About Us
breakingFree is a registered Australian mental health charity, that specialises in the delivery of practical and holistic mental health programs in secondary schools. Since inception, we have delivered over 670 school mental health programs, positively impacting over 138,000 young people.
With a 12 year track record of consistent growth and impact, hundreds of positive testimonials from students and staff, and a 96% rebooking rate, breakingFree has established itself as one of Australia’s preeminent leaders in youth mental health education.
Our Story
breakingFree was founded in 2013, in memory of Grant Donald Peterson. He was a beautiful and loving person, a hard worker, who was genuinely interested in others, stood up for what was right and valued family above everything.
Grant was a larger than life figure, who was so cruelly afflicted by mental illness, specifically depression and anxiety. He battled and lived with it for a large portion of his life. Grant was one of the toughest people you could ever hope to meet, but even he couldn’t overcome the torment and suffering within his mind, tragically ending his own life on the 2nd April, 2013.
Grant was a truly special person that impacted and changed the lives of so many people. He left a legacy that will never be forgotten, and his determination, righteousness and kind heart, is the foundation upon which breakingFree is based.
Grant had always wanted to start a mental health foundation, to help those who endure the same pain he experienced. In his memory, breakingFree was founded by his son, James Peterson, at the end of 2013 to help educate and encourage young people to live mentally healthy lifestyles and to seek help early.
In 2014, our first year delivering mental health programs, we delivered 9 mental health programs in secondary schools on the Gold Coast. Since then we have grown steadily to the point where we have now delivered mental health programs at over 65 secondary schools in Queensland, and annually provide a mental health education to 20,000 young people.
breakingFree has and will continue to help educate and empower young people to look after their mental health, in memory of Grant Donald Peterson.
Our Major Sponsor
The Amanda Flynn Foundation was founded in memory of Amanda Flynn, a talented, beautiful, smart and endearing young women, who had the world at her feet. Unfortunately throughout Amanda’s life, she experienced mental illness, specifically severe anxiety, and tragically at only 27 years of age, she made the decision to end her own life.
Today the foundation has been established to provide funding grants, to assist charitable organisations who embark on helping the ever-growing number of young people in Australia who are affected by anxiety and other mental health conditions.
We are excited to have found a sponsor who fully supports out initiatives and vision for the future, and wants to assist breakingFree so that we can help prevent young people from developing mental illnesses, by educating and encouraging them to live mentally healthy lifestyles.
In memory of Grant Peterson and Amanda Flynn, we work together to create a more mentally healthy society. The support of the Amanda Flynn Foundation is sincerely appreciated.