In this episode host, Dr Tania McMahon speaks to Associate Professor Neil Thomas and Dr. Hailey Tremain from Mental Health Online. They discuss the story of Mental Health Online, their pathway to blended care, their therapist-assisted program and how health professionals can use Mental Health Online to enhance their practice.Neil Thomas is Director of the National eTherapy Centre and Deputy Director of the Centre for Mental Health at Swinburne University of Technology. Alongside heading Mental Health Online, Neil leads a research program on developing therapeutic approach to help people living with mental health problems, with a particular focus on the use of digital technologies.

Dr. Hailey Tremain is a Clinical Psychologist, whose role with Mental Health Online mainly focuses upon supporting MHO therapists to build positive and effective therapeutic relationships with clients utilising video, telephone, email and live chat modalities. She completed her PhD and postdoctoral fellowship in digital mental health, and also works as a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and in telehealth-based private practice. She has ongoing research collaborations with Orygen, the University of Melbourne and Swinburne University.

What is the story of Mental Health Online – what it is and how it came about?

“… almost all of those clients that we see through to the end of their therapist assist will have has some form of live communication with our therapist” – Dr. Hailey Tremain

Mental Health Online is an initiative of Swinburne University’s National eTherapy Centre, providing information, assessment, self-guided and therapist-assisted programs for a variety of mental health issues. It began about 15 years ago at Swinburne University, to explore different ways to deliver Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to treat mental health conditions, with a particular focus on anxiety. With government funding these programs were made more widely available, and building further programs for a range of other presentations. Over time the range of programs has broadened to treat a variety of conditions, wither over 1000 Australians accessing these programs.

In what ways has Mental Health Online been paving the pathway to blended care?

“For some of our clients the greatest benefit they can get from working with us is actually a positive experience of help seeking.” – Dr. Hailey Tremain

Mental Health Online has been one of the leaders in blended care for a long time, utilising online and offline components to deliver treatment. They do this in two ways; through a Therapist assist program where users are supported by a Mental Health Online therapist as they work through the program and by providing separate access for health practitioners to enable them to integrate the program into their treatment plan.

The therapist-assisted program provides 12 weeks of support with a trained Mental Health Online therapist via email, video, live chat and phone support. Throughout the 12 weeks the therapist will help clients work through the program, tailoring the service and understanding what they need, navigating the program, and more.

The Health Practitioner access is a separate portal for health professionals to access Mental Health Online’s programs and resources. They have developed a range of guides and resources to help health practitioners with various backgrounds to use the Mental Health Online programs to their benefit.

How can practitioners utilise Mental Health Online?

“… a great resource that’s available to complient what a therapist might be doing in person” – Associate Professor Neil Thomas

There are a few ways health practitioners can utilise Mental Health Online’s program and resources in their practice. One way is for health practitioners to enrol in the program themselves and work through it alongside a client, offering support and guided. The more common way health practitioners use Mental Health Online is as CPD, as a learning resource or to aid in their training to be a clinician. Health Professionals can also refer clients to the program, or as a homework exercise between sessions.

Visit the Mental Health Online website at https://www.mentalhealthonline.org.au/

Explore the Mental Health Online Health Professional Resources: https://www.mentalhealthonline.org.au/pages/health-professionals

Contact the Mental Health Online team at contactmho@swin.edu.au

Listen to the full conversation below. You can also access Digital Mental Health Musings on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Deezer.