Demand for mental health services continues to outpace the sector’s capacity to respond.

In Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that one in five people experience a mental health condition each year. For young people aged 16–24, the figure rises to two in five. Similar pressures are being experienced internationally. According to NHS England, the number of people in contact with secondary mental health services has increased by approximately 15% in the last two years.

At the same time, the sector faces significant workforce shortages. The Australian Psychological Society reports that Australia currently meets only 35% of its psychology workforce target. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has found that 93% of Australian psychiatrists believe workforce shortages are negatively impacting patient care.

This imbalance between demand and workforce capacity is now one of the defining operational challenges facing mental health systems globally. Purely human-delivered models are difficult to scale given existing workforce constraints.

Technology, including AI, has significant potential to improve access, quality and efficiency while supporting more proactive models of intervention. At the same time, human connection remains fundamental to effective care. Clinicians provide empathy, judgement, therapeutic alliance and escalation pathways that remain essential.

The opportunity therefore is not to replace human care, but to augment it.

Blended models of care, where clinicians and digital interventions work together in a coordinated way, represent one of the most promising opportunities to improve both access and outcomes. Done well, blended care can combine the engagement and therapeutic empathy of human relationships with the scalability, consistency and accessibility of digital tools.

It is within this context that Black Dog Institute and Tacklit are partnering to support the next evolution of blended youth mental health care.

Black Dog Institute is one of Australia’s leading mental health research institutes and a globally recognised authority in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illness. Founded in 2002 and affiliated with the University of New South Wales, the Institute combines research, digital innovation, clinical services and education programs focused on improving mental health outcomes across the community.

The partnership centres around ClearlyMe, Black Dog Institute’s digital mental health program designed for young people aged 12–17 experiencing depressive symptoms or psychological distress. Based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy principles, ClearlyMe provides practical strategies and tools to help young people manage negative thinking, low mood, relaxation difficulties and motivation challenges.

Black Dog Institute is now evolving ClearlyMe to better understand how digital interventions can support clinician-led care within a blended model.

Within the program, clinicians will be able to prescribe specific ClearlyMe activities aligned to an individual young person’s needs, review engagement data and incorporate progress discussions into therapy sessions.

The CMBC platform

The broader objective is to understand how digital tools can reinforce therapeutic relationships, improve engagement between sessions and potentially increase service capacity without compromising quality of care.

Tacklit will provide the enabling digital infrastructure through the Tacklit 360 platform.

The implementation includes:

• secure clinician onboarding and administration capabilities

• clinician tools to prescribe ClearlyMe activities to specific young people

• secure client registration and web-based access to activities

• digital delivery of the ClearlyMe content library

• engagement tracking and analytics capabilities

• data pipelines to support research and outcome analysis

• functionality to update and evolve digital activities over time

• mechanisms to collect clinician and participant feedback throughout the program

The platform will support both clinician workflows and participant engagement within a secure Australian-hosted environment.

Importantly, the initiative is designed not simply as a technology deployment, but as a practical implementation of blended care within real-world clinical settings.

The program is expected to launch in 2026 for use by clinical and general psychologists.

As mental health systems continue to face increasing demand and workforce pressure, the sector will require new models capable of expanding access while maintaining the human elements fundamental to effective care. Blended approaches such as this are likely to become an increasingly important part of the sector’s response.