Patrick Darcy on what it’s like leading a Youth Mental Health Charity
March 23, 2026
In late 2025, Patrick Darcy stepped into the role of CEO at batyr - after more than a decade of involvement with the organisation in advisory and board capacities.
While new to the position, Patrick is no stranger to batyr’s mission. His leadership comes at an important time for youth mental health in Australia, and as we look ahead to 2026, we wanted to share a little more about the person behind the title.
We chatted with Patrick to talk about leadership, challenges, motivation and the youth slang he’s still trying to keep up with.
What are the challenges of running a non-profit organisation?
“There are many. I think probably the biggest is funding. Being a non-for-profit, we rely on other individuals and other organisations to donate us funds to really power our mission. I wish we had unlimited resources to go and impact the lives of millions and millions of young people. But unfortunately, we do rely on funds and those funds are sometimes hard to get, and I think that'd probably be the biggest challenge.”
What were you doing before batyr, and did you ever imagine you'd end up here?
“For the last four years I’ve actually been running early stage tech startups, and prior to that, advertising and marketing. I've been involved with batyr for about 10 years though in different advisory capacities alongside the board and stuff like that. If I'm honest, I'm not sure I imagined being here in this moment as CEO, but I think I hoped I would be one day. Having worked alongside batyr for as long as I have and knowing it’s such an incredible organisation, I secretly did hope that I’d be here!”
What are you excited about for 2026?
“Oh, everything. Undoubtedly our superpower at batyr is the humans that work at batyr. We just have such incredible people that really power the mission, but I have to say when I’m on campus surrounded by young people, seeing our team do the magic and the work that we do, it just excites every part of me, and does every day.”
How do you personally look after your own mental wellbeing?
“Exercise, so I do quite a lot of boxing which is a great way to get some of that energy out of your system. I meditate quite a lot and probably the most important thing, I've started talking about it with my kids and my wife and my family because as soon as you can put it out in the open, right? It's no longer in the shadows. So that's always hard to be vulnerable but I actually find that one of the most powerful things is just talking about it.”
What's it like being a CEO for a youth mental health organisation?
“Well, given it's a youth mental health org, I feel old every day, because I'm not young anymore. But I'm inspired every day by the young people I'm surrounded by. Being the CEO is probably one of the hardest and most rewarding things I've ever done. Different to when I've been a CEO of other organisations, and I think that I wake up every morning knowing that even the hard bits are rewarding though. They're worth it. It's very, very challenging but it's incredibly rewarding.”
Last youth slang term you had to secretly Google?
“I have a nine-year-old and I don't understand most of what he says, but at the moment everything is goated. Everything is goated. When he plays computer games or eats his dinner, just everything is goated.”
As Patrick continues his first year as CEO, his leadership reflects both continuity and momentum - grounded in a decade-long connection to batyr, shaped by experience across startups and marketing, and driven by a deep belief in prevention-focused mental health education.
At a time when demand for youth mental health support continues to grow, batyr’s work relies on strong partnerships and shared commitment. Behind every story shared and every mental health conversation is a network of organisations and individuals who believe young people deserve better access to mental health support, earlier and more frequently.
If you’re interested in partnering with batyr to help power this mission in 2026 and beyond, we’d love to hear from you - [email protected]. Together, we can continue building communities where young people feel empowered to speak up and supported to seek help when they need it.