We are creating this GoFundMe in Loving Memory of Lauren Ingrid Flanigan, a cherished soul and beautiful human being tragically taken from us under unimaginable and horrific circumstances. Lauren's death in the custody of Queensland Corrective Services has left our family devastated and our community shaken with many unanswered questions about the systems that failed to help a beautiful mother, battling severe mental illness, struggling to survive day by day for her precious children. Now more than ever, we have a duty to speak out for Lauren.

Lauren was a radiant woman. She was kind, caring, nurturing, intelligent, generous, helpful, brave, strong and full of beauty. She was a devoted and responsible mother, sister, daughter, aunty, cousin, niece and friend who carried immense love and light despite the darkness and complex disorders she was fighting. Lauren's sudden death has left her precious and adorable children without a mother who loved, adored and cared for them with every fibre of her being, and her grieving family searching for answers, healing, and accountability.

This fundraiser is about honouring Lauren's life and advocating for real systemic changes and ensuring that Lauren is not just remembered for how she died, but for the incredible light and love she brought into this world.

This GoFundMe will also help Lauren in many other ways.

* To raise awareness that access to quality mental health care should be a basic human right and that no man, woman or child should be left to suffer in a system that fails to care for the well-being of the people.

* To sound the alarm on long waiting lists and that without access to prompt professional assessment and treatment, mental health disorders can rapidly deteriorate into complex psychiatric emergencies.

* To support any legal pathways needed to pursue answerability for mismanaging her acute psychiatric needs and preventable death.

* To organise a dignified farewell for Lauren, a send-off that she truly deserves and reflects her beautiful soul.

* To cover arrangements needed for our family to gather, grieve, and support each other in this time of profound loss, and to access emotional and mental health support services that will help us begin to heal.

Lauren's death is a grim reminder of the crisis in Mental Heath care in Queensland. There is a severe shortage of mental health beds in the Queensland Health System. Instead of receiving treatment and support, patient's like Lauren who are incapacitated with acute mental illness are inappropriately detained in prisons that are not equipped to help them. Their mental health needs are left unattended. It costs around $90,000 a year to keep someone in jail, yet around $365,000 a year to maintain a mental health bed. But what is the real price? The cost of not investing in mental health should not just be about saving money or hospital admissions, but about saving human lives and families, and building a smarter, stronger, and more compassionate country.

Tragically, in Australia, one child is killed by their mother, father or step-parent every two weeks. This is catastrophic and preventable and demands immediate action and understanding, and not silence, ignorance or blame.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has acknowledged that Lauren's death is proof that urgent focus and reform are needed within the state's correctional facilities. He has vowed to not "brush it under the carpet" and to get to the bottom of this tragedy through a thorough investigation.

Your support means the world to us. It is a way to ensure Lauren's light is not overshadowed by systems that have failed Lauren, her daughter Sophia, all her family, friends and community. Let us stand together in love, light and truth for Lauren, so that her life will never be forgotten and that real changes can come from her story and prevent further deaths.