ABOUT

Therapy & You is an online therapy platform dedicated to providing accessible mental health services. Founded by Michael Russell with the mission to make therapy more available and less stigmatized, the platform connects users with licensed therapists who provide individual, couples, and group therapy to help overcome various mental health challenges.

As the sole UX/UI Designer on the team, I led the user research, analysis, and end-to-end design of the app. I also collaborated with a developer to bring the app to life.

PROBLEM

Therapists at Therapy & You, led by CEO Michael Russell, have reported that the initial 10-15 minutes out of the 1-hour therapy sessions are frequently spent catching up and reviewing assignments and updates from the past week. They believe that this routine consumes valuable session time that could be used for deeper therapeutic work.

How might we find a way to streamline this “catch up” process and maximize session time to be spent in a meaningful, transformative way?

SOLUTION

To address this challenge, I designed a mobile app that keeps therapists and clients connected between sessions. The app allows therapists to track assignment progress and stay informed about clients’ daily lives or moods. This real-time connection ensures that therapy sessions can skip the “catching up” phase, allowing therapists the time and impact of therapy sessions. The mobile format ensures the app is convenient and accessible for patients, while also allowing them to complete assignments and engage with it on the go.

OBSTACLES & CHALLENGES

Alex R. - Patient

  • Goal: Provide patients with a simple, intuitive way to share updates, allowing therapy sessions to focus on deeper discussions and therapeutic work.

  • How can we make completing therapy assignments more engaging for patients to improve their consistency in completing assignments and achieve better long-term outcomes?

  • How can we ensure that patients feel supported in communicating challenges or insights between sessions without feeling overwhelmed?

Lilibeth G. - Therapist

  • Goal: Enable the CEO to assess all patient-therapist interactions and enhance service delivery, ultimately improving the quality of care for patients.

  • How can we help the CEO gather and analyze feedback from both therapists and patients to inform continuous improvement initiatives?

  • How can we create a system for the CEO to monitor therapist workloads and session quality, ensuring a balanced and effective therapy environment?

Michael R. - CEO

  • Goal: Create a seamless workflow for managing assignments, improving patient accountability, and monitoring patient progress, allowing them to focus on therapeutic work from the start of each session.

  • How can we streamline the assignment and tracking of therapy homework, ensuring both therapists and patients stay on the same page?

  • What tools are needed to provide an organized summary of patient updates before each session to reduce time spent catching up?

DESIGN

CURRENT & UPCOMING

  • Currently refining design system and collaborating with a developer to publish the app on the iOS and Google Play Store

  • Conducting usability testing to evaluate the app's effectiveness in enhancing therapy sessions — iterating on the design by removing non-essential features like messaging, ASMR + Meditation Library, and articles

  • Post-launch success metrics include — monitoring patient engagement through check-ins and assignment completions, therapist engagement via assignment follow-ups, and collecting patient + therapist feedback on reducing "catch up" time and increasing session productivity

Next

therapy & you (web)