Central Coast mental health advocate and researcher Maddison O’Gradey-Lee is one of four finalists in the Young Australian of the Year category for this year’s NSW 2025 Australian of the Year Awards.
Four nominees for NSW in four categories are among 137 people being recognised across all states and territories.
O’Gradey-Lee, of Bateau Bay, aims to improve the measurement of mental ill-health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people through her PhD research.
In 2020, she co-founded the Orygen Global Youth Mental Health Fellowship, a six-month program providing youth advocates with support, mentorship and education modules to increase the impact of their advocacy projects in their communities and globally.
Together with Orygen Global, she facilitated one of the largest global youth consultations on mental health, learning that advocates felt unsupported and lacked training.
Within four years, the Orygen Global youth fellowship has trained 76 youth advocates in mental health education, lived experience advocacy and peer support across 42 countries.
More than 21,000 young people have been reached through the direct and indirect impact of the program.
At 27, O’Gradey-Lee has created a global community which is combating taboos around mental health and was the first person from Oceania to win the Dalai Lama Peace Fellowship.
Award recipients for NSW will be announced on the evening of Wednesday, November 13, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.
They will then join the other state and territory recipients as finalists for the national awards announcement on January 25, 2025, in Canberra.
National Australia Day Council CEO Mark Fraser said the nominees were “ordinary people who are doing exceptional things”.
“They remind us of what is possible when we choose to overcome challenges, be a force for good, take on leadership and educational roles or step up when the occasion calls,” he said.