The work

CRANAplus, Bush Support Line - CRIS Development

The client

CRANAplus, a valued long-term client, operates in the education and training space, specifically catering to rural and remote healthcare workers. Alongside their educational initiatives, they run the Bush Support Line (BSL), a crisis counselling phone service available 24/7, dedicated to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of workers and their families. Experienced psychologists staff the BSL, providing crucial support aimed at harm reduction and the development of effective coping strategies for their clients. They conduct regular workshops throughout the year, both virtually and in-person, focusing on mental health and wellbeing.

Following each call, the Bush Support Line operator is responsible for completing a comprehensive statistics form. This form captures essential information about the call, the caller, actions taken, and other relevant data needed for reporting and medical purposes. By collecting this information, a caller profile is created, ensuring that important background information can be readily accessed if the individual contacts the BSL again.

CRANAplus is deeply committed to promoting mental health and wellbeing in rural and remote areas. Through their extensive educational programs, crisis counselling services, and ongoing workshops, they play a vital role in supporting the mental health needs of healthcare workers. Their efforts aim to enhance resilience, reduce stigma, and improve access to essential support services, making a significant impact on the mental health landscape in these communities.

The problem

The Bush Support Line (BSL) plays a crucial role in CRANAplus's service delivery to frontline stakeholders and their families, providing essential mental health support. The previous paper-based documentation process was time-consuming, requiring scanning or faxing of documents to head office for processing into the CRM. However, changes in funding requirements and legislation rendered this process non-compliant and hindered the department's growth. It also posed challenges for management in tracking busy periods, rostering appropriately, and adopting a holistic approach to case management. The psychologists at BSL respond to incidents during critical periods, necessitating further reporting and collaboration with other stakeholders based on the severity of the incidents.

To address these challenges, discussions and consultations began in 2020 to create and implement a fit-for-purpose digital solution for BSL. The project scope was finalized in 2022, taking into account legislative requirements and the input of a wide range of stakeholders. Recognising the need for a timely approach, an Agile project management style was adopted, allowing for rapid product delivery.



The transition to a digital solution aims to streamline processes, ensure compliance, and improve efficiency in reporting and collaboration with stakeholders. By eliminating the paper-based system, BSL can enhance data accuracy and accessibility, enabling easy retrieval of caller information for future interactions. This digital transformation aligns with CRANAplus's commitment to providing timely and effective mental health support. It enables frontline workers and their families to receive the necessary assistance promptly, contributing to the overall well-being and resilience of rural and remote healthcare workers.

The solution

In the planning process, three clear phases were defined. The work contained within each phase has been delivered iteratively and takes into account stakeholder expectations and deadlines. The three phases were:

• Phase 1: System set up and restructure 
• Reconfigure the statistics form
• Develop an alerts functionality to facilitate follow up/duty of care process
• Set up of a handover functionality for smoother shift changeovers 
• Develop a call logging process 
• Complete infrastructure rebuild to ensure data is encrypted and meets the stipulated security guidelines of the client and the Commonwealth Government. 

• Phase 2: Reporting functionality 
• Develop reporting interface 
• Create reporting templates and infrastructure
• Develop reporting export functionality 
• Establish ability to review and triage missed calls 

• Phase 3: Integration with a PBX system
• Conduct research on the most appropriate PBX system and provide recommendations to the BSL team 
• Undertake integration with the chosen off the shelf PBX (soft phone system) so that calls can be answered within the system 
• Develop rostering functionality to manage shifts within the system 

CRANAplus was the first time H6 exclusively used Agile Project Management to manage and execute every part of a project. The product owner from CRANAplus and other relevant stakeholders from the Department of Social Services were included attendees at the fortnightly Sprint Planning meetings. They also solely utilised Jira to communicate with the project team and to log feature requests and bugs as they were presented. Backlog grooming was undertaken as a group to identify priorities, ensuring budgets could be managed effectively throughout the development process. After these meetings, the H6 project team would present new iterations of features that were completed within the last fortnight, and discuss impediments with the client directly. Addressing road blocks as they arose meant the development could keep moving forward.

The results

The implementation of these features and enhancements for the Bush Support Line (BSL), operated by CRANAplus, is scheduled for completion by the end of the 2022 financial year. These technological improvements will significantly reduce administrative overhead and support the BSL team in providing appropriate, holistic mental health support to frontline workers and their families across rural and remote Australia.

The use of an Agile project management style was deemed a success for both the project team and CRANAplus. The major benefits realized for this project were a reduction in administrative burden, allowing the BSL team to focus more on delivering vital mental health support through the crisis counselling phone system. Additionally, the Agile approach facilitated effective communication, efficient feedback loops, and timely delivery of features, ensuring the needs of frontline workers and their families were met in a responsive and tailored manner. This collaborative effort between CRANAplus and the project team has been instrumental in enhancing the capabilities of the Bush Support Line and advancing mental health services in remote areas.