About us
Learn more about the ICLA community.
Our History
ICLA was first established in 1984 to aid a group of boarding house residents in Bondi who were facing eviction. “Rotorua” was a privately-operated boarding house for more than ten years, providing secure, supported accommodation for up to 29 people with psychosocial disabilities. When the property was put up for sale, the residents again faced the insecure tenancy and lack of support often experienced by people living with complex mental illnesses.
A group of local community health workers, students and family members formed the Independent Community Living Association, and were able to negotiate with the NSW Department of Housing to secure appropriate alternative accommodation.
The original mission of ICLA was to promote acceptance, interaction and participation in the wider community with the aim of supporting people with psychosocial disabilities to live in shared accommodation, and avoid homelessness, institutionalisation, hospitalisation or living in sub-standard homes.
Today, Independent Community Living Australia (ICLA) is a not for profit Australian company limited by guarantee, which employs over 130 people and delivers mental health and psychosocial disability services and supports across NSW and delivers virtual peer support Australia wide.
Our Vision
The people we support, our staff and the organisation, all thrive.
Our Mission
To deliver personalised support enabling individual choice to improve people’s lives.
Our Values
Results for those we serve.
Our practice is person centred and recovery oriented. We listen to those we support and together we strive to achieve their vision. Their success is our success and we believe that we can make a real and valuable difference in the lives of those we support.
Respect for all.
We are respectful and caring in all we do. We admire the achievements of the people we support and never lose sight of their big picture. We value and welcome diversity.
Integrity in what we do.
We believe that integrity, truth, reliability, honesty and ethical conduct must guide everything that we do. Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way.
Accountable for all we do.
We hold ourselves and each other accountable for actions and results. Accountability ensures that every person regardless of their needs has a life of possibility and opportunity.
Our Employees
Our values underpin all our work, and our way of operating.
We recognise that diversity in our workforce contributes to ICLA’s success and benefits our employees, and people we support. We support an inclusive working environment, providing equality and fairness in all ICLA functions, from employment to the provision of services. We are a proud member of ACON’s Welcome Here Project.
We are committed to developing and growing our people whilst creating a workplace that supports and encourages our staff to participate in a range of professional development, learning and wellbeing initiatives.
Find out about our board members here.