Innovative community mental health services to get funding boost

NEWS – eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Mental Health advocates hope a new innovation fund will encourage a step change in the delivery of community mental health services, enabled by data and digital.

The first round of the government’s $20 million Mental Health Innovation Fund will open later this month and use of technology is one of the key components highlighted for successful applicants.

The fund document says technology allows for more responsive services than the traditional mental health service model.

“Technology can provide more choice and faster engagement between the individual and mental health practitioner at a time and place more suitable for both. Younger people are often more comfortable using technology-based solutions,” it says.

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson says technology already contributes to the provision of mental health services via online and telehealth solutions and will have a big role in the future.

However, it is not a silver bullet that can replace human interactions.

“We need to be careful not to see it as the solution, but as a tool to enhance the things that we already have and to help us develop new ways of doing things,” Robinson explains.

“The heart of mental health has always got to be empathy, connection and human beings and technology should only ever be a tool to allow that connection and that empathy and that sense of belonging and support to occur.”

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