About Us

A public meeting was called for 20 November that same year. More than 300 people packed the room that night, admitting to the world that they were either living with or knew someone with schizophrenia. This was arguably one of the biggest steps towards ending mental illness stigma in Australian history. 

On that night the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW was founded on a set of principles that to this day we still adhere to. 

Now, with more than 270 staff, 50 volunteers and more than 45 offices across the state the commitment to people with lived experience of mental illness is stronger than ever. 

For more than 35 years we have pioneered paths, supported friends, provided direction and changed the landscape.

Our passion belongs in making this world a better place for people who live with or care for someone with mental illness.

We have planted so many seeds of hope and recovery along the way that have lit a path for those coming after. Those who understand are standing on the threshold waiting for you to arrive at One Door.

We are now known as One Door Mental Health. Through One Door is a place of hope on your mental health journey.

Inspired by models in Australia and around the world, One Door has explored and implemented a new way of working, called Recovery 2gether. Recovery 2gether reflects our mission to create a world where people living with mental illness are valued and treated as equals, and aligns with our values, ASPIRE.

Our journey began in 2019, with a framework for self-organising teams in our NDIS stream. In 2021, we extended this way of working across most of our organisation and retained some manager-led teams.

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One Door Mental Health is committed to developing and delivering innovative services that are evidence-based and evaluated regularly. 

Part of this commitment is funding research to improve the experiences and recovery of people living with mental health challenges and their carers. Financial support for researchers is available through our Research Trust Fund and the Peter Meyer Fund for Research into Schizophrenia. 

The One Door Research Trust Fund provides individuals and teams in the field of schizophrenia research funding of up to $100,000 for a single project over two years or support of a doctoral student for up to $30,000 over two years. Researchers must be based in NSW. Joint funding with other funding organisations may be considered.

The Peter Meyer Fund provides financial support for research projects into schizophrenia, including research into the causes of schizophrenia, treatments for schizophrenia, psychosocial factors and how they relate to schizophrenia and psychosocial support services for people with schizophrenia.

One Door also proactively seeks and develops partnerships with researchers at universities and is dedicated to being at the forefront of knowledge about mental illness. Many researchers also seek our help in finding participants for studies.

One Door Mental Health is one of the foundation members of the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia. (MIFA). 

MIFA began in 1987 as an association of the various state and territory mental illness fellowships from around the country. 

MIFA was launched to provide a point of contact, a place to exchange information, lobby and to provide mutual support. In 1996 MIFA became an Incorporated Association.

Today, MIFA leverages its national footprint to service the MiNetworks phone line that provides information and referrals to mental health providers, consumers and carers. MIFA Members provide a broad range of services and supports for people with a mental illness and their families and carers.

Learn More About MIFA

Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley as our Patron

We are very honoured to have Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley as our Patron.

Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley (nee McMartin) was born and raised in Sydney. She was educated at Kingsgrove High School and went on to become a teacher, commencing in 1976. She married David Hurley in 1977.

In the course of their married life, Mrs Hurley has supported her husband throughout his career on a wide variety of postings in Australia and overseas, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Malaysia.

Mrs Hurley’s own career in education has been in both the public and private school systems, until her retirement from full time teaching in July 2011. She has been an active member of the community as a Pastoral Carer at the Canberra Hospital and Hospice. Mrs Hurley holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Canberra.

Mrs Hurley has an interest in the Arts, especially music. She is passionate about singing, and showing how singing, especially in a group, can have a positive impact on individuals and the community.

Mrs Hurley is a member and was the first Patron of ‘Solid Rock’, a Christian Ministry to women in Defence. She has been a member of the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church choir in Canberra and is a member of the Australian Military Wives Choir.

Mrs Hurley is dedicated to championing causes that are developing new technologies to recycle rubbish, and ways to reduce our use of plastic, particularly plastic packaging and plastics used for single use items, which are not only harmful to the environment but add unnecessarily to landfill sites.