TAL joins cross-industry collab to improve mental health outcomes

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

4 March 2026

TAL has brought its life insurance expertise to a cross-industry collaboration also featuring its recovery partner Workcom, the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (DHCRC) and the University of Sydney that has set out to develop a new digital platform designed to improve the experiences and outcomes for Australians making income protection claims due to a mental health condition.

The project, titled ‘Pathways’, combines the industry insights and feedback from each collaborator to better understand what support people need for their recovery and how more user-experience-centric, research-backed tools can improve resource navigation, choice and engagement.

Overseen by TAL and Workcom, the platform will be designed and developed in consultation with customers and frontline teams to help people connect with more well-suited support at the right time. It also seeks to respond to feedback that people want more support earlier on in their claim, the opportunity to have voice, access clearer and more consistent information and a greater choice during their recovery journey.

Georgina Croft, Chief Claims Officer at TAL, said the Pathways platform – which will be initially rolled-out to TAL customers – signals the life insurer’s commitment to elevating its point of difference for customers through further industry collaboration.

“We support customers during some of life’s most difficult challenges,” she said.

“We want to help them feel more connected and supported throughout their claim and recovery. Pathways will give our customers more clarity and control of the recovery journey, and provide their claim support team more information about how best to support them and when.”

John Mellors, Managing Director at Workcom, said the project speaks to the firm’s commitment to provide “expert, compassionate human care supported by thoughtfully designed digital tools”.

“Pathways is about giving people practical tools shaped by human-centred design, so they can more actively and optimally participate in their recovery from the very outset.

“We’re excited to explore whether involving people experiencing mental ill-health in a more structured and intentional way in their goal-setting and recovery journey leads to stronger and more sustainable outcomes.”

Annette Schmeide, DHCRC CEO, said the project comes at a time where the nation is experiencing a mental health crisis and addresses “a clear and growing need to better support people during what can be a stressful and uncertain period”.

“The rising prevalence of mental illness in the community is reflected in income protection claims, with life insurers seeing more – and more complex – claims than ever before,” she said.

“The Pathways project is designed to find a better way to support people with these claims. Applying behavioural science, evidence-based goal setting and decision-aid models we hope to find new ways to put people at the centre of their own recovery – and avoid the ‘solution overload’ and trial-and-error referrals that can occur.”

“By working directly with customers, clinicians and claims teams to understand what is missing and what genuinely helps people navigate recovery, Pathways aims to help people exercise choice and maintain a sense of control during the claims process,” Dr Elizabeth Stratton, Research Fellow at The University of Sydney’s Central Clinical School, said.

“This project is not about testing a single solution. It is about co-designing tools with customers and learning from their experiences to ensure future processes are designed to support autonomy, informed decision-making and active participation in recovery. There is a clear gap in the industry for recovery tools shaped by lived experience and real-world claim journeys, and Pathways seeks to help address that,” Dr Stratton said.