The Equipt app is a free health and wellbeing tool developed in partnership with the Police Association of Victoria (TPAV) and Victoria Police. It is designed to support the mental health and overall wellbeing of Australian and New Zealand police officers—both current and former—as well as their families.
The app features Lifestyle tools to encourage healthy habits, Rapid Response Tool with strategies to manage immediate stress, a Call Back-Up Feature providing direct access to mental health support and the MyShift Tool with personalised recommendations tailored to an individual’s work schedule in the context of shift work.
Since its launch in 2016¹ the app has been downloaded over 30,000 times, reaching nearly half of Australia's 65,000 police officers.
Police officers face a significantly higher risk of developing mental health conditions due to repeated trauma exposure, irregular work hours, and high-pressure environments. Research shows that mental health conditions are more than twice as common among police when compared to the general population.²
The equipt app was developed in direct response to the Victorian Police Mental Health Review³ which called for cultural change and improvements to mental health support services for police.
It was critical that Utility Creative develop an app that would be and effective and trusted tool for police, as the Review also found that members were often reluctant to seek help due to a fear of detrimental impact on career prospects.
Utility Creative worked closely with TPAV and Victoria Police to ensure equipt met the unique needs of police officers.
Built for police, by police, the app was co-designed with input from officers and subject matter experts, including the University of Melbourne, the Phoenix Australia Centre for Post Traumatic Mental Health and US behavioural scientist Dr Kevin Gilmartin.
Focus groups and surveys were conducted on-site with serving police officers as the primary audience, alongside participants ranging from XYZ all the way to senior management. Separate focus group sessions were also held with TPAV.
The equipt app was launched by former Police Minister Lisa Neville, alongside former Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and former Police Association Secretary Ron Iddles. The app was an immediate success, attracting over 4,000 downloads within the first 3 months of launch.
In 2020 Utility Creative designed and released a refreshed version of the app, which included XYZ and the addition of the MyShift tool.
equipt remains freely available in all Australian states and territories, with a customised version recently developed for the Canadian Police Association.
equipt is a proven and effective mental health support tool, helping police officers stay in the job and on the job, reducing stress-related absenteeism and improving long-term retention.
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30,000+ downloads across Australia and New Zealand
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4,920 active users in 2024
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229 total hours spent on the app in 2024
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Being used by police in every state and territory jurisdiction across the country
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86% return user rate after 30 days (compared to a 3% industry average for mental health apps)
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77% of Equipt users remain engaged over time
“I strongly encourage all members and their families to download the equipt app today. equipt should form part of your regular mental health check routine. equipt works. It will help you take back control of your own wellbeing both at home and at work.”
Angela Smith, (former) President of the Australian Federal Police Association.
