Coviu Blog

Kathy Matheson, Psychologist and Founder of Karepsych

Speech pathologists and psychologists across Australia & New Zealand will now be able to conduct a valid remote clinical assessment via a telehealth consult from the Coviu platform.

Mental health is one of Australia's most significant health issues, with almost half of the population experiencing mental illness at some point in their lives. Furthermore, 54% of those experiencing poor mental health will not access any treatment. These figures are alarming in their own right, often materialising into high suicide rates. As a society, we are facing an uphill battle when it comes to reducing the prevalence of such health conditions.

We often tell you about the amazing benefits telehealth offers you and your patients. However, we’ve not yet delved into an important aspect of telehealth – clinical appropriateness.

A 2016 Headspace report revealed significant insights into the mental health of tertiary students in Australia. A whopping 85% of students recognised a potential need for help, yet barriers such as worrying what other people would think or being too embarrassed to ask for help affected 1 in 5 students.

Do you start most of your mental health appointments with a version of: “How have you been since I last saw you?” Only to receive anywhere from a one-word answer (“Ok”) to 50 minutes of details on mood swings? As a mental health practitioner who wants to provide the best care possible, we bet you’d like to know what’s happening with your patients between sessions, without being bombarded by emails, texts, or calls and in a way that is user-friendly for you and your patients.

The model is based on the 'Australian Statistical Geography Standard - Remoteness Areas (ASGS-RA)' existing classification system, which uses census data to segment 5 categories of remoteness, yet further subdivides regional Australia based on the size of local towns or cities.

There is a significant disparity in access to GPs across the Australian population. In 2014, the Bureau of Health Information reported our major cities utilised about 40% more GP services per capita than those in regional and remote areas, with roughly 36 million GP services being conducted in our cities compared to 2 million in regional and remote Australia. Mental health services are just as hard to access for regional, rural and remote dwellers - specifically, death by suicide is almost twice as likely in rural and remote areas due to lack of support services.