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Anne Deveson's Legacy

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Anne Deveson's Legacy

'It’s a basic need that all of us have – we want to feel valued, we want to enjoy ourselves. We never allowed people with a mental illness to have their own humanity and that is what is changing'

— Anne Deveson AO

SANE founder Anne Deveson AO is remembered for starting and improving public conversations about complex mental health issues, and promoting understanding and empathy, for people living with mental health issues and their loved ones.

In 1986, spurred on by the public response to a memoir she published on her family’s experience of mental health issues, Anne teamed up with another mental health pioneer, Dr Margaret Leggatt AM, to launch what is now SANE.

Under Anne and Marg’s leadership, SANE worked to give voice to those with mental health issues and those who care for them to promote community understanding.

Anne Deveson died in 2016. The Anne Deveson Research Centre will honour Anne’s legacy by conducting research to improve the lives of those affected by complex mental health issues conditions, working with people with lived experience and their families, friends and colleagues.

We are grateful to Anne’s son Josh Blain for his support for the vision of the Anne Deveson Research Centre, and for allowing us to honour Anne in this way.

'Anne Deveson’s courage in breaking the silence on that serious mental illness changed attitudes in the medical profession and the community'

— The Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO, Former Governor-General of Australia and Patron in Chief of SANE

Last updated: 5 March 2021

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