Our Story

At Acacia, we genuinely care about people. We go above and beyond every day to help those who need our support to lead better, healthier lives.

The Acacia Story

Every day, 8.6 Australians take their own lives by suicide. That's 3,139 each year. Six of those are men.

They leave behind a trail of heartbreak, experienced by the family members left behind and the thousands of affected children that are impacted throughout their entire lives.

As a child, Acacia Connections’ founder, Greg Kentish, was told the story of how his father lived the majority of his life without his own father after he was killed in WWII. Greg was greatly affected by the heartbreak and lifelong impact his father experienced due to losing his dad at the tender age of six.

Greg Kentish truly believes helping people with the highest-quality Employee Assistance Program in Australia will help to save the many spouses, partners, and children from losing their parents and the deep, multigenerational impact that carries on from this sudden death.

Greg is inspired by his grandfather’s tenacity, generous heart, and pure desire to help those in need as a life-long calling, something Greg continues each day.

The History

Acacia Connections’ history is a deeply personal pursuit that continues the helping work that Len Kentish did in the 1930s and 1940s as a Coastwatcher.

On the 19th of February 1943, Len Kentish, only 35 years old, was murdered by his Japanese captors in a unique and tragic war story rarely known in Australia. Len was the only Australian civilian captured and killed as a Japanese POW from Australian waters in Darwin during WWII.

Len’s murder left his family with a widow at 38 years old and three children – aged eight, six, and two – without a father for the rest of their lives. This had an incredible effect on this family then and still does today.

You can read more about Len Kentish’s story here.