Science & Tech · AI · 5 hrs ago
Relationships Australia SA uses AI to check clients’ safety while they wait
Relationships Australia SA is using AI agents to support clients who may face risks while waiting for help.
The South Australian non-profit sees more than 21,000 clients a year, and appointments typically take five to six weeks to come through.
After booking, clients can complete a family DOORS survey, which the agent checks against 15 years of screening data to identify elevated risks.
A flagged risk prompts a trained staff member to check the client’s safety within hours or days.
A second agent, called Agent Atlas, prepares summaries so practitioners can begin appointments without asking clients to repeat earlier information.
The tools aim to reduce the chance that people at risk go without support while they wait for an appointment.
Relationships Australia SA is using two AI agents to assess client risks and support practitioners while people wait five to six weeks for appointments.
Its family DOORS agent analyses survey responses against 15 years of data and can prompt a trained human to check on clients within hours or days.
A second agent, called Agent Atlas, prepares client summaries so practitioners can begin appointments without repeating earlier discussions.
Former CEO Claire Ralfs described the system at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference.
The organisation says it serves more than 21,000 clients a year and has about 400 staff.
- Who
- Relationships Australia SA, with former CEO Claire Ralfs describing the system.
- What
- It uses two AI agents to assess risks, prompt safety checks and prepare client summaries.
- When
- The agents are being used now. Clients typically wait five to six weeks for an appointment.
- Where
- South Australia.
- Why
- To identify elevated risks and check clients’ safety while they wait for appointments.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The client is sent a DOORS survey to fill out and submit.
The DOORS agent can flag elevated risks, prompting a trained human to contact the client and check their safety.
Agent Atlas provides a client summary for the practitioner.
- Annual clients
- More than 21,000
- Typical appointment wait
- Five to six weeks
- DOORS data
- 15 years
- Staff
- About 400
- Services
- 25
What people are saying
The struggle for us is knowing that as people reach out, they're at some of their riskiest [times], and yet it can be five-to-six weeks before we're able to respond.
And we call [them] within a few days, if not if not a few hours after we get that information, and we check that [they’re] actually safe until [their] appointment.
Our practitioner can start straight away with where [the client] is today. [They] don't have to go back and cover it all again.