Mental Health Consumers and former Deputy Commissioner with the NSW Mental Health Commission. Tim captivated the room with his powerful poetry reflecting on his own experiences in the mental health system.
Other speakers included:
Mind Australia's CEO Gill Callister, PSM
Executive Director Lived Experience, Katie Larsen
Executive Director, NSW Operations, Denise Cumming
Dr Laura Hayes, Research and Evaluation Manager
Executive Director, Strategy, Engagement and Housing Transformation
Nicola Ballenden, and Manager Policy and Strategy, David Threlfall.
Professor Karen Fisher, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW
Dr Bernie Mullins, Lived Experience carer
Humair Ahmad, Executive Director, Programs, Partnerships Homes NSW
Professor Olav Nielssen, Founder and Chair of Habilis Housing
The MC for the event was Carolyn Swindell.
At the end of the day, a workshop was held to shape the advocacy asks that One Door will take to politicians across the state at the 2027 New South Wales Election. Drawing on the themes and sessions of the day, attendees put forward their priorities for mental health reform.