EXIT Australia was founded as a non-profit organisation in 2015 and merged into OHPI in 2023.
Purpose
Founded in 2015 as an independent not-for-profit, in 2023, Exit Australia and New Zealand merged with OHPI to further enhance the ability to ensure community safety and to combat hateful ideologies online.
EXIT has prevented more attacks than years involved across Australia. Clients are located around Australia and overseas, inside maximum security prisons, in war zones and in other difficult situations. Regardless of where they are located, EXIT has been able to help them disengage from the use of violence.
EXIT’s purpose is striving to assist those individuals who have noticed their increase in violence and are now seeking a safe exit away from this. EXIT also works with other organisations to support those wanting to leave groups that are of high demand or using coercive control against their members.
As a Project of OHPI, EXIT is overseen by the OHPI Board, but also maintains its own group of expert advisers with lived experience from high demand groups. Those working on the EXIT project are all from professional backgrounds which include formers, psychologists, academics, veterans, occupational therapists and connected not-for-profits.
Media Coverage
December 27, 2022: Wieambilla shootings show conspiracy theorist threat on the rise, experts warn, The Canberra Times
20 June, 2021: The Roundtable: The challenge of being a ‘former’, ABC Radio National
24 October, 2020: Terror time bomb: the race to defuse Australia’s far-right threat, The Guardian
17 April, 2020: Extreme regrets: The long walk back from the badlands of the far right, The Citizen
26 April, 2019: Can you cure ‘hate’?, SBS News, The Feed