“There's anywhere from two and a half million or more families and individuals in Australia dealing with something much more complicated than a spell of depression or anxiety,” says Rachel Green, Chief Executive for SANE Australia. “SANE was formed to provide support to those people and families and advocate for a better system to reduce the inequity in mental health.”

“In Australia, mental health is about 14-15% of our total burden of disease, but gets about seven percent of the funding,” she adds. “Government has traditionally weighted that funding towards more common, but low severity mental health issues. If you sit at the other end of the spectrum, you have to wait longer to get help.”

Our partnership with SANE formally began when they joined the DigDeep® workplace giving program in 2005. Since then, Mallesons has donated over $660,000 to SANE’s support programs and advocacy. “The incredible fundraising support has helped us to keep our services open and free,” says Rachel. “In the last four or five years, we've seen the impacts of the COVID pandemic, the long tail of effects in regional communities following the Black Summer bushfires and Mallesons’ generous support helps us keep our support line open.”

Each year people from across our Mallesons offices come together for our Walk and Talk for Mental Health appeal. This event, organised in partnership with SANE Australia, raises money and awareness to support people and families facing complex mental health challenges. In 2026, 483 participants walked a collective 27 million steps in one week, raising more than $21,000 for SANE.

Through our pro bono work, we continue to support SANE’s work tackling the stigma and barriers that exist around complex mental health. “We want to see a future where anyone who's facing complex mental health challenges can comfortably disclose what's happening in a safe way,” says Rachel. “Initiatives like the National Stigma report card give people and culture teams and managers an incentive to be better prepared and know what to do to make their workplace a safe space for people who are trying to navigate the health system, support their family and hold down a job.”