About Grow
Grow is a community that supports mental health and wellbeing through a proven 12-step program. Groups meet weekly for two hours at venues around the country — and anyone who’d like to join and benefit is warmly welcome.
A path to better mental health
Grow is an organised, caring approach to looking after your mental health and working through mental illness. Group sizes vary — anywhere from three to fifteen people, depending on how established the group is — which makes for intimate, supportive and genuinely human conversations.
The program is a rich source of wisdom and practical life principles, offering a structured yet flexible path for personal growth. It may not suit everyone — some prefer one-to-one professional therapy — but Grow is inexpensive, deeply beneficial, and a wonderful complement to professional care. In Grow, we say friendships are the key to mental health.
Membership is casual and there are no fees — though a regular weekly commitment is where the real benefit lies.
Three essential features
The Grow Journey Booklet
A popular, essential resource used often in the program — built on natural rules for healthy living and proven steps of recovery and personal growth.
A Group Method
A clear method for problem-solving and mutual learning — one that lets ordinary people, without professional training, run their own groups.
A Caring & Sharing Community
A genuine network of friendship and trustworthy helpers — people who show up for one another, week after week.
Our story
Grow began in Sydney, Australia, in 1957, when a group of people living with mental ill-health came together to find their way back to ordinary life and happiness. With little community support at the time, some had turned to Alcoholics Anonymous — and from there, a small group developed their own 12-step program, specifically for mental health.
They recorded the insights, attitudes and practical help that worked, and as more people came, they widened their focus to include prevention as well as recovery. The first New Zealand group formed in 1965. That shared experience — distilled into the pocket-sized “Grow Journey” (the Blue Book) — now enriches the lives of many thousands of Growers.
Today Grow groups meet in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United States.
Con Keogh — co-founder of Grow
Catholic priest · 13 July 1921 – 24 November 2011
Con Keogh was one of the founders of Grow, helping shape a movement of friendship and mutual help that has since supported people across the world. You can hear him speak in a recording on the audiovisual page.
Come and see for yourself
The best way to understand Grow is to experience it. Observe a meeting, join online, or simply ask us a question.