MIFV

Who Are We

The Mental Illness Fellowship is Victoria’s leading membership-based not-for-profit organisation and our mission is to work with people with mental illness, their families and friends to improve their well being.

Our vision is of a society in which mental illness will be understood and accepted. In living our vision, the Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria is guided by the following values: Honesty, Acceptance, Equity, Flexibility, Commitment and Participation. We work closely within communities and embrace in our work the contributions of people affected by mental illness.

The Mental Illness Fellowship believes that:

everyone will be affected by mental illness either directly or indirectly
mental illness remains the last great taboo of society. For everybody’s sake we must stop the stigma associated with mental illness
people with a mental illness should be treated as equal and valuable individuals, who can and do contribute economically, socially, artistically and culturally to our society.

The Mental Illness Fellowship exists to make a real and positive difference in the lives of people affected by mental illness through:

working with people with mental illness, their families and friends to achieve their own defined outcomes. We provide a range of effective and innovative services in conjunction with health professionals providing treatment.
creating a research agenda into the impacts of mental illness
giving people a voice for change, a chance to end the stigma and to improve their quality of life.

The Mental Illness Fellowship was started as the Schizophrenia Fellowship of Victoria in 1978 by families of people with a mental illness who wanted to make a difference. We now have a deep rooted and long history of success and innovation. In 2001 it changed its name, and logo, to the Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria both to reflect the broader work of the organisation and to speak more directly on the impact of mental illness in people’s lives.

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