We are facing huge demand for mental health services, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting one in five Australians experience a mental health condition within a 12 month period. For people aged 16-24 years, it is two in five. In England, people in contact with secondary mental health care services has grown circa 15% in the last two years. Similar statistics have been reported elsewhere.

At the same time, we have a significant workforce shortage, with the Australian Psychological Society (APS) reporting that Australia meets only 35 per cent of its psychology workforce target, and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) finding that 93% of Australian psychiatrists believe the current workforce crisis negatively impacts care. Again, this is the same everywhere.

We need new solutions and care delivery models, amplified by purpose-built technology. This is what we do at Tacklit every day.

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The Lancet Psychiatry has recently published its commission on youth mental health, led by Orygen. The findings are shocking but not surprising for those on the frontline, and strong action is needed.

“It is now accepted that mental ill-health is the primary threat to the health, wellbeing and productivity of young people, but while it accounts for 45 per cent of disease globally in those aged 10 to 24 years – only 2 per cent of global health budgets are allocated to addressing it.”

Tacklit is proud to be the technology partner of so many care organisations delivering on many aspects of the models-of-care recommended in the report.

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Another recent paper in The Lancet Psychiatry provides peer-reviewed evidence of something our customers are finding in the frontline. If deployed correctly, technology can amplify the efficiency and reach of mental health interventions, without sacrificing effectiveness.

As explained in this great summary published by Helen Dodd, digitally augmented CBT for child anxiety has achieved comparable outcomes, while only consuming 59% of therapist time, if compared to treatment as usual.

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New data has just been released by the Employee Assistance Professional Association of Australasia showing the huge impact of EAP services in Australia and New Zealand.

In 2023, over 1.1 million people benefitted from human-powered support, representing 16.4% of employees covered, with 92% of customers satisfied with services received. The percentage of employees utilising EAP services has grown materially over the reported period.

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Mental healthtech blogger Steve Duke from The Hemingway Report wrote a highly readable article explaining Tacklit. It is well worth a read, and his chosen title actually inspired us to create this newsletter!

Tacklit: the business transforming care delivery that you have never heard of How a 10x Product Team and Open Architecture Make Tacklit a Fascinating Organisation

In a first-floor unit above a locksmiths in St. Kilda, Australia, there’s a company quietly transforming mental healthcare delivery… and you’ve probably never heard of them. For the last four years, Tacklit has been building a care delivery platform for mental health providers that is now used by more than 3,000 clinicians and over 180,000 patients across the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.. more

We recommend signing up to Steve's newsletter for great analysis on mental health tech.

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Tacklit is an end-to-end operating system for the delivery of mental and behavioural healthcare. It brings together the clinical, operational and financial aspects of care delivery, streamlining care so that client experience is improved and clinicians can focus on what they do best.

But what can Tacklit actually do? In this article, we share our Capability Map, which we have found to be very useful when discussing this with customers.

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Helm is a behavioural health service in Australia, part of a large psychology service provider organisation.

By adopting Tacklit's blended care and client engagement capability, they are now able to launch new evidence-based services much more rapidly, such as the new Power to Change Gambling Program.

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Prevention and early detection are powerful levers in mental health management.

By monitoring population-level mental health KPIs, and identifying at-risk individuals ahead of crisis point, effective care can be provided through less resource-intensive interventions, thereby increasing access to quality care.

A great example is Tacklit UK customer Mental Health Hub and its CORDS platform. CORDS is a leading platform for managing student mental health and wellbeing. It is already supporting over 100 schools, and growing rapidly.

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We love partnering deeply with our customers so our technology can best enable clinical pathways and goals. In the last quarter, as in those before, we really enjoyed our time together around whiteboards in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Thanks to all our customers who inspire us and teach us every day.

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We hope you enjoyed our first newsletter. Please feel free to hit reply with any thoughts, questions or comments. We would love to hear from you. If you would like to see more frequent news and updates, please follow our page on LinkedIn. Otherwise, we wish you all the best for the end of the year, and see you next quarter!