MindSpot Clinic

MindSpot Clinic has been selected as an ABA100® Winner for Training Excellence in The Australian Business Awards 2022. The Australian Business Award for Training Excellence [TRX] recognises organisations that have successfully implemented initiatives that demonstrate leadership and commitment to education and training.

Launched in late 2012, MindSpot was founded and developed by Professor Nick Titov and colleagues at Macquarie University. MindSpot is a charitable organisation that offers Australian adults a free online mental health assessment and treatment without needing a doctor’s referral. While conditions such as anxiety disorders and depression are common, many people struggle to access care. MindSpot breaks down barriers, offering Australian adults with depression, anxiety or substance use issues a free, completely confidential online mental health assessment and treatment without needing a doctor’s referral. MindSpot delivers psychological assessments and treatments effectively via telephone and the internet. Since its launch, MindSpot has served more than 180,000 Australians. Today, MindSpot is one of the world’s leading digital mental health services, with clinics operating from Sydney and Perth and staff across the country. MindSpot provides a broad range of services and expertise. All services are free of cost to consumers and other health professionals.

In 2019 MindSpot conducted a feasibility analysis to explore the need for a specialist training academy. This study found a severe lack of quality educational training programs for digital mental health professionals. Professor Titov identified a need and an opportunity to provide training excellence to mental health professionals by developing the MindSpot Academy. The MindSpot Academy’s mission is to build an emotionally resilient world by educating a world-class workforce of mental health clinicians. Launched in 2020, the MindSpot Academy specialises in digital mental health training, learning and placement for mental health professionals and now trains students from across Australia. MindSpot Academy now delivers a world-first digital mental health education program for psychology graduates undergoing their pathway to full registration. The MindSpot Academy created three structured programs for trainee psychologists at different levels of their registration. To date, the MindSpot Academy has trained more than 35 trainee mental health practitioners.

The significant benefits of the MindSpot Academy include increased trainee staff and clinical psychology registrars, placement students are regularly employed as staff members when they complete their training, and improved staff retention and lower turnover since the MindSpot Academy launched. Additionally, MindSpot Academy helped their company develop a partnership with universities across Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra, promote a positive culture and increase overall staff satisfaction.

Overall, the MindSpot Academy is the world’s first digital mental health training facility developed by industry leaders and pioneering experts at Macquarie University. Digital mental health services provision is fast becoming the dominant way for people with mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, and the stress of chronic pain to be treated. MindSpot was Australia’s first digital mental health service and is funded and supported by the Australian Government for digitally enabled care to help the health system become more efficient and reach people wherever they are. MindSpot reaches Australian adults with depression, anxiety or substance misuse concerns – aged from 16 to the elderly, to let them know they can receive the mental health support they need free anywhere, anytime using its technology in privacy. MindSpot Academy, now the world’s first digital mental health educational institution, is a progression of the digital mental health service provision excellence provided by MindSpot, the country’s first free national digital mental health service.

For information about MindSpot Clinic visit mindspot.org.au

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