Making the Call
Whether you’re experiencing mental health challenges yourself, or if you’re concerned about a loved one, making the call to reach out and talk about how you’re feeling can be hard, but is so important.
Julie Borninkhof, PANDA CEO
"Lived experience remains our anchor as we shift gears in how we deliver care and the systems that support it."
PANDA is and always will be an organisation founded on lived experience. We do this through community consultation, delivery of care (many of our team with their own lived experience), advocacy and governance. Thank you to everyone who contributed this year.
This year, PANDA achieved accreditation against the National Safety and Quality Digital Mental Health Standards and tendered competitively for our core federal funding. We managed to achieve both while continuing to deliver our National Helpline service and launch valued, codesigned tools and resources.
Over 8,233 people accessed support from PANDA. We delivered over 50,000 care interactions via our Helpline alone. Over 28,000 people completed our Mental Health Checklist and developed 31 new resources, informed by community consultation. We invested in printed information, important in health care settings and community, distributing over 89,000 free printed resources. Big numbers we are very proud of.
We welcomed co-investment from the Northern Territory Government for the expansion of our Intensive Care and Counselling services. We are also proud to partner with Pink Elephants Support Network to deliver the first ever specialist helpline to people who have experienced pregnancy loss. This collaboration is a perfect example of valued partnership and collaboration for the community - powered by PANDA.
While I could not be prouder of what our team has achieved, I want to acknowledge the impact that a changing funding and regulatory environment has on organisations like ours. Not-for-profit organisations are filled with passion and purpose and everyone at PANDA turns up each day with their heart ‘on their sleeve’ to do good for the community. However, funding is getting tighter, and requirements to grow and evolve our business systems continue to increase. I would like to sincerely thank everyone at PANDA, including those no longer with us, for their commitment and willingness to fight for our organisation.
Thank you to our friends, partners and colleagues across the sector, our Lived Experience Advisory Group and volunteers who share their passion, purpose and personal experience. We could not do this important work without you!
Dr Leanne Beagley, PANDA Board Chair
"In the 2024-2025 year, PANDA sustained and enhanced the excellent services provided to our community, and we also changed gears."
PANDA were delighted to receive full accreditation against the Australian Digital Mental Health Standards this year. We made sustained progress in embedding our new online data systems and used this insight to understand and improve the services we are providing, with an ongoing commitment to systems that strengthen privacy and safety.
We built on our Reconciliation Action Plan through activities, cultural education and guidance provided by First Nations staff, participants and partners. We developed many new partnerships and strengthened established ones.
We were delighted to sign a new three-year contract with the Commonwealth Government to continue to deliver our Helpline services and our online resources. We would like to recognise the confidence our funders place in us through continued funding commitments. We also thank State and Territory Governments and our corporate partners Baby Bunting and Priceline Sisterhood Foundation for their ongoing commitment.
Our commitment to lived experience leadership was galvanised this year through the formal appointment of Vicky Pellowe as a designated lived experience Board Director. Vicky also co-chairs the PANDA LEAG (Lived Experience Advisory Group). To adapt to our changing environment, an organisational restructure further embedded the frontline service delivery expertise of the peer workforce within PANDA.
Underlining our organisational values we have seen our staff awards continue to spotlight the commitment and impact of individual staff members. All these efforts point to the incredible work of PANDA staff, leadership team, and volunteers, all of whom commit themselves to provide high quality care to our community.
As I come to the end of my first year as Board Chair, I am filled with gratitude for the truly great leadership legacy left by Ben Lannan as he handed over the reigns at the end of 2024. I am proud of the rigorous and determined governance of the PANDA Board members and the wise and skillful executive leadership of CEO Julie Borninkhof.
“Recognising the importance of lived experience and how this can provide ongoing support for families is such a wonderful thing.”
A year of digital transformation
For many digital and telephone mental health services, 2024-2025 was a major transition. The new requirement to be accredited against the new National Digital Mental Health Standards in order to access funding was a significant task.
At PANDA, we were well positioned to mature our digital service. Accreditation formalised and further embedded much of what we were already doing.
Receiving accreditation against the new National Digital Mental Health Standards in October 2024, was an exceptionally proud moment for us. We acknowledge and appreciate the huge effort and commitment by all staff at PANDA to ensure our future funding.
What are the National Digital Mental Health Standards?
A government agency, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, wrote the Digital Mental Health Standards to help people identify high quality digital mental health services.
They worked with people who use digital mental health tools, mental health experts and industry to make sure that accredited services pay attention to the things that keep services safe.
An accredited service keeps your information private, and they will ask for your feedback to make the service better. They also make sure their services are based on strong evidence.
A service gets accredited by an approved agency that has been trained to check for safety and quality issues. They check evidence to show the service meets the Digital Mental Health Standards so you can know that the service keeps people safe.
Thank you to everyone who supports and trusts PANDA to deliver quality services to Australian families.
A snapshot of our impact
A snapshot of our impact in 2024-2025
- 8,233 people called PANDA
- 50,000 service touchpoints
- 14% increase in families supported in VIC & QLD
- 589 healthcare providers accessed secondary consultation
- 16% of callers experienced thoughts of suicide
- 12.5% of callers experienced family violence
- 21% of callers reported relationship difficulties
- 7% of callers identified as First Nations
- 11% of callers identified as culturally diverse
- 8% were male - calling about a partner, or their own mental health
- 28,067 mental health checklists completed
- 2,497 free online courses completed
- 289,000 website users
- 20 new lived experience stories on our website