The architecture of human mental health support: re-designing ReachOut PeerChat for on-demand support

Young people’s expectations of the services they engage with are shaped by their experiences of the broader digital world. In an era defined by hyper-personalised and near-instant online experiences, mental health services are evolving to be just as responsive.

ReachOut Australia intentionally redesigned its PeerChat service model and product to better support changing help-seeking behaviours and address the high-friction entry-point that failed to meet users at their peak moment of need. PeerChat is a text-based one-to-one support service in which young people aged 16–25 can connect with a trained peer worker who has lived experience of mental health challenges. The service was designed to provide an evidence-based offering to young people who lack connection and want to feel heard and understood by someone who can relate. By transitioning PeerChat from a traditional booked model to an on-demand service, the interdisciplinary team removed the barriers of ‘scheduled support’ in favour of ‘in-the-moment’ connection.

Join ReachOut’s Senior Product Manager, Nadine Raydan and Emily Smith, Peer Work Manager, as they discuss PeerChat’s strategic pivot and transition from a booked service to an on-demand model and share the impact of these changes. They’ll share insights from the end-to-end journey of this transition, detailing the initial drivers for change, co-creating with frontline mental health workers and young people, and the outcomes and lessons from the first year of service.