Sam Lawrence Foundation
Understanding
changes
everything
We’re building a future where substance abuse and mental health challenges are met with understanding, not stigma.
Where help is within reach for everyone who needs it.
Prevent
Support
Recover
Why we exist
A foundation born from love, from loss, and from the belief that things can be better.
The Sam Lawrence Foundation carries the name of a young man whose warmth touched everyone he met. Sam was passionate and full of life, and, through a twelve-year struggle with addiction, was remarkably determined about recovery. That struggle permeated every facet of his family’s life, and it taught them something they could never un-learn: that a person facing addiction is not a problem to be solved, but a person to be held.
Along the way, Sam’s family met extraordinary people – clinicians, counsellors and kindred fellows who gave everything they had. But they also found that the resources available were deficient. Too often, help was hard to find, hard to afford, or arrived too late. Families were left to navigate the hardest days of their lives with too little guidance and far too much judgement.
In May 2015, Sam passed away. His loss was not the end of his story. To everyone who knew him, Sam remained proof that a person is so much more than their hardest chapter — and his memory became the reason to build what his family had wished existed.
The Sam Lawrence Foundation is that promise kept. We take everything learned on a long and painful journey and put it to work for others — so the next family finds help sooner, feels less alone, and has real reason to hope.
Our mission
Hope, understanding, and evidence-based support
Mission Statement
To educate and prevent substance abuse and mental health challenges, and to offer hope, understanding and evidence-based support to everyone they touch.
Vision
To become a foremost leader in substance abuse and mental health support, treatment and education: ending stigma, widening access to care, and inspiring individuals, families and communities to overcome obstacles and rebuild with resilience.
How we do it
We channel resources into initiatives that prioritise awareness, accessible care and recovery – through education and prevention programs, counselling for individuals and families, research that sharpens what works, and training for the carers and professionals on the front line.
What We’re Changing
The shifts we’re making
Addiction and mental illness are among the most misunderstood challenges of our time. We’re working to change that by shifting how our community sees, talks about, and responds to them.
From stigma to understanding.
We treat addiction as a health condition, not a moral failing. Replacing shame with compassion and facts.
From barriers to access.
We work to make quality, evidence-based support available to more people, sooner. Not only those who can afford it or know where to look.
From reaction to prevention.
We invest in education and awareness that reach people early, so fewer families ever have to reach crisis.
From the individual alone to the whole family.
We support the people who love someone who is struggling, whether or not that person is yet ready for help
From setback to reintegration.
We help people rebuild. Restoring connection, purpose and a meaningful place in their community.
Get involved
Be part of the change
Every conversation, every contribution and every partnership helps someone find hope sooner.
Change on this scale takes a community. Whether you give, partner, volunteer, or simply help end the silence around addiction and mental health, you make our work possible, and you make it personal.
As a registered charity, we turn your support directly into education, counselling and research. Every gift helps a person or family find their footing.
Clinicians, schools, workplaces and community groups: let’s build prevention and support programs together.
Lend your time, your skills or your story to help others feel less alone.
Talk openly. Ending stigma starts with a conversation — and that’s something everyone can give.