Innovation in Mental Health: Staying Relevant

I’m Dr. Catherine Hart, a Clinical Psychologist and Director of Succoris Psychology Group. We started back in 2019 with just me and one small office and have since grown to five sites, a strong telehealth service, facilitating group programs, providing online content as well as having recently created a training arm of the business, Succoris Academy. As a DBT, Schema and EMDR therapist, my work is grounded in evidence-based practice, but I’m really passionate about how we can bring psychology into the mainstream and create workplaces where both clinicians and clients thrive.

The mental health sector is changing fast. Referrals are fluctuating, AI tools are on the rise, we have an increased responsibility with the new competencies coming into practice, to maintain digital competency, and there’s growing discussion about moving beyond the traditional one-to-one therapy model. For many clinicians, these shifts can feel unsettling and that there are too many changes occurring all at once, but they also open doors for creativity, flexibility, and growth if you can embrace it.

Why I Became Interested in Innovation

My interest in innovation really came out of necessity. Traditional models of one-to-one therapy, while powerful, are not always accessible or sustainable. Clinicians were often telling me that they wanted to do more than just individual therapy to feel fulfilled and I couldn’t scale my organisation successfully and sustainably without embracing innovation.

Innovation is often seen as something “flashy” like developing new apps or tech platforms but for most of us, it’s much more subtle. It’s about finding better ways to deliver care or diversifying our practices so that both clients and clinicians can thrive and pivot at times of change or uneasiness.

Opportunities and Challenges of AI

There’s a lot of buzz around AI and new technologies, and I think it’s natural for clinicians to worry that AI might replace us. But in my view, we’re only really at risk of becoming redundant if we don’t embrace it.

Opportunities: AI can take over repetitive admin tasks, things like bookings, payments, responding to common queries, or transcribing therapy notes. That frees us up to do what matters most: therapy. It can also help scale interventions. For example, creating a DBT module used to take me months; with AI, I can produce one in about ten minutes. The AI can’t replace my knowledge and the human factor in delivering programs but it can reduce the admin load and time taken to formalise our knowledge.

Challenges: At the same time, we need to be cautious. Psychology is built on human connection, and I don’t believe AI can replace that. If we lean on it too heavily, we risk losing the essence of our work. There are also issues of ethics, privacy, consent, and ensuring clinical judgment remains central.

Digital competence is now being stressed in the new professional competencies, which means we can’t afford to ignore this space. It’s changing rapidly, and we need to keep up.

Why Innovation Is Essential

Demand for services is skyrocketing, and the workforce can’t keep up if we cling to old models. Innovation helps us:

• Reach more people.
• Create flexible services.
• Adapt to changing client needs.
• Protect clinician wellbeing.

If we don’t adapt, burnout will only continue to rise.

Practical Ways to Innovate

Innovation doesn’t always mean creating something brand new. For many of us, it looks like:

• Offering group therapy alongside individual sessions.
• Developing workplace wellbeing programs.
• Using telehealth in creative ways.
• Incorporating transcription software, chatbots, or AI tools into intake systems.
• Creating online content or courses.
• Building multiple revenue streams so you can pivot quickly when the landscape changes.

Right now, for example, there’s a lot of discussion around NDIS changes for autistic children. Services that innovate will be better placed to remain viable while still meeting client needs.

Stretching, Not Breaking, Our Values

Some worry that innovation means drifting from evidence-based practice, but I see it as “stretching, not breaking” our values. We start with compassion, ethics, and evidence—and then ask how we can deliver that differently.

For example:

• DBT Launchpad: I found myself answering the same questions repeatedly from clinicians wanting to implement DBT. Instead of repeating myself 100 times, I created a group program to teach these skills. It’s scalable, efficient, and still relies on my knowledge and expertise in implementing effective DBT services.
• Clinical Registrar Program: Supervising clinical registrars one-on-one was incredibly labour intensive for supervisors. Now we’ve developed a structured program for cohorts, combining CPD, peer supervision, and community. The support is richer, and it’s far more sustainable.

Innovation, done well, is about working smarter, not harder.

Managing the Perceived Risk

It’s true that many see innovation as risky. Concerns range from scope of practice and AHPRA rules, to financial costs, or even peer pushback. In mental health, we don’t always welcome innovation the way other industries do, but at its heart, it’s about providing more choice to consumers.

To minimise risk:

• Pilot ideas with a few clients before scaling.
• Collaborate and seek supervision, especially when using AI or creating online content.
• Learn from colleagues who have already taken those steps

Innovation isn’t about reckless leaps—it’s about thoughtful, measured growth.

Facing Fear and Growing Anyway

Every time we expand, pilot a new way of working or launch a new project, the fear of failure is always there but I remind myself to do the thing scared.

Grounding decisions in values helps, innovation is one of our clinic’s core values, so it’s part of our DNA. From the start, we’ve done things differently, such as employing rather than contracting clinicians. That was considered bold at the time, but it created a more stable and supportive workplace.

Failure still stings, but I’ve worked hard to reframe it. If something doesn’t work, it’s not the end, it’s data for the next step. Innovation is what keeps growth exciting and prevents me from being buried in the day-to-day of running an organisation.

Why Diversification Matters

Relying only on one-to-one therapy is limiting. It restricts access for clients and risks leaving clinicians stuck on a treadmill of back-to-back sessions. It also makes it hard to grow or sell a practice, since the business is built only around the clinician’s time.

Diversification can look like:

• Running online or in-person groups.
• Offering supervision in your area of expertise.
• Developing workplace training.
• Writing resources that answer common therapy-room questions.
• Leveraging AI and systems to create space for new projects.

Even small steps can keep your career sustainable while expanding your impact.

The Role of Collaboration

Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Networking, collaboration, and interdisciplinary work spark ideas we’d never find alone. Borrowing strategies from education or business enriches our field, while partnerships help share the load of creating something new.

Final Takeaways

Innovation in mental health isn’t about being a tech genius or taking wild risks. It’s about being:

• Flexible and creative.
• Grounded in values.
• Willing to see failures as learning opportunities.

If we want to stay competitive and sustainable in this field, we need to innovate. The good news? It doesn’t always mean doing something huge, it’s often the small, thoughtful shifts that make the biggest impact.