While digital mental health platforms are abundant, the vast majority are designed for individual users. There is currently no known platform purpose-built for use within a family therapy context, nor one that supports simultaneous engagement of multiple family members in a shared digital space. This absence presents a unique opportunity for innovation.
The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University, is addressing this gap. Bouverie is Australia’s oldest and largest dedicated Family Therapy Centre. As a practice–research–translation centre and a state-wide provider of specialist family therapy services in Victoria, Bouverie plays a key role in advancing family-inclusive mental health care.
To address growing waitlists and improve access to timely support, The Bouverie Centre has created a new clinical service model, known as Rapid Access Family Therapy, or RAFT. The final stage in this transformed pathway of care is the development of an e-family mental health hub—a digital front door to Bouverie’s services. This online hub is designed to help families make sense of what’s happening in their lives, find relevant and evidence-informed resources, initiate supportive conversations with one another, collaborate around shared concerns, and access in-person or referred services as needed.
Designing a systemically oriented digital mental health resource demands an understanding of the relational and dynamic nature of family systems. This presentation will describe The Bouverie Centre’s iterative co-design process, which brought together family therapists, engineers, digital mental health experts, and family members with lived experience. The process was structured to ensure the hub aligns with systemic therapy principles, emphasizing inclusivity, shared meaning-making, safe information exchange, and respectful dialogue between family members.
Key elements of the co-design approach included the establishment of reference groups, a Delphi process to identify foundational design principles, participatory design workshops, and iterative feedback cycles. The resulting prototype is a digital platform concept that enables multiple family members to explore resources, engage in guided reflections, and develop a shared understanding of their challenges and strengths.
There is increasing recognition of the role families play in mental health recovery, especially in supporting engagement, adherence, and long-term outcomes. As such, this presentation will also highlight broader implications of the co-design findings for services aiming to expand their capacity for family-inclusive practice. Ultimately, this work aims to shift digital mental health from an individualistic paradigm toward a systemic, relational model of care that better reflects the lived experience of families navigating mental health together.
