Toward a more effective child and youth mental healthcare system: Goals and challenges of adapting the IAPT model in Australia

The delivery of child and youth mental health (CYMH) services in Australia is fragmented across various government, charity, and private organisations. Only a minority of children and youth access and receive the appropriate evidence-based mental health support, and current service models are largely inadequate to resolve this. Here we propose the IMPACT model for service delivery, an adaptation of the UK’s IAPT model for the Australian context, that attempts to address some of these problems through 3 mechanisms of change: immediate engagement in psychological interventions through stepped-care; measurement-based care; and relevant practitioner training. We describe our early experiences of implementing the IMPACT model and highlight the challenges to be overcome for successful implementation of such a model at scale.