Hey Lemonade: Actors Lucy Durack and Elise McCann launch world-first mental health app

If you’ve had the pleasure of encountering Lucy Durack, you’ll know she is as peppy as they come.

The Perth-raised stage and screen star, best known for roles in Wicked and Legally Blonde, is the equivalent of human sunshine, with her cheery disposition and bright smile.

So if anyone was suited to making a world-first app dedicated to providing uplifting pep talks, it would naturally be her.

Together with close friend and fellow actor Elise McCann, Durack has just launched Hey Lemonade, a virtual library of short, sharp recordings designed to help people shift their mindset or move through a sticky situation.

The idea came to the performers during a socially distanced walk soon after COVID-19 hit Australia in 2020.

They had both experienced the arts sector effectively shutting down overnight: McCann was working in New York with Sarah Jessica Parker’s company, Pretty Matches Productions, while Durack was starring as Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical until the pandemic forced them both out of the spotlight.

The walk served as an instant pick-me-up and the women wondered if they could find a way to bottle that feeling — what if you had a best friend in your pocket to help nip stress in the bud before it became insurmountable?

“I had turned to the usual wellness and meditation apps, and there is definitely a time and a place for those but I wanted something more pragmatic,” Durack explains.

“We thought, surely someone has made a pep talk app, but it didn’t exist. Most things we found online were very woo-woo and required a large amount of time we didn’t have. We wanted a quick recording to act as a circuit breaker for life’s stressors, something that could help pull you together when you needed it.”

While their pivot into the tech world may come as a surprise, both McCann and Durack have backgrounds studying law and experience in content creation.

They took up an accelerator course with SBE Australia, which is a springboard for female-founded businesses, and brought together a team of mentors and investors who believed in their vision for the app.

Hey Lemonade is built around the concept of turning life’s lemons into something more fruitful, with three-minute pep talks on anything from imposter syndrome to heartbreak and people forgetting your birthday.

The audio messages are penned by clever minds like Marieke Hardy, Susie Youssef and Virginia Gay, and feature the voices of beloved Aussie identities.

“Every talk is written in relatable language about a specific issue, like if you’re feeling FOMO or comparititis because you’re scrolling Instagram, or if your kid is being an a...hole,” Durack laughs.

“Everything is injected with lighthearted wit, there’s that familiarity of language so you know it’s not just you who feels a certain way.”

The talks are delivered with at least three different voice options, including a child narrator, so you can choose what best fits your mood on any given day.

“You might feel a bit vulnerable and in need of a vocal cuddle, so somebody like Maggie Beer might be right for you,” Durack says.

“Or you might want to hear from someone a bit charming, like Tony Armstrong. Ben Law has delivered some amazing talks, like he is your favourite cousin, and if you need a kick into action, there is Chief Brabon, who is a former Australian Army Infantry soldier.

“We have chosen the voices based on who we think are trusted Australians and are really good in their own fields.”

But they aren’t just fluff — all the “peps” are developed with a team of psychologists and are grounded in evidence from solution-focused therapy.

Hey Lemonade has also been awarded a CSIRO research grant to ensure the talks are scientifically sound, and early feedback from the app’s launch has been overwhelmingly positive.

McCann and Durack have personally overseen every step of the process, even recording some peps themselves, and say they serve as a reminder that all feelings are normal — and all feelings pass.

“Often in the moment, you can feel really stressed or frustrated, and of course there are real problems that may need to be dealt with, but a lot of the time you just need a circuit breaker to move forward,” Durack says.

“It seems so simple, but I find I need a constant reminder that things aren’t permanent.

“I have found it so helpful, personally; it’s amazing how it can change the trajectory of your whole day. You can come back to it any time. It’s not something you have to do every day and it doesn’t require a lot of time.”