THE THERAPY LAYER STORY
Connecting clients in need with a therapist at the time of crisis will lead to better outcomes for both. The needs for remote online connection has exploded with this past years events.
• Make it easy and fast for clients and therapists to connect.
• Improve that connection with video, text and notes
• Reduce the stigma of mental therapy through flexibility.
• Allow teams of therapists and clients work as cohorts and improve positive outcomes.
My co-founders run a therapy center in Marin so we had access and began with the willing therapists. Engaging them, listening and empathizing .
*Pre-Pandemic numbers from 2/2020
RESEARCH
We started with our Online Survey focused on the therapists.
10 Questions | 75 Responses
Survey Results:
• 92% actively offer on-demand skills coaching and another 5% have offered it in the past.
• 100% of therapists who offer on-demand skills coaching believe that it is effective.
• 69% are part of a group practice, 31% are independent and 14% are part of a hospital team.
• 44% are available on a 24x7 hour basis
• Therapists desire measurement tools to validate or invalidate efficacy.
• Coordinating coverage is a challenge and can lead to burn out.
Interviews
We interviewed and recorded 15 interested therapists
Interview Insights
• More than half expressed “It interferes with my personal life”
• Almost half said “They can’t control the length of the call”
• A third were not happy “That they aren’t available when their client needs their support”
• Almost all aren’t comfortable revealing their mobile phone number. One therapy center goes as far as handing off an additional phone in shifts for coverage.
It was apparent that connecting a client with a therapist quickly and easily was essential. With our Co-founder Dr. Alicia Smart we published a paper based on our surveys and research. The State of On-Demand Skills Coaching.
After gathering data from the interviews and survey I performed a competitive analysis, testing direct competitors to identify what currently is working well for users and compare their features with the expectations of our online-survey users. We tested design patterns and user flows plus which were able to map the main features and identify which ones are available or only available in a pro/paid version.
Our point of view was that a targeted technology platform could address improve on many of these pain points in a vastly growing market.
IDEATING
We started sketching a broad range of concepts around solving these issues for our therapists but as well as the client.
Based on our learning we decided to build an MVP to connect clients and therapists when they were most in need. We called this product Relay. A major pain point for both therapists and clients was failing to connect and leaving messages out there in the ether. We decided to approach the problem with solving better flows. Imagine incorporating a chatbot experience. But we had to figure out the dialogue, routing and the optimal flows.
MEET THE PERSONAS
From our research we found that clients were predominantly young 16-30 years old and skewed female while therapists were 30+ years old slightly skewing male. We early on explored chat bot options so a client could get a response and give a little feedback giving a therapist a little time to reply.
SKETCHING THE USER’S JOURNEY
We learned a lot through this process and receiving feedback. It’s important to give feedback when a client calls and is in distress. It’s even better if you can find a way to route them to another therapist in the group at that time of need. With our bot giving feedback and updates we are able to reach out to other therapists who share coverage other making it a better client experience
REFINING ROUTING OF CALLS
PROTOTYPING
We wrote dialogue and decision trees. Connecting people is hard and we chose to pursue a leaner MVP that is free to get it into people’s hands. How do you reassure someone with text and updates that someone is on the way. Timing is crucial and feedback notifications so they feel lost in the flow. We worked with Trello on powering the Chatbot.
The Premium App
We did rounds of sketches together. We really wanted to focus on the ease of use for the user. Giving them positive feedback immediately through our chatbot. Allowing them to request coaching through a video clip or text. While they waited they would have the ability to practice the Skills that they have learned through animated exercise like Wise Mind or Breathing Skills.
Sketches of the therapist app
After rounds of sketches I moved to wireframes with a little more depth. Also focusing on the therapists view and functionality of the experience.
The Therapist App
THE CLIENT APP PROTOTYPE
THERAPIST APP SCREENS
SMARTER SKILLS SELECTION
We worked with therapists on the questions and flows they use to guide their clients to the best Skill.
THERAPIST WEB PLATFORM
Therapists want a place to review notes and data about the clients. They want the analytics and deltas on whether they are making progress.
What have WE learned from this project?
We've learned that timing is everything to someone in need and a response of some sort will improve the outcome.
We knew we needed a supportive and appealing experience for a client that was in distress, while also gaining adoption by therapists to make this succeed.
We learned through research that therapists need a better solution to service clients and that text, chatbots and recorded skills add a lot of value while routing a more clever way to connect that client in need.
Click here to: View the Therapy Layer Pitch
