Isaac Navicare is a mental health care navigation service established in the Isaac Local Government Area in rural/remote Queensland in November 2021. Co-designed with local service providers, key stakeholders, and community representatives, Navicare addresses local barriers to accessing mental health support such as lack of local services, high staff turnover, long waiting lists, or complex eligibility criteria. Care navigation increases access to appropriate services, reduces waiting times, and provides a supportive entry to the mental health system by simplifying and streamlining the help-seeking process, incorporating navigation to tele-mental health, supported telehealth, and other local services. The site is co-located with other community organisations in a non-stigmatising location.

This mixed-methods evaluation, guided by the RE-AIM implementation science framework, included a database review of clients engaged with the service during the pilot, surveys, and interviews with clients. During the evaluation period, 197 people engaged with the service (65% adults, 35% minors). Of these, 156 were referred to one or more mental health services. Although 56.3% expressed a preference for face-to-face support, only 50% of these were referred for this modality due to lack of suitable services. The remaining 50% were willing to engage in telehealth psychology or counselling. Interview participants reported that although some initially had doubts, most adapted to the telehealth modality and found it met their needs. Service evaluation found that: 1) combining care navigation with tele-mental health substantially increased uptake and acceptability of tele-mental health; 2) further work is needed to identify those groups for whom tele-mental health is not appropriate; and 3) care navigation substantially decreased waiting times to engagement with an appropriate counselling or psychology service.

This pilot evaluation was conducted prior to data collection commencing for The Bridging Study and is separate to The Bridging Study led by Queensland University of Technology.