ABOUT

The brief:
MindFull is the BB Group’s latest online programme, launching on the 5th of July 2013.
The programme will support the mental health and emotional wellbeing of young people (aged 11-17), via peer mentoring, professional counselling, and a range of social and self help interactive tools.

The work:

I worked very closely with the MindFull team and our in-house clinical practice team to establish the requirements for the project. Their input was particularly valuable for developing the initial specs for the site’s therapeutic tools.
These include an interactive tool that allows the user to place objects on a virtual board as a visual aid during an online session with their counsellor; based closely on a real-life clinical exercise that uses shells or buttons. I spent a long time understanding how the exercise works (and how best to translate it into a virtual environment), and how it could be technically realised.

I produced all of the functional specifications and wireframes for the website, and presented the initial design concepts and user pathways to key stakeholders within the company.

By far the most challenging aspect of the project was devising ways to make the process of entering into counselling - which involves three separate and substantial forms before they can request their first session - as user-friendly as possible for young people.

Unfortunately, the process is subject to legal and safeguarding requirements, so there was no possibility of streamlining the process or even altering the exact wording of the questions.

However, I was able to make the process more transparent and engaging by:
Displaying the consent assessment one section at a time, with a different themed background image for each question. This helped to break up the endless forms, and make the consent assessment seem more playful and quiz-like.
Introducing a progress bar to indicate where the user is on their journey toward counselling. This helps to show that, although the process can take some time, each step brings them closer to receiving help.
Designing a drag-and-drop counsellor matching tool that allows the user to find and select up to three counsellors to speak to, based on the user’s needs and preferences.

I also designed a drag-and-drop counsellor matching tool that allows the user to select up to three counsellors for an initial one-to-one session.

MindFull is at the time of writing in the final test phase, and will be launching on the 5th of July.