Reachout is an inclusive mental health resource app for the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) operated by the city of Irvine, CA. Their goal is to help the entire school district, including students, teachers, and parents, with the mental health resources they need.
*This is a Google UX Certificate project
Project Type
UX Case study
Project Year
2023
Project Goals
Design an inclusive app from concept to final product and a responsive website for IUSD to ensure everyone can access mental health resources.
Target Audience
IUSD, including students, teachers, and parents, mental health resources they need.
Pain Points
The long wait makes it hard for students to make an appointment with a school counselor. Also, some mental health resources are dedicated only to students but not to their parents and teachers.
📝 User Research
A primary user group identified was students who are between 13-18 and do not know how to deal with their anxiety and stress at home and/or school.
The second user group was teachers who have been stressed due to staffing shortages after COVID-19 and pressures to help students catch up from learning lost after the pandemic.
Persona 1: Marion Nguyen
Marion is a high school senior feeling stressed from parental pressure who needs a way to find someone outside school to talk to about his future path and anxiety at school and home.
Persona 2: Julia Anderson
Julia is a passionate elementary school teacher who needs a way to find mental health resources available to her in her school because she wants to provide best education for her students but feels burnout from her workload and anxious if she can continue doing this.
I conducted secondary research and viewed similar study cases to obtain common pain points of IUSD’s mental health resources and school counseling system. I made a competitive audit to research competitors and reveal opportunities for the app to be unique and address users’ pain points.
Research revealed that the two target groups both would want an app that recommends and provides mental health resources that accommodate their needs with some privacy rather than just visiting school counselors at school.
Ideation💡
I sketched out a few ideas for home and some important screens. Some ideas include a filter feature for all users to narrow search results (Occupation type, service type, hours, etc) and pop-up screens for easy navigation.
Usability Tests 💭
Based on the insights from a moderated usability study I conducted online, I learned that some people preferred using the search bar rather than filtering, so I enhanced the search bar and also enabled users to change the zip code easily so that they could find nearby locations even when they are not home or at school.
Additional design changes include adding more helpful information about each mental health care provider, such as “walk-in available” and “online doctor,” in addition to the distance and business hours. This was from the feedback from some participants who wanted to see more information about each clinic without tapping it to see the details one by one. This would help users determine which provider meets their needs and preferences.
Takeaways 🌱
Impact
I got great feedback from an actual student, “this app is very self-explanatory, and I can see myself using this app as a student!”
What I learned
Through this project, I learned that mental health care is much needed and should be promoted in the entire community. Also, the usability studies really helped me understand what users are looking for, especially in mental health, and improved designs to optimize the app.