Haven: Connecting Users with Mental Health Professionals
“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.”
Involvement
This was a class assignment spanning 3 weeks. As an individual that has benefited from mental health services, I wanted to discover what holds people back from seeking help and how we could eliminate this barrier for the betterment of the community.
Design Challenge
The goal was to design a healthier future through the development of an initiative. I chose to specifically focus on the field of mental health. I wanted to create a system that could help users gain better access to mental professionals and services.
Research
1 - least important to 5 - very important
Research was conducted through a survey and follow up qualitative interviews. The goal of this research was to discover what barriers users face when attempting to connect with mental health professionals.
14/19 participants rated their mental health to be “very important” to themselves
Users found mental health to be important because they felt that it correlated with the users’ well being and productiveness
68% of users said they have wanted to talk to a mental health professional. 16% said maybe. Only 16% said no.
The most common reasons preventing users from seeing a mental health professional were issues with scheduling and finding the right doctor for the user’s needs.
Users expressed the desire for contacting mental health professionals to be easier and more transparent.
“I wish there was an easier way to find the right professional to fit my mental health needs.”
Competitive analysis was performed on 3 main competitors, Headspace, Talkspace, and traditional talk therapy.
Headspace - provides the benefits of meditation on the go to improve health
makes meditation seem more accessible and able to be integrated into everyday life
visual language is fun and inviting
Haven could create the same attitude towards mental health professionals instead of meditation
Talkspace - offers comprehensive mental health treatments online
provides telehealth where professionals can also check in on users
attempts to make access to mental health professionals easier
Haven could create the same ease of access but in a less clinical environment, making the atmosphere more warm and inviting
Traditional Talk Therapy - meeting one-on-one in person
Haven could create mental health services more accessible and with a brand identity
Design
Flowchart - Scheduling a meeting with a mental health professional.
I loved working on this project because I think mental health is so important in our lives and oftentimes gets neglected or forgotten about. I like designing for positive change in society so this was a great challenge.
I also learned a lot about what user’s pain points really were that prevented them from seeking mental health services. It actually surprised me that it had less to do with social stigma and more to do with ease of access. These are important insights to discover so that we may design for success and a better future.