What a year it has been!
Read on to learn more about PANDA’s impact in 2025-2026, or download the full report here:
Julie Borninkhof, PANDA CEO
This year PANDA facilitated over half a million opportunities to impact the mental health and wellbeing of parents in Australia.”
Through our Helpline services, Dot our Chatbot or via our Mental Health
Checklist and web resources, we couldn’t be more grateful to be the go-to
source of support for people when they need support.
Every day, we tell our callers, ‘near enough is good enough’, but at PANDA we
aim for gold class, being brave, effective and collaborative for the community.
Dr Leanne Beagley, PANDA Board Chair
It is with great enthusiasm that I write here representing the Board of PANDA and celebrating the achievements of the past year 2025-26.
PANDA has continued to grow and mature, evolve and change to match the
challenges and demands of our context and meet the goals in our funding
agreements – and with that has continued to deliver high-quality and valued
services for our community.
I encourage you to take the time to review this Impact report, noting the improved access for families, high levels of satisfaction from those who access our care, the welcome expansion of our program into Northern Territory in particular and our achievements against our Reconciliation Action
Plan.
“It [PANDA Helpline] was available at a crucial moment when I needed it and felt like I had nowhere else to turn. The peer support worker helped me feel heard, validated and grounded.”
Highlights of the year
PANDA’s YES (Your Experience of Service) Survey data showed high service satisfaction. 81.5% rated PANDA as very good or excellent. 92% felt respected while engaging with PANDA.
In April 2026, the NSW Government announced they would continue funding PANDA’s ReNew Justice program pilot. The program is now funded through until 2029 for families in the justice system.
Funded by NT Health, we expanded our Intensive Care and Counselling service into the Northern Territory. The service is now funded in three states
and territories.
We significantly increased opportunities for in-depth conversations
about perinatal mental health through podcasts and deeper conversations with media.
PANDA achieved a 46% live-call pick-up rate. The abandonment rate
reduced from 29% to 20%, while average waiting time improved from 7.7
minutes to 5 minutes 28 seconds.
We invested in our people leaders, establishing BEACON (Brave, effective,
aligned, collaborative, on-purpose navigators). This group ensures we
support our people, not just as managers, but as leaders of our culture, strategy and wellbeing.
Helpline performance
- 92% of callers were from NSW, QLD and Victoria, demonstrating a need to increase awareness in other states and territories.
- 9,827 callers - 19% growth on last year
- 56,108 activities
- 19,000 hours of support
- Average call time of 24 minutes
- 17% of callers identify as First Nations
- 24% from regional/remote parts of Australia
- Where assessed, risk was identified in 37% of Helpline calls. Of those, 54% of callers were experiencing two or more risk types.
- 30% of support activities were delivered by Peer Practitioners