04/04/2026
There’s been a lot of conversation following the Australian Government’s release of a free mental health app, designed to put support literally in your pocket.
And look… there’s a lot to like about this.
Accessible, low-barrier, on-demand support matters. For people experiencing mild stress, low mood, or early signs of overwhelm, tools like this can be a really helpful entry point. They can build awareness, offer strategies, and reduce that first hurdle of reaching out.
That’s important. And it’s worth acknowledging.
But we also need to be really clear about something.
A short-term check-in on an app is not therapy. It doesn’t replace therapy.
And it won’t meet the needs of individuals with complex, layered, or longstanding mental health challenges.
Therapy is relational.
It’s nuanced.
It’s built over time, in the context of safety, trust, attunement, and deep understanding.
No app, no matter how well designed, can replicate that. My concern is not the app itself.
It’s what happens if we start to position these kinds of tools as a solution, rather than a supplement.
Because if we’re serious about improving mental health outcomes in Australia, the conversation needs to go further.
In my view, a far more meaningful investment would be:
• Increasing the number of Medicare-rebatable sessions available to Australians
• Removing the artificial divide between psychologists and clinical psychologists within the Medicare Mental Health Care Plan
• Ensuring equitable access to rebates, regardless of which qualified psychologist a person sees
• Expanding access to the workforce we already have by allowing provisional psychologists, under appropriate supervision, to provide Medicare-rebatable services
Because here’s the reality. Australia is already experiencing a shortage of psychologists.
We have a growing workforce of provisional psychologists who are highly trained, closely supervised, and actively developing their clinical skills… yet they remain largely inaccessible to many Australians due to funding restrictions.
If we are genuinely serious about improving access, this is an immediate, practical, and safe lever to pull.
Supervised provisional psychologists are not “less than” they are part of the pipeline of a skilled, supported workforce.
And with the right structures in place, they can play a critical role in increasing timely access to care.
Right now, the system creates unnecessary barriers, financial, structural, and relational.
And those barriers matter. Because when people can’t access ongoing, consistent, relationship-based care, we see it play out in outcomes.
So yes!!! let’s embrace innovation.
Let’s use digital tools well.
But let’s not confuse accessibility with adequacy.
Because mental health care deserves more than a quick check-in.
It deserves depth.
It deserves continuity.
And it deserves investment in the very thing we know works best…
human-to-human therapeutic connection
