About the Initiative
By working with existing data and evidence, and informed by people's lived experience, Our Town’s goal is to generate new ideas and ways of looking at mental health. Our Town sees communities as uniquely positioned to be able to design and implement preventative approaches to mental health. Through providing long-term funding directly to communities we anticipate being able to create deep, lasting change while giving communities the time and space to test what approaches work best for them.
Our Town’s mission is to equip regional communities to take control and be able to lead mental health initiatives and the vision is simple, mentally healthy regional towns.
The Network
The Our Town network consists of two models. The first model includes four communities, Ceduna/ Far West, Cummins, Kangaroo Island, and Kimba, who are each fully funded for the ten years under the initiative by Fay Fuller Foundation. The second model includes the communities of Berri and Mid Murray who to date have been supported through seed funding and short term government grants. All six communities receive funded capability development and participate in network learning opportunities.
Why Our Town?
The Our Town initiative arose in response to the findings of the Health Needs and Priorities in South Australia Report. Commissioned by the Fay Fuller Foundation and undertaken by The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) in partnership with The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI). The report uncovered a significant gap between the perceived provision of services from the top, and the actual accessibility of services for individuals. This gap was even more apparent in rural and regional areas. Further insights found that people living in non-metropolitan areas experienced higher rates of mental health challenges and were less likely to seek help.