ReachOut recognised with top Australasian Mental Health Service Award

31 August 2018

This month, ReachOut was honoured to be presented with the Mental Health Promotion and Mental Illness Prevention Award at the 2018 Mental Health Service Awards (TheMHS) of Australia and New Zealand program for service to mental health.

The award was given in recognition of the achievement of excellence, innovation and best practice in mental health services. It was one of six awards made in the Service and Program categories, two for Exceptional Contribution, three for research and three for Media.

The Award was announced on 29 August 2018 at the Annual TheMHS Conference held this year in Adelaide, South Australia.

ReachOut CEO Jono Nicholas said the award was a huge honour for ReachOut and recognised the success of the organisation’s work with parents so that they can help young people with whatever life throws at them.

“The ReachOut team are excited to be recognised by TheMHS Awards this year for the benefits delivered to parents and young people through ReachOut Parents. Raising happy and healthy teenagers can be a minefield, and we know that around one in four young people are likely to have a mental illness.

"Parents can connect with ReachOut Parents online to access tools and resources, to join the conversation in our forums and for one on one coaching sessions delivered over the phone,” he said.

The ReachOut Parents service offers a range of resources and supports to parents of teenagers, including self-help resources, a peer support community and 1:1 coaching. ReachOut delivers the coaching service in conjunction with partner The Benevolent Society.

The Mental Health Service Awards of Australia and New Zealand are presented every year by TheMHS Learning Network to recognise and encourage best practice, excellence and innovation in mental health service delivery. The Awards have been made annually since 1992.

TheMHS Conference is the largest mental health and addiction services conference in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. TheMHS aims to promote positive attitudes about mental health and mental illness, and to stimulate debate that challenges the boundaries of knowledge and ideas about mental health care.

About ReachOut Australia

ReachOut has been changing the way people access help since launching as the world’s first online mental health service nearly 20 years ago. Everything they create is based on the latest evidence and designed with experts, and young people or their parents. This is why ReachOut’s digital self-help tools are trusted, relevant and easy to use. Available for free anytime and pretty much anywhere, ReachOut is accessed by 132,000 people in Australia every month. That’s more than 1.58 million each year.