Carly McKinnis and Tammie Meehan are driven by their passion to help address the desperate need for mental health support in rural Victoria.
Carly and Tammie established the One Red Tree (ORT) Resource Centre in Ararat to service Western Victoria. The centre exemplifies a collaborative, community-led, grassroots response to urgent mental health needs.
Partnerships fostered over the last three years have provided provisional and early career psychology placements and employment across 27 schools, the ORT clinic, aged care facilities and palliative care at East Grampians Health Services. Graduates from the program have taken up positions in their community and across rural and regional Victoria.
Carly and Tammie’s goal is to continue growing the psychology workforce and improving access to localised mental health resources including outreach to farming areas. They are working to build the community’s capacity to recognise and respond to mental health needs and provide opportunities for connection and belonging for everyone.