The digital mental health landscape is constantly growing the changing, and it can be difficult to keep up, especially for time-poor health professionals. Fortunately, at eMHPrac we are focused on staying up to date with all the latest research and service changes. Here is a snapshot of some of the major changes to the digital mental health landscape in the last six months.
New Services
In the last six months, a few new services have popped up. Here are some of the new services we’ve been looking at:
MoRE
https://moreprogram.com.au/desktop-home
Self-guided online program and app with CBT and mindfulness skills for adults who have experienced depression and anxiety. Offers brief screening for adults (18 yrs+) with symptoms of depression (PHQ9) and anxiety (GAD7) with a printable letter to take to a GP.
MyHeLP
https://myhelpprogram.com/sign-in
Self-directed online program or app providing skills to improve smoking and drinking habits, exercise, healthy eating, mood management and sleep quality.
Open Arms ‘Safe Zone Support’
https://www.openarms.gov.au/safe-zone
1800 142 072 (24/7)
Free, 24/7, anonymous counselling phone line for current and ex-serving ADF personnel, veterans and their families.
Partners in Parenting: Education (PiP-Ed)
Self-guided online program for parents and caregivers of teens aged 12-18 years experiencing school refusal due to anxiety and/or depression. Not recommended as the only source of support.
SHADE
A self-guided online program to help adults experiencing symptoms of depression and who are drinking alcohol or using other drugs.
The DEAL Project
A self-guided online program to help young people (aged 17 yrs+) experiencing symptoms of depression and/or who are drinking alcohol. Offers screening for alcohol use (AUDIT) and depression (DASS-21, depression subscale) with brief feedback and recommendations for support.
Witness to War
https://www.fasstt.org.au/witness-to-war/
1800 845 198
A multilingual telephone counselling line for people in Australia affected by overseas conflict.
Updates to Existing Services
Digital mental health services are constantly developing and updating their offerings. The following services all released updates in the last six months.
MindSpot
New Sleep Course
https://www.mindspot.org.au/treatments/sleep-course/
Mental health screening, information and online CBT treatment programs with optional therapist guided support for adults with anxiety & depression, OCD, PTSD, chronic pain, and chronic conditions.
Their new Sleep Course is designed to support people dealing with ongoing sleep issues and the emotional toll they can bring. During the course people will learn how sleep works, and practical, evidence-based skills to improve their sleep.
PANDA
1300 726 306
Phone and online support for parents and families during family planning, pregnancy and the first year of parenthood. Helpline available Monday to Friday, 9am to 7:30pm and Saturdays between 9am and 4pm.
The PANDA website now features a new chatbot ‘Dot’ which people can use to explore their mental health and wellbeing during pregnancy and as a new parent.
Pivot Point now Between the Lines
https://betweenthelines.org.au/
Information, screening tool (modified eASSIST Lite), tips and resources relating to alcohol and other drug use for people in the LGBTIQA+ community.
Pivot Point rebranded to Between the Lines earlier this year.
Aged Care Grief and Bereavement Service now Grief Australia
1800 22 22 00
Phone counselling and online support groups for people living in aged care experiencing grief and bereavement, as well as their families and support people.
AIMhi-Y
https://staystrong.org.au/young-mob/resources/aimhi-y-app-2
Available on Google Play and App Store
An app developed on the lands of the Larrakia and Arrernte People for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (12-25yrs) at risk of distress and suicide.
The AIMhi-Y has been updated with new content co-designed with Larrakia, Kaurna, and Arrernte communities, including 11 videos, 7 relaxing games and 5 character stories to boost wellbeing and cultural connection.
Discontinued Services
There are many reasons a service may be discontinued, such as loss of funding and technological changes. Unfortunately, we have had to say goodbye to the following services in the last six months.
- While I’m Away
- Child360
- Griefline G’Day Line
- Parenting Through Cancer
- ReachOut WorryTime
Digital Mental Health Safety and Quality Standards
The Digital Mental Health Safety and Quality Standards are a national standard to assess the quality, care and safety of Australian digital mental health services. They include 59 actions related to clinical and technical aspects of digital mental health services, with the aim of improving the quality of service provision and protecting users from harm.
The following services have received accreditation within the standards in the last six months:
- Baby Steps
- Beyond Blue
- DadBooster
- For When Helpline
- MindMum
- MOST
- MumMoodBooster
- PANDA
- Peer CARE Companion Warmline
- Smiling Mind
- What Were We Thinking
- Eating Disorders Families Australia ‘Online Support Groups’
- Eating Disorders Families Australia ‘Fill the Gap’
Professional Development for Digital Mental Health Use
The Black Dog Institute Health Professional Resource and Education Hub is a great space to access professional development resources. Registrants to the hub can access live and recorded evidence-based webinars sharing information, tools and insights into using digital mental health in practice.
In the last six months, they have released 4 new webinars which can now be accessed at any time including:
- Using online tools to support youth mental health
- Practical aspects of blended care
- Supporting complex mental health beyond traditional care
- Behind the frontline: How TEN supports health professionals at risk of burnout
WellMob are constantly reviewing and adding new resources to their website to bring health workers the best digital mental health resources made for and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In the last six months the WellMob team have added almost 20 social and emotional wellbeing resources to their library of over 556 online resources.
The WellMob website also includes a series of resource sheets for workers, providing short cuts to the best resources for common wellbeing issues to use with clients and patients, families, communities and carers. In the last six months WellMob have updated many of their resources sheets for workers including:
WellMob have also updated the Best Practice Ideas section, introducing 6 new topics to help health and wellbeing workers working with First Nations peoples find practical strategies and guides to help them be more effective and culturally responsive. Find professional development resources for:
- Alcohol and other drugs (AOD)
- Allyship
- Culturally safe services
- Family support
- Mental health and psychology
On Our Reading Radar
In the last six months, research has spanned a range of important themes—including youth-focused interventions, digital tools for sleep and anxiety, service delivery in rural and remote areas, ethical and practical considerations of AI, and the safety of mental health apps. We’ve also seen continued interest in evaluating real-world digital services across Australia. Here are some of the key publications that have been on our radar.
Reviews
- Systematic review and meta-analysis on fully automated digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia
- Effects of COVID-19 e-mental health interventions: A systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- Universal school-based e-health interventions for wellbeing, anxiety and depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of adverse events in clinical trials of mental health apps
Publications on Australian Digital Mental Health
Publications on listed services
- The BRAVE Program – Integrating Videoconferencing Therapist Guidance Into Stepped Care Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Child and Adolescent Anxiety: Noninferiority Randomized Controlled Trial
- eCentreClinic (MindSpot) – The Sleep Course: An inclusive trial examining the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a digital sleep intervention for adults with self-reported sleep difficulties
- Stay Strong – The Use of a Digital Well-Being App (Stay Strong App) With Indigenous People in Prison: Randomized Controlled Trial
- ClearlyMe – The MobiliseMe study: A randomised controlled efficacy trial of a cognitive behavioural therapy smartphone application (ClearlyMe®) for reducing depressive symptoms in adolescents
- MOST – Predicting clinical improvement in youth using a national-scale multicomponent digital mental health intervention
Publications on AI
- Artificial intelligence as a virtual coach in a cognitive behavioural intervention for perfectionism in young people: A randomised feasibility trial
- Exploring the Ethical Challenges of Conversational AI in Mental Health Care: Scoping Review
- More than a chatbot: a practical framework to harness artificial intelligence across key components to boost digital therapeutics quality
- A scoping review of large language models for generative tasks in mental health careThe evolving field of digital mental health: current evidence and implementation issues for smartphone apps, generative artificial intelligence, and virtual reality
Want to get learn more about the research evidence behind different types of digital mental health resources? Check out our fact sheets bringing you a brief summary of the evidence behind digital mental health in practice, and the evidence for digital mental health for youth.
This list of services is for information purposes only – a clinician should thoroughly evaluate a service before recommending it to a client. This list is not exhaustive and represents a selection of resources that can be found on eMHPrac’s website.
To find out more, please visit https://www.emhprac.org.au/ or for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing tools visit https://wellmob.org.au/.
eMHPrac provides education, training, and guidance to health practitioners and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers around digital mental health.
For consumers wanting digital mental health support, please visit the Head to Health portal https://www.headtohealth.gov.au/.
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