Our Purpose
We empower young people to thrive beyond the impacts of family mental illness.
Our History:
Kookaburra Kids (previously known as Camp Kookaburra) was founded in the early 2000s by Dianne Madden who through personal experience identified the lack of support for children living in a family impacted by mental illness.
In 1999, the Dream was hatched and from 2000, Camp Kookaburra began to come together with some great fun days with the help of a great little team of volunteers and some wonderful local organisations including the local the Lions Club. And in March 2002, the first camp was held at Telford in The Royal National Park.
Our Founder Dianne went on to win the 2008 NSW Woman of the Year. And she is a passionate, powerhouse, a woman with an incredible history of volunteer service and an abundance of generosity and kindness.
Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation is now proudly a national charity supporting nearly 4,000 young people aged 8-18 years impacted by family mental illness, with face-to-face programs running in most major cities across Australia, and our online Connect sessions reaching those in regional areas.
Our Mission:
- Purpose: We empower young people to thrive beyond the impacts of family mental illness
- Vision: Creating positive mental health outcomes for young people
- Values: Connection; Commitment; Collaboration; Integrity
Our Commitment to Child Safety:
Child safety and wellbeing is a priority in all processes at Kookaburra Kids including in the recruitment and selection process for our employees and volunteers.
Kookaburra Kids is committed to the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations: to creating environments where the safety and wellbeing of children and young people is at the centre of our thoughts, values and actions. We are building an organisational culture where children and young people, families, communities and everyone who works with us feels safe and confident to have a say and raise any concerns.
We have specific policies and procedures in place that support our board members, staff and volunteers to achieve this.
What we do
- We provide evidence- based, age appropriate prevention and early intervention mental health services embedded within a peer-based social and activity-based format.
- We drive thought leadership and best practice in mental health through research and advocacy for young people and their families across Australia.
