‘Standout performer’: Digital mental health providers reap $135m in funding
More Australians will soon have services tailored to support them through mental crisis, ranging from self-care tools to treatments for severe and chronic disease.
Patients will have more choice than ever for free mental health services, as the Albanese government pushes through $135m in digital health grants on its way to the looming federal election.
The grants go towards organisations previously funded by the commonwealth, namely headspace, the Butterfly Foundation and LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, along with four newly bankrolled initiatives. It was budgeted for in the last MYEFO.
The Digital Mental Health Program targets programs across the treatment spectrum from discrete to chronic issues, with multiple awardees stressing their efforts to bridge patient groups who often face the brunt of workforce shortages.
One of the most well-funded recipients, SANE Australia, was given $27.3m to invest in digital psychosocial support for complex mental illness and trauma, giving online group recovery sessions and one-on-one telehealth counselling.
Former archaeologist Lisa Cook used SANE services after leaving a 13-year abusive relationship that left her destitute, homeless and contemplating suicide. Having tried multiple digital mental health programs, and not having the money for continual in-person sessions, she attributes her survival to its success.
“It wasn’t until six months after my former partner ended the relationship that I even realised that it had been abusive, and that the changes in my personality were due to that,” Ms Cook, 61, said.
“I was literally left homeless and penniless … I can remember walking into Centrelink and just breaking down and crying.
“At an age where most people are winding down and thinking about retirement, I’m actually starting over again from scratch
“I could remember sitting in a train station and thinking that I had no future. Everything had been taken away, and I knew an express train was coming. I remember thinking that if I just stepped in front of it, all the pain would go away.
“It wasn’t so much that I wanted to kill myself. I just couldn’t deal with the anxiety, the worry and starting all over again.”
Ms Cook had enjoyed a 15-year career in archaeology across public and government positions before her relationship ended. She said having access to community groups with similar life experiences and receiving counselling from someone who had survived the same journey as her made life bearable.
The windfall will go towards a national rollout for SANE. Some 75 per cent of its users have come from self-referrals, allowing more patients access to effective care.
“Mainstream services don’t work for everyone, and this $135m investment will deliver more mental health care, more fairly and more efficiently to the people who need it,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.
“Every Australian deserves access to mental health care and support at a time and place that suits them.”
SANE chief executive Rachel Green said her organisation differentiated itself in providing scalable psychosocial support, which differs from psychology and psychiatry by focusing on self-managed treatments and interventions along with training skills for resilience such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
It is the first government-backed investment bringing less intensive treatments care such as group therapy and counselling online to those with severe diagnoses.
“With investment, typically there’s a structural inequity or a structural bias towards complex mental health. If you have a diagnosis or multiple diagnoses that are from the list of more complex illnesses the assumption is to focus on care for you with psychiatry and hospitals.
“Those things are an important part of a treatment journey but unfortunately there’s an unintended consequence which is an assumption that coaching, talking therapies and counselling isn’t for you.”
Other programs funded include a self-directed assessment program called This Way Up, as well cognitive behavioural therapy for fathers experiencing postpartum depression.
Assistant Mental Health Minister Emma McBride said the free services would give support “from the city to the bush”, with This Way Up also developing multilingual services under the grant program.
This Way Up director Mike Millard said 30,000 clinicians used their service, alongside many more patients, to standardise their method for teaching CBT. It also provides a stopgap support for those with minor or discrete mental issues awaiting care.
“When it comes to mental health interventions, digital is this amazing standout performer,” Dr Millard said.
“Because of the huge amount of demand for help in our community, there can be quite a big wait … (for) Better Access (subsidised appointments) it is six to eight weeks to see a psychologist. That is unacceptable, particularly when programs like ours are beautifully placed to be able to be used.”
Access SANE free services at 1800 187 263
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