Australians for Mental Health (AfMH) was founded in 2014 when a group of Australians realised that ideas for improving the mental health of our country was not enough -- we need public support and a loud voice for change.

In 2010 Professors Patrick McGorry (right) and Ian Hickie worked with GetUp! to secure a significant investment in youth mental health ahead of the Federal election that year.  That campaign saw well over 100,000 people sign a petition to pressure all sides of politics to commit to more funds for mental health.

Inspired by the groundswell of public support and to keep the momentum going to make improvements, Patrick worked with public policy experts, campaigners, community activists and mental health professionals to establish Australians for Mental Health.

With some early funding from philanthropists such as Dick Smith, Australians for Mental Health championed improvements to the mental health system ahead of the elections in 2016 and 2019.

In 2021, founder of Hello Sunday Morning, Chris Raine, joined the team as Campaign Director and brought new energy to our work.

in 2022 the Australian Government announced 500 Commonwealth Supported Places for psychology degrees.

In 2023 we are still an embryonic organisation with high hopes of making lasting change.  Chris Gambian now leads the organisation as Executive Director as we embark on a bold vision to fundamentally change the way Australia thinks and acts on mental health.