At the beginning of 2016, beyondblue, Australia’s leading mental health charity approached Mayden. The organization shared that an IAPT-style pilot program, which achieved a 67.5% recovery rate had been running in three regions across the country. They were preparing to roll it out nationally. The organisations invited systems suppliers to support these emerging services, and we quickly made plans to take part.
beyondblue headquarters in Melbourne, which hosted the 8th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies. This gave Mayden an ideal opportunity to both meet with beyondblue and attend the global congress. We gained an idea of the mental health landscape in Australia, and identified how iaptus, our patient record system, could help.
One of the most striking insights from the congress was the global recognition of the IAPT (now known as NHS Talking Therapies) model. England’s achievement—a nationwide framework for evidence-based psychological care, NICE-approved interventions, and a comprehensive dataset including outcome measures—remains the leading international example that shows how to expand access to psychological therapies and improve population mental health.
IAPT models emulated in Australia and beyond
Australia, along with several other nations sought to emulate the IAPT model and ran similar approaches themselves. The Australian program is known as NewAccess, which corresponds to Step 2 of the IAPT model. Another program, BetterAccess, provides Step 3-level care and is primarily delivered by an independent network of private therapists.
Unlike IAPT, NewAccess uses “coaches”—non-clinical practitioners chosen for specific interpersonal skills and personal qualities. These coaches undergo 10 weeks of intensive training and receive continuous, real-time supervision. Supervisors are available daily and can respond immediately to questions or issues clients raise during sessions through live monitoring of the care record.
However, NewAccess has yet to establish a national dataset or standardised outcome measures. The Australian healthcare system operates in a decentralised manner, with significant responsibilities resting at the state and regional levels. Consequently, local commissioners make all decisions regarding data collection and reporting.
Despite its vast geographic scale, Australia’s population is roughly half the size of England’s and spreads across immense distances. Given this, the potential for online psychological therapies as part of a blended model of care becomes particularly significant.
The developments in Australia highlighted both the global influence of England’s IAPT model and the universal challenges of delivering scalable, data-informed mental health care. The experience underscores a shared understanding across nations: while the systems and contexts may differ, the data and technology needs that support effective psychological therapy services remain remarkably consistent worldwide.
For more information visit the Australia page