In advance of Mental Health Awareness Day on 10 October, Twilio, the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalised experiences for brands, is sharing how two Australian non-profit organisations, Lifeline and SANE, are using messaging and voice capabilities to support mental health needs from first response through to continuous care.
For services supporting people in distress, organisations need to quickly and reliably connect the right person to the right conversation. By integrating inbound channels such as phone, SMS, and online chat as well as streamlining key workflows, Lifeline and SANE have been able to route urgent cases to trained staff and reduce wait times, all while maintaining privacy and safety standards.
Crisis support and suicide prevention service, Lifeline, responds to more than one million contacts each year.
“Lifeline Australia is a national charity providing all Australians experiencing emotional distress with access to 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. We exist so that no person in Australia has to face their darkest moments alone,” a Lifeline spokesperson said.
“Twilio Programmable Messaging enables Lifeline to provide two-way SMS to engage help seekers in their greatest time of need.
“Twilio Flex empowers Crisis Supporters on our Voice and Digital Services to communicate seamlessly with In-Shift Support Supervisors in situations where a help seeker is in an elevated state of distress. This capability proved critical during the COVID-19 pandemic when demand for our support services surged,” they added.
SANE is a national mental health charity that delivers digital and telehealth support services.
“Recovery from complex mental health challenges doesn’t happen overnight; it requires ongoing, trusted engagement, which makes accessibility an important part of continuous care,” A SANE spokesperson said.
“With Twilio, we can provide consistent and compassionate care whenever it’s needed. We leverage Twilio Flex for our 1800 Support Line as well as our online web chat for inquiries coming in on sane.org. This is crucial for our service delivery as it enables our workforce to receive calls, engage in web chats, and make calls to our program participants,” they added.
Using Twilio communication tools like Messaging (SMS, WhatsApp), Voice, and Flex (Twilio’s cloud contact centre), non-profits can better manage service capacity through automation, personalise ongoing engagement by carrying over context from past interactions, and provide individuals with more ways to access the help they need.
“Non-profit organisations provide invaluable support for people in their greatest time of need. We are incredibly proud and privileged that Twilio can be a part of the life-changing services mental health organisations deliver every day, helping make it easier for people to receive the care they need, promptly and via whatever channel is the most easily accessible to them,” Erin Reilly, chief social impact officer, Twilio.org said.
