Who We Are

Douglas Holmes is vice president and a founding member of TAMHSS. He is the Carer Peer Network facilitator with the NSW Mental Health Carer Advocacy Network  (under contract with Mental Health Carers NSW). Douglas has had a long involvement with Association of Relatives and Friends of the Mentally Ill (ARAFMI) on the Central Coast, including as current Chairperson of the board and is a long-time member of the Yakkalla Community support group. 

Douglas is the project manager and a volunteer with Super Cro, a charity set up in 2018 to aid people with lived experience of mental health distress through education, advocacy, collaboration, feedback and equal representation.

Douglas’s foray into the mental health and addictions sector came later in life after a career within the transport industry. His passion to work with mental health and addiction was sparked by a personal journey of lived experience and recovery. He has worked as an adult peer support/advocacy worker, and volunteered as a Consumer Leader. 

Douglas was privileged to carry the voice of both Consumers and Carers, to local, regional, and national forums when he was a member of the NSW Consumer Advisory Group Mental Health Inc for 3 years from 1996 to 1999 and then Executive Officer for 6 years from 2000 to 2006. He was also chair of the NSW Consumer Workers Committee, Consumer Participation Officer at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, and a member of TheMHS with a focus on supporting the Consumer and Carer pre-conference day prior to the main conference. Douglas lives in Boolaroo as part of Lake Macquarie and enjoys all sports (watching more than participating now) and music, and supports people to organise MAD Pride concerts across Australia.