The CleanM8 team are delighted to have their concept selected as the winning entry in the Regional Australia Institutes "Bright Ideas" challenge for 2018. This support is important, as our concept will benefit Rural and Remote Australia where access to AOD (Alcohol and Other Drug) treatment and recovery services can be difficult, making it harder for people to quickly start a supported recovery journey. In towns where people know each other well, having the anonymity of a supportive online treatment pathway can be a helpful thing for taking those first recovery steps safely and with reduced risk of stigma.
The smart digital tools we're building are designed to provide prompt assistance from that first "motivated moment" where someone decides they need and want to take a different path back to health. The value of this is far reaching, as these services have a strong evidence based association for helping with the burdens of family breakdown, mental illness and suicide risk in these communities. The innovation and commercialisation pathway we're taking has good export potential as well, since it can be attuned to serve other cultures and communities in need. We're building tools that support stakeholders across the lifecycle of addiction, from pre-clinical low intensity support, through clinical or rehab centre engagement and beyond, to ensure resilience skills learnt minimise the frequency and duration of relapse.
We've appreciated the help of Regional Australia Institute over the last few weeks, as they've provided invaluable input into our product development directions. They’ve introduced us to important regional stakeholders where communities are actively working with the health, social and economic challenges of addiction, against a background of increasingly scarce service delivery professionals for small towns. We're looking forward to building a campaign package with PRIME7 to help get the message out about our work and stimulate community input to help us design and build regionally relevant and effective tools. It's part of a larger body of work that we've been undertaking to boost regionally relevant HealthTech capability from our operating base in the Hunter + Central Coast region.
The smart digital tools we're building are designed to provide prompt assistance from that first "motivated moment" where someone decides they need and want to take a different path back to health. The value of this is far reaching, as these services have a strong evidence based association for helping with the burdens of family breakdown, mental illness and suicide risk in these communities. The innovation and commercialisation pathway we're taking has good export potential as well, since it can be attuned to serve other cultures and communities in need. We're building tools that support stakeholders across the lifecycle of addiction, from pre-clinical low intensity support, through clinical or rehab centre engagement and beyond, to ensure resilience skills learnt minimise the frequency and duration of relapse.
We've appreciated the help of Regional Australia Institute over the last few weeks, as they've provided invaluable input into our product development directions. They’ve introduced us to important regional stakeholders where communities are actively working with the health, social and economic challenges of addiction, against a background of increasingly scarce service delivery professionals for small towns. We're looking forward to building a campaign package with PRIME7 to help get the message out about our work and stimulate community input to help us design and build regionally relevant and effective tools. It's part of a larger body of work that we've been undertaking to boost regionally relevant HealthTech capability from our operating base in the Hunter + Central Coast region.
Whilst the team is based in the Hunter and Central Coast, its origins lay in our founders lived experience of remote locations, regional towns and healthcare consulting, motivated by the impacts of AOD issues on those populations. Conceived as a social impact venture of Laughing Mind, a Digital Health product development company, Brian Hill (Founder, Occupational Therapist) said:
“For those wrestling with substance dependence issues in areas where they have limited or no access to services, better help is sorely needed. We want to help turn lives around - fast, adaptive and personalised digital platforms can help build and support behavioral insight for recovering individuals and their support networks. Our Apps and digital interventions are based on evidence based neuroscience and behavioural support methods proven to work in other clinical and community settings, but we're designing them now for scale and ease of access by consumers, clinicians and carers.
However, being a therapeutically focussed platform, it requires extra levels of care in its design than a standard 'wellness app', with Software as a Medical Device design rigour needed and the support to overcome those hurdles. We're delighted to be selected as winner for 2018 and congratulate, encourage other regional entrants who also made the finalists list to keep moving forwards with their ideas.”
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Laughing Mind has established formal collaborations in the sector, including University of Newcastle's Centre for Brain and Mental Health Priority Research Centre, GPs from Valley Medical and The Glen Centre in Chittaway Bay, NSW, and other collaborations with lived experience advocates. We're also working with emerging clinicians who represent the next wave of technology-savvy professionals and ensuring supply-demand side matching through our Founders PhD research project work at the University of Newcastle.
For collaborators in regional, rural and remote areas, we want to connect, listen and learn, which you can do in two ways:
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CleanM8 is a social impact initiative of Laughing Mind, based in CentralCoast + Newcastle NSW. Designed as part of their MindM8s digital therapeutics service, CleanM8 is working to address the estimated $37b/yr problem for Australia of substance abuse impacts on families, communities and society by building smart, social, therapeutic tools to support consumers, clinicians and carers involved in substance recovery journeys.
Want to help provide some coverage of our work? Please refer to our Media Kit.
Want to help provide some coverage of our work? Please refer to our Media Kit.