Dancing With The Black Dog is a registered not-for-profit mental health charity. Founded in Australia, we have international reach through our two main mental health resources / initiatives:

Initiative 1 - Making A Point

It's OK To Say If You Don't Feel OK

The black dog is a widely-used euphemism for depression. We’ve therefore developed the Dancing With The Black Dog logo as a symbol that anyone can wear or display to show their support for sufferers of anxiety and depression, to convey the message that it’s OK to say if you don’t feel OK.

You don’t have to be suffering from anxiety or depression yourself in order to wear or display the dancing black dog symbol, because doing so does not mean you are saying “I suffer from anxiety or depression”. Rather, it means you are saying “it’s ok to say if you don’t feel ok” to anyone around you who may be suffering from anxiety or depression. As many as one in four people suffer in silence from depression or anxiety. Sometimes they come across as the happiest person in the room, yet on the inside they are in fact the loneliest.

So far, we've received order for more than 100,000 pieces of our merchandise, mainly from Australia and the UK. Postage is free on all orders, to anywhere in the world.

To find out more, please click on the It's OK To Say link in the menu or the Find Out More button below.

Initiative 2 - Sharing Is Caring

Our Founder's Story

Our second resource is the story of our Founder, who beat anxiety and depression (aka the black dog). In his story, Mark Pacitti openly shares the years long battles he had with his inner demons, and how he ultimately beat them. Mark's story was once tweeted about by Mental Health Advocate and Twitter Titan, Stephen Fry, who described it as "a wonderfully witty, candid account of one man's victory over anxiety and depression. Mark shares his story with the aim of providing hope to other sufferers of mental illness - hope that anxiety and depression can be beaten. His story is completely free, you don't even have to provide an email address or subscribe, you can just start reading right now by clicking on the Blog link in the menu.

Get Help Now

We do not provide any mental health services such as helplines, however we have so far donated over AUD 30,000 to Australian mental health charity, Beyond Blue, to fund their wider mental health services. If you need urgent mental health support, no matter where you are in the world, please visit our Get Help Now link at the footer of this page. It's OK to say if you don't feel OK.

Ambassadors and Celebrity Endorsements

To view short videos from our Charity Ambassadors, as well as various celebrity / public figures around the world, please visit the our Ambassadors page.

Please note Dancing With The Black Dog is not affiliated with, endorsed or authorised by the Black Dog Institute in any way.