Sally Morris is on a mission to prevent suicide and improve the mental health of LGBTIQ people and communities. With an academic and professional background in human services, Sally has been working in the LGBTIQ communities since 2005 when she began as a volunteer peer telephone counsellor.

Over the last 15 years, Sally has worked and volunteered in numerous LGBTIQ organisations, including Diverse Voices, Open Doors Youth Service, the Queensland AIDS Council, and the National LGBTI Health Alliance where she implemented LGBTIQ mental health and suicide prevention sector development and community capacity building activities.

Motivated to challenge practices of systemic exclusion that result in detrimental impacts on health and wellbeing, Sally completed a Masters of Development Practice (Community Development) through the University of Queensland in 2018. She has a particular interest in exploring and understanding
how participation in community can either foster or hinder a sense of belonging, and how we can work together to build communities that facilitate positive and meaningful connections.

With this commitment to developing supportive LGBTIQ communities, Sally co-founded Wendybird in 2014 with her partner Chantel Keegan, named in honour of her younger sister who died of suicide in 2007. Wendybird brings together a passionate and skilled group of LGBTIQ people that build and facilitate community spaces that foster belonging for those who are so often excluded.

Sally brings together a unique combination of knowledge of LGBTIQ communities, along with expertise in suicide prevention and community development, to provide insight to the role that social inclusion has in improving mental health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ people.

Read Sally Morris in conversation with RUOk.