Australian-first digital mental health program: Success hinges on fixing critical flaws before rollout

A $135.2 million government investment into the Digital Mental Health Program will see 12 mental health services provide Australians access to digital and online mental health support.

SANE CEO Rachel Green, receiving $27 million over three years, described the investment as a world-first initiative that significantly enhances accessibility to adult mental health services for those with long-term or severe mental health conditions.

“There’s around 5 million Australians living with complex mental health needs and at least 500,000 missing out on support services that could dramatically change the trajectory of their life,” Green said.

“The need to find new ways of supporting this community has never been greater, and there’s strong evidence that digital mental health support services are just as effective as face-to-face services, more economical and rapidly scalable to overcome geographic or workforce challenges.”

The funding builds on SANE’s pilot program. In 2021, with a government grant, SANE co-designed a guided recovery program in collaboration with the lived experience community.

An independent 2023 program evaluation by the University of Queensland’s (UQ) Institute for Social Science Research, led by Associate Professor Fran Boyle, found statistically significant improvements in quality of life (ReQoL) and mental health recovery (RAS-R) scores among participants who engaged in at least one support session.

Priority groups – including CALD, LGBTQIA+, and rural and regional communities – experienced notable progress within the first 12 weeks. However, there was no statistically significant reduction in psychological distress (K10+) scores or the number of days out of role due to distress across the overall participant group.

For people in remote and rural areas with little or no access to specialist mental health services, SANE’s program has been a lifeline.

“I’m in a regional town… the population is like 10,000. So there’s literally no psychologists… there’s no complex mental health. We don’t even have doctors at the hospital… my psychologist left… so I’m counting on these sessions with SANE,” said one guided service participant.

The cost per consumer registered for the SANE Guided Service was $2,614 (excluding program development), positioning it at the lower end of costs for psychosocial services catering to complex needs. However, the evaluation noted that this may reflect limited engagement, with some participants receiving only a small number of support sessions.

The UQ evaluation report also highlighted “significant implementation challenges” including wait times, communication gaps regarding service changes, and delays in developing a robust data collection system. The evaluation concluded that these issues must be addressed before the full national rollout.

Despite these hurdles, Green emphasised the transformative potential of the initiative.

“People with complex mental health issues, and their families and carers, have always faced significant geographic, socio-economic and stigma-based barriers to recovery, impacting their ability to live the same meaningful and productive life as everybody else,” she said.

“This historic investment in making our free services available nationally is testament to the willingness of this Government to explore new mental health support pathways and actively reverse the inequality in service access that this community has experienced for so long.”

The SANE Digital Psychosocial Recovery Program and Community is being rolled out from July and offers multiple levels of support. These include a 14-week one-on-one recovery-focused counselling or peer support program, semi-guided group sessions, tailored recovery resources, and an online peer support community within a safe, moderated environment.

The services are delivered by specialist mental health workers, and accessible via any internet-enabled device. For those without internet access, free telephone support is also available.

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