The development of a new consumer-friendly digital mental health gateway (the Gateway) is a key recommendation of the Australia Government's 2015 response to the National Mental Health Commission's Contributing Lives, Thriving Communities - Review of Mental Health Programmes and Services. The purpose of the Gateway is to provide consumers and carers with the tools and information they need to successfully navigate the digital mental health system and make informed choices about their care. It will bring together and streamline access to existing evidence-based information, advice and digital mental health treatments, connecting people with the services they need.

The Gateway is a multichannel (web, telephone and web chat) digital platform that will be responsive to a person's unique needs and make it simpler, faster and easier to navigate through the myriad of digital mental health services, support and information currently available. The Gateway will not provide treatment services, but rather, identify those treatment services that best suit a person's needs, and then refer the person, to those services.

The Real Time Support Contact Centre Service will initially provide real-time support to users of the online channel (i.e. website) via Webchat starting December 2016. The telephone channel is scheduled to be added from March 2017. It is important to note that the real-time support provided by the contact centre will not be in the form of treatment/therapeutic intervention. The Webchat support will assist people navigate through the Gateway website, while the telephone support will offer an alternate entry point to the Gateway, instead of people having to use the website or web chat. These different Gateway channels will help users identify their needs, and then refer them to services that best meet those needs. The services people are referred to will deliver the treatment services/therapeutic interventions.