Hello Sunday Morning

The Drink Tracker

Hello Sunday Morning helps thousands of Australians to better manage drinking habits that are impacting their health.

The issue

Lifestyle risk factors such as poor diet, tobacco use, physical inactivity and risky alcohol consumption continue to be leading causes of poor health in Australia. Drinking alcohol at risky levels is one of the largest contributors to the preventable burden of disease.

Hello Sunday Morning is a digital health organisation that combines the strength of its online peer community with clinical best-practice and digital technology to help individuals change their relationship with alcohol. Since 2010, Hello Sunday Morning has grown to be one of the largest online movements for alcohol behaviour change in the world, with over 127,000 registered members to date.

Every year, nearly 400,000 Australians put their hand up looking for support to change their relationship with alcohol, with thousands more too afraid to ask. But despite spending over $1 billion a year to address the issue, only 30% of these people ever receive the help they need. Consequently, alcohol is responsible for 5,500 deaths every year - that's greater than our suicide rate and road toll combined.

The project

To broaden their support for those who want to quit or reduce their alcohol use, Hello Sunday Morning has developed a new Drink Tracker. As a feature of their Daybreak app, the Drink Tracker allows members to set their drinking goals and track their alcohol consumption. Detailed scoping, design testing and feedback was undertaken to ensure the Drink Tracker would be a highly sought after addition to Daybreak.

Ultimately, this tool helps people to be more mindful of their drinking behaviour and implement self-monitoring measures to achieve their desired alcohol goals. Features include goal setting, visual tracking of standard drinks, self-monitoring and feedback, reminder notifications to track drinking, a calendar and graph visualisation of progress and base level data metrics. Users can also share their goal achievements with the Daybreak community.

The impact

Hello Sunday Morning expects the Drink Tracker will be easy for the Daybreak community members to use and help them achieve their goals. One of the most effective ways for individuals to reduce alcohol consumption is by keeping count of their alcoholic drinks as it increases mindfulness and self-awareness of drinking behaviour, supporting motivation to make changes. By using the Drink Tracker users can decrease their overall alcohol consumption. This occurred in the first year of the Drink Tracker, with a significant reduction in drinking risk recorded in members who had been using the Drink Tracker for at least 3 months. There was also a significant reduction in psychological distress for members using the Drink Tracker in the same time period.

Hello Sunday Morning also found that the Drink Tracker increased overall engagement with the app as as an entry point into Daybreak for those who are not already members.

The issue

Excessive drinking can have various physical, emotional, and social impacts on a person’s life, and accessing healthcare can be difficult. People with alcohol dependency issues need easily accessible and convenient solutions during their mental wellbeing recovery journeys, so they can effectively and discreetly work through the underlying causes of alcohol use without significantly disrupting their life[NS1] . Where in-person healthcare access may have too many barriers for some people, digital healthcare such as iCBT can be a clinically effective, accessible, and cost-effective part of the solution.

The project

Hello Sunday Morning are developing an all-in-one solution through an internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy program (iCBT), called Hello Change. The self-directed program will be interactive and teach people new skills to help prevent relapse and manage symptoms such as cravings, urges, mood and anxiety. It will combine technology with Hello Sunday Morning’s proven methodology and clinical expertise to help those living with problem drinking. Alongside strong evidence-based content, they will use interactive animation to help create an innovative user experience, to be co-designed with their community members. The program will provide information, interactive exercises and worksheets to record thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Personalised feedback will also be provided as well as quizzes to test users’ learning of new skills.

The impact

The Hello Change program will aim to reduce alcohol consumption and psychological distress and improve mental wellbeing. Hello Sunday Morning anticipates it will help people by eliminating extended wait times for clinical support, with 24/7 access and support available through the program when it's most needed. Support will be offered according to user preference to help reduce symptoms, and improve understanding of triggers to develop healthy, coping strategies. The program will also act as an alternative entry point into the Daybreak community for new users, for them to access peer support from like-minded people.

The project

After supporting the growth of Hello Sunday Morning's alcohol behaviour change products and services since 2015, we continued our partnership to support the development of their new alcohol and wellbeing self assessment tool, My Drink Check, to help Australians assess their drinking habits. This new online tool has been designed using insights from Australians challenged firsthand with managing their drinking habits. It complements the programs, tools, and tips developed by clinicians trained to help and assist people to change their behaviours around alcohol. The new tool is located on the Hello Sunday Morning website and provides a personalised snapshot report and links to the most appropriate resources.     

The impact

Demonstrating the impact of risky drinking on individuals and the health system alike, claims data from nib health funds shows that in 2021 nib paid over $9 million in alcohol-related mental health benefits, which has increased by 14% compared to the previous year. There was also a 36% increase in the number of younger members aged 39 and under who had at least one alcohol-related mental health admission in this time.  

Through its platform, Hello Sunday Morning's goal is to achieve an average 35-50% reduction in harmful alcohol consumption amongst its members, creating healthier lifestyles and achieving the positive benefits associated with reduced alcohol consumption. In its first year over 25,000 people have  completed the self assessment and received a personalised report with next steps for support from Hello Sunday Morning. 

Hello Sunday Morning studied their members who used My Drink Check over a three month period and found statistically significant reductions in alcohol consumption and levels of psychological distress, suggesting that participation in the My Drink Check tool contributed to their reduced drinking habits and better wellbeing scores. 

By taking the quick five-minute confidential online self-assessment, anyone is able to check their drinking habits and receive support and personalised feedback about their drinking and wellbeing.