Mental Health at the forefront: Meet Rachel Green
This year on EHiN, the spotlight is on mental health, a theme of growing importance in healthcare worldwide. Rachel Green, the CEO of SANE, Australia’s leading mental health organization, will be at the forefront of this critical conversation.
Artikkel: Cora Schreurs, EHiN
Dato: 23.05.2024
Rachel’s journey into the realm of mental health advocacy is as inspiring as it is impactful. Drawing from a wide range of experiences spanning the nonprofit, government, and mental health sectors, Rachel brings a unique blend of expertise and passion to her role. During her work throughout sectors, Rachel has shown a strong dedication to making sure that people facing difficult mental health issues, as well as their support networks, are heard and supported.
Looking back on her journey, Rachel emphasizes how digital innovations bring transformative potential in mental health care. «What draws me to the field of digital mental health is the exciting range of possibilities that are emerging,» she shares. Against the backdrop of a post-pandemic world where digital solutions have become normalized, Rachel envisions a landscape where technology seamlessly bridges gaps in access to care, fostering earlier interventions and prevention strategies.
«What draws me to the field of digital mental health
is the exciting range
of possibilities that are emerging»
Rachel’s time leading the LifeSpan program at Black Dog Institute and her work with the Australian National Mental Health Commission gave her important knowledge about preventing suicide and getting communities involved. She says these experiences changed how she designs programs and decides where to invest resources. Rachel believes in using a variety of evidence-based methods that work together to make a bigger impact. «So often people receive only one element of what might help them, and coordination is invariably the missing ingredient,» she adds. «Systems thinking helps to increase the effect of individual interventions by combining them together.»
With a multidisciplinary academic background encompassing human geography, political economics, and leadership, Rachel brings a nuanced perspective to mental health initiatives. She highlights the intersecting domains of technology, human geography, and political economics in reimagining mental health care delivery. «Typically lack of access to employment, education and healthcare is cited as a barrier to living outside the major centres,» Rachel explains. «But technology, online learning and eHealth advancements could overcome this. – for example better eHealth technology and the ability to do more jobs working remotely could help people overcome some of the biggest disadvantages of living in regional and rural areas”
«Typically lack of access to employment,
education and healthcare is cited
as a barrier to living outside the major centres»
Rachel is clear that it’s a part of their principles, values, governance and also their day to day structure and ways of working to make sure the voices of people’s challenges with mental health are heard and in that way shapes policies and interventions. «We have a subcommittee of our board of directors called the Lived Experience Advisory Committee,» she shares. «We use codesign processes and encourage our teams to be enthusiastic about feedback – the positive and critical, I often say that the best ideas for developing our programs and services can come from the feedback and complaints inbox!”
However, Rachel acknowledges that translating research into tangible improvements in mental health care presents its own set of challenges. «There are a few challenges that are equally important in my view,» she says. «One is getting the investment right, mental health still faces structural stigma all over the world.»
«There are a few challenges
that are equally important in my view.
One is getting the investment right,
mental health still faces structural stigma
all over the world.»
At the heart of SANE‘s mission lies a commitment to enhancing mental health awareness and support through innovative digital platforms. Rachel is particularly optimistic about the role of international collaborations in overcoming funding constraints and sharing best practices. «Locally, competition for funding often hinders collaboration among nonprofits. However, at the international level, this competition diminishes, enabling greater knowledge sharing and program adoption across borders.»
As Rachel prepares to address the audience at EHiN, she wants to highlight how technology can change mental health care for the better «In my view, accessibility and timeliness of service will leap forward. The use of AI, machine learning, IOT and interoperability is also going to strongly influence experience and outcomes around the world – not to replace human to human care, but to facilitate it better.»
In a world where mental health remains a pressing concern, Rachel Green stands as a beacon of hope, supporting innovation, inclusivity, and resilience in thriving for a holistic well-being. As she takes the stage at EHiN 2024, her vision for a digitally empowered future of mental health care promises to inspire and ignite transformative change on a global scale.
“I’m so excited to participate in EHiN particularly because of the strong adoption of eHealth in Norway, I’m looking forward to connecting with leaders in health services and learning about how they’ve overcome some of the adoption and interoperability barriers.”