“My Personal Aide”
Creators: Nusrat
a High School Student from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ Bronx Health Sciences High School
About this Project:
My personal aide mostly focuses on giving affordable mental health resources to students from ages 11-26; basically middle school, high school and college students. After doing some research I noticed most online therapy or therapy in general costs around $70. Most students struggle to pay for therapy because they have to worry about paying for college and so they tend to avoid their health especially when it comes to mental health.
My main goal is to start spreading mental health awareness to countries that don’t take mental health seriously, some don’t even think there’s such a thing as mental health. Some people struggle to seek help because they are considered “crazy” when they look for therapy.
If I could bring my personal aide to become a real app, it can help many people understand what they are dealing with and offer them help they can afford will be useful/helpful; not only offer them mental health resources but having features where they can record their daily stress level and be able to do journaling by writing about their daily life to stay calm and keep a clean mind will make their life more easier and less stressful.
My main goal is to start spreading mental health awareness to countries that don’t take mental health seriously, some don’t even think there’s such a thing as mental health. Some people struggle to seek help because they are considered “crazy” when they look for therapy.
If I could bring my personal aide to become a real app, it can help many people understand what they are dealing with and offer them help they can afford will be useful/helpful; not only offer them mental health resources but having features where they can record their daily stress level and be able to do journaling by writing about their daily life to stay calm and keep a clean mind will make their life more easier and less stressful.
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Feedback from the Judges:
I really like your idea! mental health has such tremendous negative impact and so often people who suffer needs cannot get thelmselves to the help they need. Your app removes that barrier by providing resources and strategies, as well as ways to escalate for more help. The "Good Morning" page is my favorite. If you have a chance to advance your project, consider including a video or audio. The slides are informative but seeing/hearing from you would make your presentation even more powerful.
Great idea, great slide deck, great app design. Overall you have put some good thinking into your project and it shows. You have picked an issue that is important, that affects people's lives negatively and that is often ignored. You have also done some good work on the design of the app, I like it. This is a complex and nuanced issue and having a good user interface will be key, it is not easy and I really like the journaling prompts and the stress level UIs. These will be very helpful for the therapists who will treat the patients.
My advice would be to be a tiny bit more focused, maybe at least for your first version: for example pick only one user population (students) and one topic (stress/burnout). Then if these users take it on, you grow the app in iterations. A lot of products are built like this in agile iterations, you try something manageable initially, you code it, you deliver it and then you grow the feature set and expand the audience in the subsequent versions of the app.
You also have to create a separate sets of screens for the therapists who will be working with the patients. They need to have separate screens where they can access the patient records, set appointments, etc. As you can see: a lot of work is still required. :-)
Overall great work.
My advice would be to be a tiny bit more focused, maybe at least for your first version: for example pick only one user population (students) and one topic (stress/burnout). Then if these users take it on, you grow the app in iterations. A lot of products are built like this in agile iterations, you try something manageable initially, you code it, you deliver it and then you grow the feature set and expand the audience in the subsequent versions of the app.
You also have to create a separate sets of screens for the therapists who will be working with the patients. They need to have separate screens where they can access the patient records, set appointments, etc. As you can see: a lot of work is still required. :-)
Overall great work.
This app looks like it has potential to help a lot of students out. I think it eliminates the biggest barrier to receiving therapy (cost) and also helps out those students whose parents may be unable or unwilling to take them to a therapist due to the stigma surrounding mental health challenges. I would love for a future version of this to include some information you learn from speaking with licensed therapists and psychologists that work with children/teenagers. One of my favorite aspects of your mock-up is the color palette - although interacting with an app the blues and greens remind me of the earth, which can also be beneficial for people's mental health.
Nice job! Thank you for sharing your passion around such an important mission: providing affordable mental health resources to young people, especially in countries in which awareness and support for mental illness are low. Your concept is simple yet comprehensive - an application in which a young person can record her stress level, journal with suggested prompts and eventually request and access therapy and other mental health resources. You creatively and clearly captured the design and user experience in the app visuals. Your presentation was clear. I appreciated how you have thought about the future feature/functionality and how therapy and other resources might be provided to users and perhaps funded by donations.
As you design the user experience and prioritize key features/functionality of your application, here are a few questions for your consideration:
- How does your application improve upon the user experience and benefits of existing products (e.g., journaling apps; mental health and well-being apps; virtual therapy services)?
- How would you make your app appeal to young people / students? What are the unique features, benefits and value for people between the ages of 11 and 26?
- How will your app spread mental health awareness and support in countries that currently do not take mental illness and well-being “seriously?”
Wonderful idea. Compelling presentation. I hope you continue to make progress on solving an important problem. You are off to a great start. Good luck!
As you design the user experience and prioritize key features/functionality of your application, here are a few questions for your consideration:
- How does your application improve upon the user experience and benefits of existing products (e.g., journaling apps; mental health and well-being apps; virtual therapy services)?
- How would you make your app appeal to young people / students? What are the unique features, benefits and value for people between the ages of 11 and 26?
- How will your app spread mental health awareness and support in countries that currently do not take mental illness and well-being “seriously?”
Wonderful idea. Compelling presentation. I hope you continue to make progress on solving an important problem. You are off to a great start. Good luck!
Feedback from the Community:
👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from BHS
I really love this idea, especially as we transition from having been in isolation so long to finally being able to have interactions with one another in person. So much of our own mental health care has been neglected and I think this app would benefit those who need these resources to overcome the unique stressors that they experience at each stage of life. Great job!
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