Our ECHO journey

Our ECHO journey

Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service first adopted the ECHO model in 2016 when the Integrated Care team completed ECHO Immersion training at the ECHO Institute, University of New Mexico. Our aim was to use ECHO to improve outcomes for children and youth across Queensland.

The ECHO platform has enabled us to establish virtual communities of practice to connect and mentor professionals working with children and youth across child safety, disability, health, youth justice and social care services.

We needed an integrated solution to get the right knowledge to the right provider at the right time, regardless of where they were located. ECHO’s successful track record since 2003 gave us confidence in the ECHO model.

Our organisation’s subject matter expertise focuses on child and youth health, and we immediately saw the value of the ECHO model reaching beyond paediatric care. So, we wanted to play a key role in supporting other stakeholders to benefit from this way of providing case-based learning and mentorship.

This has been our way of making a difference in Queensland and Australia.

Our approach has been to use the ECHO model to improve integration – or how systems, processes and individuals can work better together to achieve more efficient, reliable and streamlined outcomes.  We invested in piloting ECHO to do things differently and integrate the way we support children and young people throughout Queensland. You can read more about our experience here: Executive Decision-Making: Piloting Project ECHO® to Integrate Care in Queensland.

Our hub

In early 2017 we launched our pilot ECHO ADHD Network.  From there, we quickly expanded our portfolio to launch over 14 ECHO Networks across a variety of child and youth health focused topic areas. Click join an ECHO to see or join one of our ECHO Networks.

We continue to use the ECHO model to partner with colleagues in child safety, disability, education and many other sectors to share expertise at a state-wide and national level.

Our Superhub role

Our positive track record for using the ECHO model and sustained growth, was noticed by the ECHO Institute and in 2019, we were invited to become an ECHO Superhub.

As a Superhub, we train and support organisational teams in any sector across the Asia-Pacific region to start their own ECHO journeys. New teams can learn from our experience using the ECHO model successfully in our local context with real-life examples to help them successfully implement the model in their organisational setting.

So far, we have trained over 30 teams, from a variety of sectors, across Australia, such as Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, hospital and health services, non-government organisations, peak advocacy bodies, primary health networks, and universities.

We can train teams from any sector, so get in touch today to start an ECHO in your field.

This key mentorship and support role allows us to share our understanding of how systems integration can work better by using the ECHO model, in our part of the world.

Our team are looking forward to helping you become part of the ECHO!