GROW Australia - Holland Park, Queensland

Dani

Each week I attend a Grow meeting. It is structured, it ups kills me in my mental health journey. When I started to attend Grow, I was lost. Now I know how to handle my challenges. Thanks to Grow friendship.

Rene V.

I found Grow when I felt myself slipping into depression after having recovered from this insidious condition the first time.

Grow is the mental health equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous.

At the time it was very assuring to me that I was never more than a week away from attending a Grow meeting near me. Compare this with the months waiting to see a psychologist. At one point I was attending three different meetings a week because I felt the need for that much support. The flexibility to do this was and is very reassuring.

Grow has a Program which draws upon 65 years plus of lived experience with Grow participants.

What I like about Grow are the people I have met, the shared understanding we have developed about mental health, and how the Program provides a plethora of wisdom as to how deal with mental health issues.

GROW is not necessarily the answer to all mental health challenges; as appropriate, the Program encourages you to seek and cooperate with professional help.

There is no charge to attend a meeting. How much you choose to participate in a meeting is up to you. Grow participants are obliged to respect the confidential nature of what is disclosed at meetings.

In between meetings there are opportunties to socalise, for example over a coffee (with a walk afterwards) or at a BBQ.

Triste P.

My experience with Grow is that it has been crucial in my recovery from a marriage breakdown which led to a mental breakdown. The friendly members, the program material and the support were so helpful as I learnt how to rebuild my life. I wasn't alone anymore. I had people around me who understood what I had gone through, and knowing others' recovery stories gave me hope that I too could recover - and I did. I am a new person and my whole world has changed for the better. I have built a life I now enjoy living to the fullest. Thank you to Grow for being there.

Yvette Z.

Attended a meeting before covid. Never again. The group I was with was very religious. Nobody seemed to know what they were doing and they were dishing out advice like unqualified psychologists. The experience really made me uncomfortable. wouldn't recomend for people with disability/ complex mental illness as there aren't any professionals on site. I left so terrified the second I could. It's a copy paste of AA and NA 12 step program without the sobriety.

Jo Y.

I had tried many different things to address the mental and emotional distress I experienced since my teen years - antidepressants, psychologists, religion/new age spirituality, reiki and physical therapies, but nothing really helped. I knew I needed to make changes but I didn’t know what or how to change. I felt really alone. When I eventually went to GROW (it took 6 years for me to eventually work up the courage) I found the program had tried and true ways to improve my mental and emotional wellbeing that people had worked out through their lived experience. I found caring, friendly people who understood what I was going through and I no longer felt that I was struggling all alone. GROW isn’t a magic wand, it takes patience and persistence and a willingness to listen and try things out but I can honestly say that it was the best thing I ever did for my mental health.

Cathy M.

There are good and not so good aspects to Grow and I question whether or not they deserve government funding. That said, I am leaving them about $1000 in my will. The reason I question their public funding is because they are very 'niche' (their conflation of mental illness with 'emotional immaturity' is both outdated and deeply disturbing in all reality), they will be attractive to a tiny minority of people and I feel that the user pays system is fairer because of this. There really isn't a program and certainly nothing evidence based. It is about people meeting regularly, following a structured meeting process which includes chanting in unison, making all sorts of promises to the universe and occasionally discussing their journey before chanting some more and standing in a circle holding hands after giving voluntary donations. References are made to a special 'book'. Sound like church? Well, the founder is now deceased but was a catholic priest. The 'book' is full of homespun wisdom from this man, but I've had better inspirational matter through my Fb feed. I've engaged with Grow several times across my life and the only reason why it exists is simply that it is accessible, you just turn up to a meeting, and cheap, you don't have to give a donation, and you get to be around people if you're very socially isolated. There is a veneer of warmth and friendship. There is a total turnover of people every 10 or so years - I know as I've gone ten years apart several times when experiencing life transitions. They must either deepen their friendships with individuals and all leave, find individuals elsewhere or I guess go back into isolation. There is little privacy in meetings - people are expected to discuss their issues with established members and curious first timers in the room and this and the chanting and pressure to read things aloud will turn many people off. Many of the people are very poverty stricken. The first time I went there were homeless people and a person who'd been released from prison. You wonder if a friendship could develop with people who couldn't afford to meet you for a pub meal even. Grow worked for me this time around as I was isolated and just needed to be around people but didn't want to go into the private mental hospital system. Within weeks I'd enrolled in Tafe and joined a professional women's group and am now off to a conference in Sydney with them soon. The things that were jarring to me about Grow would have got worse, but I am responding to their constant calls on their Facebook page for people to leave their money to them as they helped me through a tough patch and I've now found things that don't jar and lifelong friendships with other groups. But Grow is not for everyone and there is definite pressure to conform to the group process. There are also paid staff members who can throw their weight around in meetings (and the founder would have never wanted paid staff) and that is another reason why funding is not needed. But for their accessibility and the fact I was able to move on to other things they get $1000 from me.

Edit - I've just read the semi-anonymous response and am surprised to read that I have written somewhere that GROW was beneficial to my mental wellbeing in this review. I can't see it anywhere and it certainly wasn't. It was painful and awkward to be in such an invalidating environment. But it was all that was available to me. I only started to feel better when I left Grow. But I wanted to not make it all about me and acknowledge it as a stepping stone if you've got really isolated for the benefit of other mental health consumers.

Michelle ?. S.

GROW Australia is a community organisation that offers a range of programs for mental wellbeing. I've been a member and volunteer since 2017 because of its caring & positive community and the structured format that supports everyone to have a say and work on solutions to their challenges. In-person and online options provide flexibility for diverse needs and changing circumstances. It's also great to know GROW's a long-established provider of intentional peer-based support with proven results, IHCA certification and government recognition in the form of health funding and registered charity status.

Julie S.

Grow has helped me keep going when life gets tough. It is the people in the group who make a difference. It is like I have found my tribe - people who really get you and care.