Our client offers a SaaS platform for educational institutions, enabling them to provide counselling services and training to students and staff. It supports counsellors in training, their supervisors, and individuals seeking care within the educational community.
In our partnership, the client envisioned a digital platform to intelligently match students in need of mental health services with those studying mental health. The initiative aimed to address the growing need for accessible mental health services within the post-secondary world while maintaining privacy and upholding the highest standard of care. The urgency to deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) to the market led them to seek our expertise.
Scope
- Mobile App Design (iOS & Android)
- Responsive Web App Design (Admin Panel)
- Strategy
Industry
- Mental Health
- Wellness
- Healthcare
The Challenge
“Globally, 264 million people have depression, costing the economy
$1 trillion annually in lost productivity.”
We were tasked to develop a digital platform that could:
- Connect those looking for counselling to the best counsellor for their needs
- A HIPAA-compliant platform that would support privacy, security, and accessibility
- A human-centric experience that resonated with and engaged users
- An interface that would allow supervisors to shadow counselling sessions, while maintaining the anonymity of the client
TheAppLabb Approach
A comprehensive analysis of the client’s needs led to the proposal of a digital solution focusing on intelligent matching and accessibility. The goal was to quickly bring the MVP to market, providing a solid foundation for the client to build upon for subsequent iterations in-house while ensuring the highest standards of privacy and security.
To achieve this, TheAppLabb used the following approach:
- Optimized Framework Selection: We meticulously selected modern frameworks, prioritizing scalability, dependability, user-friendliness, and security for application development.
- Design Thinking Partnership: We collaborated with the client in an intensive Design Thinking exercise to shape an engaging mobile experience aligned with their vision. This process clarified product goals and prioritized features for maximum user resonance.
- Multifaceted App Development: Utilizing insights from Design Thinking sessions, we suggested iOS, Android, and web app development. We prioritized user-centric interfaces for patients and counsellors, along with a responsive web app featuring an administrative backend for user management and monitoring.
- Agile Solution Development: We employed Agile methodology, breaking the project into sprints to deliver a prioritized MVP and accelerate time-to-market, ensuring optimum business value.
The Solution
We developed and delivered an interactive, intuitive digital solution for providing mental health care to patients through secure text, audio, and video sessions. Telehealth and practice management solutions streamlined the remote delivery, tracking, and administration of mental health services, offering essential features such as an appointment scheduler, in-app note-taking capability, real-time supervisor feedback, and the use of anonymous usernames to safeguard patient identities.
Key features of the application include:
- A matching algorithm to pair patients with the right counsellor based on their indicated objectives and preferences.
- A seamless user experience for easy appointment scheduling.
- Supervisors’ ability to take counselling session notes and provide performance evaluations for student counsellors within the app.
- The anonymity feature allows supervisors to review student counselling sessions while keeping patient-identifying information confidential to protect privacy.
- Integration of audio/video conferencing using market-leading solutions.
- Provisioning rules that enable anyone with an institutional email address to access the service.
- Development of a HIPAA-compliant platform to ensure the highest level of data security and accessibility.
The Result
The successful launch of the MVP enabled the client to further develop the platform in-house, meeting the urgent need for accessible mental health services and fostering a continued relationship. The platform stands as a beacon of innovation and care, contributing to the well-being of both patients and learners.
