Our Impact

ReachOut’s purpose is to be the trusted and safe digital space empowering young people to feel better.

In order to achieve our purpose, we target our services and resources in ways that can achieve the biggest impact for young people and those who support them. 

ReachOut is working to increase our understanding of the social value of our work, so that we can be more impactful. We’ve built on our 25 years of service delivery experience, in-depth reviews, and program evaluations to develop a new Social Impact Framework. Our Social Impact Framework is a bespoke set of indicators and measures that will enable us to use data to inform our service design and delivery, and be clear about the outcomes we are achieving for the young people we serve. It’s a comprehensive framework that we will refine and iterate as we undertake the data collection activities that will underpin our Social Impact Reports.

ReachOut’s Social Impact Framework

ReachOut has developed a social impact model that reflects our unique position in the youth mental health support system in Australia. This model encompasses three elements that are critical to an anonymous and non-clinical support service, such as ours, that is designed with and for young people. 

ReachOut’s Social Impact Framework outlines core indicators for Outcomes, Reach and Engagement.

  • Reach: What types of people are using our services and are we reaching those at a heightened risk of mental ill-health. 
  • Engagement: How those that are using our services are engaged with our services. 
  • Outcomes: The positive changes that we are confident can be attributed to using ReachOut’s mental health and wellbeing services.

Our Social Impact Report

We will report on our social impact and the steps that we are taking to make sure we are on track to achieve our purpose every year. 

Watch this space for ‘Our Social Impact in 2022–2023’

Check out some of our initial findings

Young people are at the heart of everything we do.

Emily

"If I never found the ReachOut Forums, I genuinely don't know whether I'd be here today."


Watch Emily's story

Jay

"The school had counsellors ... but I didn't find the counselling helpful ... I was looking for somewhere to go, and I found the ReachOut Forums."

Watch Jay's story

Kai

"I used the ReachOut Forums to be able to connect with other non-cisgendered people online, and be able to use their stories to help me feel more confident in my gender."

Watch Kai's story