Spotlight on Hello Sunday Morning

In the season final of Digital Mental Health Musings, we take a look at the key moments from our conversations with the experts shaping the mental health landscape in 2023. From AI and chatbots to Australia’s ground-breaking digital mental health safety and quality standards, plus culturally responsive mental healthcare, data protection and privacy, a moderated online social community changing youth mental healthcare, the clinician attitudes and behaviours that support better client experiences with digital mental health, and more, we’ve covered a lot of ground. 

Featuring key moments, analysis and practical tips on integrating digital mental health into practice from across the season all in one place, this episode will help you keep on top of the major developments in digital mental health this year. 

We invite you to listen to the full episodes to learn more and we look forward to joining you in 2024 with more of the latest news in digital mental health. 

“I think that the website works really hard to transmit that information in a way, that encourages people with milder symptoms to give some of these digital resources a go. We know they work but not everybody's using them. They're not being used to the fullest capacity that they could be. So, I think the other side of the coin is encouraging people who have got distress but aren't in this severe group to give digital mental healthcare a go and see if it helps - because often it will.”

When Australia's national mental health navigation service, Head to Health, set themselves the challenge of making it easier for people to find and connect with the best mental health services for their needs - they listened to more than 350 Australians working and living in the mental health sector. They gathered insights and expertise to help co-design their new website in a bid to connect a fragmented mental health landscape in a way that would empower people to find and reach out for the mental health resources and services that could help them take care of their mental health and wellbeing.

In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings Dr Tania McMahon talks to the Head to Health team about their award-winning new website – how the site works for clients and health professionals and the research and evidence behind it. We also share some great practical tips about how health professionals can use the site in their everyday practice to help support their clients. 

Check out some of the resources we discussed in this episode:
Head to Health: https://www.headtohealth.gov.au/
Read more about the new website features: https://bit.ly/3Rhz67C
Read more about Link-me: https://bit.ly/3uCysZK

Contact Head to Health and share your thoughts on the site: https://bit.ly/47snXXe

The rapid rise of AI has prompted some crucial questions about its use in the mental health setting: what are the privacy implications of sharing sensitive information to chatbots? How is that data being tracked across these platforms, how is it being stored and protected – and are chatbots bound by the same professional standards as a human therapist?  

In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings, we chat to renowned socio-legal researcher Dr Piers Gooding about the legal and ethical challenges surrounding the use of chatbots and AI in mental health – what we should be cautious about, what we can learn from cases across health systems from around the world, and what existing legal and regulatory frameworks we can apply in the assessment of the tools.

Check out some of the resources we discussed in this episode:
Read more of Dr Piers Gooding's work here: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/about/staff/piers-gooding
Watch our episode about the Digital Mental Health Safety and Quality Standards: https://www.emhprac.org.au/resource/s3e2/

“What I wanted to understand is what is the on-the-ground evidence, what is the everyday experience of clinicians who are using digital tools in their practice? And on the other side, what’s getting in the way of clinicians being able to effectively use these sorts of tools in their practice?”

In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings we talk to Dr Farrer about what she has learned about how clinicians responded to the implementation of telehealth through the qualitative survey responses of more than 500 mental health practitioners. We talk about what those findings can reveal about the adoption and roll out of digital mental health more broadly and the types of clinician attitudes and perceptions that can lead to greater engagement and integration of digital mental health in the clinical setting to optimise its use in the community. 

Dr Farrer also explains how clinician knowledge and attitudes around digital mental health can play a powerful role in who gets to access mental health. 

Check out some of the resources we discussed in this episode:
Moodgym: https://moodgym.com.au/
eCouch: https://ecouch.com.au/
Telehealth use by mental health professionals during COVID-19: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35360958/
The Factors Associated with Telehealth Use and Avoidance During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Survey: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36649254/
Read more of Dr Lou Farrer's publications here: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/farrer-lm#publications

Contact Dr Farrer and register your interest in participating in her research by emailing  louse.farrer@anu.edu.au.

“It’s a big problem, even in face-to-face care, that people drop out after a few sessions and don’t engage in treatment for long enough to get the benefits of therapy, says head of research at Orygen Digital, Associate Professor Shane Cross.

In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings, we talk to Professor Cross and Savanah Whieldon, Orygen Digital’s Queensland Peer Work Coordinator, about the inspiring work that led to MOST (Moderated Online Social Therapy). It’s a platform that has been co-designed with young people and brings together a multi-disciplinary team of youth mental health experts, computer programmers, health informer experts, a web designer, writer, and graphic designer to transform youth mental health through digital technology.

In this conversation we chat about how health professionals can use MOST to support young people while they're waiting for care, to expand on their face-to-face sessions once they are in care, and to use after discharge from a service. We also delve into the research behind MOST, who the service is best suited to, what young people have to say about the service and we take a look at the platform’s safety systems that allow potentially risky content to be flagged, reviewed and acted upon with evidence-based clinical interventions.

MOST is available through selected headspace and state-based specialist services across Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. 

Learn more about Orygen Digital at: https://www.orygen.org.au/Our-Research/Research-Areas/Orygen-Digital

Learn more about MOST at: https://most.org.au/

How can mental healthcare professionals adjust their practices to better serve Indigenous clients in culturally safe, responsive and respectful ways?  

In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings, Dr Tania McMahon talks to social worker Bec Pevitt and Project Officer Angela Sheridan from WellMob – an online platform that shares Indigenous knowledge and wisdom to health professionals to strengthen the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by bringing together a rich collection of culturally responsive digital mental healthcare tools and resources.

In this conversation we chat about Indigenous approaches to mental health, like the social and emotional wellbeing model of healthcare, the differences from mainstream models of care and how culturally safe resources, developed by and with Aboriginal communities, represent best-practice healthcare for Aboriginal people leading to much better outcomes for Indigenous patients and clients. We discuss the ongoing impacts of colonisation, the legacy of intergenerational trauma from segregation policies, assimilation and the forced removal of children from families, and the resources and tools that WellMob provides access to that can help non-Indigenous health professionals understand historical cultural context when working with today’s First Nations people. 

Check out some of the resources we discussed in this episode:
WellMob: https://wellmob.org.au/
Follow WellMob on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WellMobAU
Follow WellMob on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wellmob/
WellMob Training Resources: https://wellmob.org.au/e-health-topics/training-resources/
WellMob Resource Sheets for Workers: https://wellmob.org.au/e-health-topics/training-resources/resource-sheets-for-workers/
Our Words Matter: guidelines for language use: https://bit.ly/451swX7
Journey of health and wellbeing: https://bit.ly/3rJ3opB

The challenges associated with managing complex mental health conditions, client and peer relationships, as well as keeping on top of new developments and research in the field can be overwhelming – and, at times, lonely. 

In this episode, we speak to GP and medical educator at Black Dog Institute, Dr Phoebe Holdenson-Kimura, about a new resource for health professionals that highlights the value of building an interdisciplinary community of peers and colleagues for tackling problems and gaining insights from across different disciplines within the mental health space.

We chat about how the Hub works, which Health Professionals can benefit from it and what kind of content you can access. As well as the Community of Practice there’s an extensive range of short online webinars, podcasts and CPD modules covering the latest developments and research in mental health. Dr Holdenson-Kimura takes us through all the ways health professionals can access expert insights and content related to their interest or field of practice. We also talk about digital mental health and what blended care really looks like in practice. 

Check out some of the resources we discussed this episode:
Black Dog Institute: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/
Black Dog Institute Health Professionals Education and Resource Hub: https://cop.learning.blackdoginstitute.org.au/#/public-dashboard
Sleep Ninja: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/digital-tools-apps/sleep-ninja/

The rapid rise of digital mental health programs and services has brought with it much promise to the concept of mental health treatment – particularly the promise of leveling mental healthcare disparity with the potential for faster care and more equitable access.

As a health professional who recommends and integrates these services into care, how can you be sure that access to high-quality and safe healthcare is prioritised? That digital services and apps keep pace with new evidence and advances in mental health care as well as health practitioners can, and that patient data is handled safely and ethically?

In this episode, we take a deeper look at how Australia is leading the way in setting a standard for digital mental health safety and quality and what that means for health professionals and the future of digital mental healthcare. 

Dr Tania McMahon speaks to Christopher Boyd-Skinner, Manager of Digital Mental Health at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care about the impact of privacy breaches in digital mental health, how the standards were developed to protect consumers against them, and what assurances health professionals should expect from digital mental health services.

We also chat to Rachel Green, CEO at SANE Australia. As the first organisation to go through the Standard’s national accreditation program, Rachel talks about the conversations the organisation had around consent and transparency and the new practices SANE has developed and implemented to meet the Standard of Care.

And, we hear from Dr Anita Moss, GP obstetrician in rural Victoria and a Peer Ambassador for SANE who talks about the value of the Standards in practice. 

Check out some of the resources we discussed in this episode:
Digital Mental Health Safety and Quality Standards: https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/national-safety-and-quality-digital-mental-health-standards
SANE Australia: https://www.sane.org/
Mozilla Foundation - Privacy Not Included: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/

Caring for loved ones with mental illness puts caregivers at risk themselves – now two new digital mental health programs have been developed to support them.
 
The role of caregiving can come at a high personal cost. Research shows that it can lead to depression, anxiety and a decrease in wellbeing with carers reporting significant negative outcomes including time out of the workforce and poorer physical and mental health. 

In our first episode of 2023 we take a look at the ‘hidden workforce’ of the Australian mental healthcare system – the family, friends and caregivers of people living with mental illness. We look at the role of digital mental health in supporting the wellbeing of informal caregivers, preventing their own mental ill health to reduce the risk of their vital caring tole from being compromised.
 
 Our guest today is Dr Sally Fitzpatrick. Dr Fitzpatrick is a Program Manager at Everymind, a leading Centre delivering successful mental health and suicide prevention programs for over 30 years. Dr Fitzpatrick and her team have developed two new digital programs called Minds Together: one designed specifically for friends and family supporting someone who has attempted suicide and the other for family and friends supporting the mental health of paramedics. 
 
In this episode, Dr Fitzpatrick talks to Dr Tania McMahon about the high risk of poor mental health and well-being among informal caregivers, how health professionals can identify those in need of support, and how to connect them to services. 
 
Visit the Everymind website at: https://everymind.org.au/
 
Learn more about the Minds Together programs at: https://mindstogether.org.au/

In this episode host, eMHPrac Director Heidi Sturk steps in as host to answer all your burning questions about digital mental health. From questions about the basics of digital mental health, to more complex questions, we are wrapping up this season by bringing you the answers to some of your biggest questions including:

• There are so many different digital options out there - what are they all for?
• Are digital treatments as effective as face-to-face?
• How is risk managed in dMH interventions?

Check out some of the resources mentioned in this episode below.

Head to Health: https://www.headtohealth.gov.au/
eMHPrac Directory: https://www.emhprac.org.au/directory/
MindSpot: https://www.mindspot.org.au/
Mental Health Online: https://www.mentalhealthonline.org.au/
THIS WAY UP: https://thiswayup.org.au/
S2E7 | Mental Health Online - The Journey to Blended Care: https://bit.ly/3GcigSl
S1E3 | In Conversation with Nick Titov: https://bit.ly/3v74v0x