NHMRC Partnership Projects Grant awarded to eCliPSE project

The Matilda Centre would like to congratulate our Director of Technology, Innovation & Translation, Professor Frances Kay-Lambkin, on being awarded a $196,973 NHMRC Partnership Project Grant for the eCliPSE Project. This exciting project aims to facilitate access to evidence-based online screening and eHealth treatments for people experiencing co-occurring mental health and substance use problems, and the clinical services supporting them. In addition to the NHMRC Partnership Project Grant, beyondblue will provide $196,973 in-kind and financial support.

What is the eCliPSE Project?

The project will use the eCliPSE online portal, which was developed in collaboration with service providers in mental health and substance use sectors, to create a new way for people experiencing mental health and substance use problems to access treatment and support – anywhere and anytime they need it. These resources include fact sheets, quick self-help tools, online treatment programs, and a geo-location service to link people with services in their local community.  

With funding from the NHMRC Partnership Project Grant and beyondblue, eCLiPSE will be piloted in NSW using a two-pronged approach; the online portal will be integrated into mental health and substance services as a clinical tool, as well as provided directly to people experiencing mental health and substance use problems through innovative social media and other digital engagement strategies.

“We would like better to understand how people experiencing mental health and substance use problems prefer to access treatment and information, and also to develop better, more meaningful, ways to engage service providers in this process,” says Professor Kay-Lambkin, project leader.

“Our team has been the first in the world to integrate eHealth into treatment provision for comorbid mental health and substance use problems but despite ours and other’s efforts, eHealth services in Australia are largely independent of traditional healthcare service settings, especially in mental health and substance use. This is in contrast to almost every other sector in Australia, especially the commercial or corporate industries.”

The eCliPSE trial will draw together key evidence from digital marketing theories, integrated implementation science, and learnings from people with a lived experience of mental heatlh and substance use, their families and service providers to develop and test the best approach that capitalises on all the potential that technology offers to improve access to mental health and substance use treatment.

“We hope that, by the end of the eCliPSE trial, we will have significantly improved the capacity of mental health and substance use services to cater for people experiencing comorbidity, no matter which door they knock on for treatment,” says Professor Kay-Lambkin. “Importantly, this ‘door’ could be anywhere, anytime, yet always responsive to the needs of people with co-occurring mental health and substance use problems.”

Collaborators

The project will be a collaborative effort between multiple researchers and disciplines across Universities, including Professor Maree Teesson and Dr Matthew Sunderland (The Matilda Centre, University of Sydney), Dr Milena Heinsch and Associate Professor Jamie Carlson (University of Newcastle), Professor Cathy Mihalopoulos and Dr Mary-Lou Chatterton (Deakin University), Professor Helen Christensen (Black Dog Institute), Associate Professor Kirsten Morley (University of Sydney) and Professors Paul Haber, Andrew Baille and Tim Shaw (University of Sydney).

For further information about the eCliPSE Project, visit the online portal at eclipse.org.au, or submit an enquiry online here.