Who we are

One in Five is an events based organisation that raises funds for medical research into mental illness. Since 2004 we have raised over $1.6m.

Unfortunately one in five Australians suffer from mental illness. On top of the misery it creates for sufferers and their families, mental illness comes at a enormous cost to the Australian economy: six million working days are lost and 30 million working days are affected by reduced productivity due to depression.

However, the under-investment in mental illness medical research is significant. In Australia, most medical research is funded through the Federal Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council, but only 9% of this goes to mental health research, despite the fact that mental disorders contribute more than 19% of the disease burden in Australia.

We believe medical research will change mental illness. Increased investment in cancer and diabetes research has radically changed these diseases; improving diagnoses, and significantly improving the success of medical treatments available.

For mental illness, better drug treatments will deliver real change for the sufferers of mental illness, their families, and friends. We need to stop this disease which creates misery for thousands of people year after year. With greater funding, medical research will change mental illness.

One in Five currently supports the One in Five medical research project. The research director is Associate Professor Suresh Sundram and the research is undertaken at the Mental Health Research Institute or MHRI, Australia’s premiere psychiatric research centre, in Parkville, Victoria.

The Project is investigating a more targeted and therefore more effective drug treatment for depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Ultimately these treatments will help to prevent suicidal behavior and help determine the cause of mental illness.

One in Five is a wholly volunteer run not-for-profit organisation. Please support us to change mental illness through medical research, as we strive to change One in Five to NONE in Five.