the toolkit

The Challenge

A problem that hits close to home

1 in 3 Canadians (about 9.1 million people) will be affected by a mental illness during their lifetime. However, only about 15% of them will access mental health services.
Researchers have described the state of mental health among South Asian communities as “a silent crisis.”

As a South Asian psychology student, I recognized the importance of culturally-sensitive therapy for those struggling with their mental health. I was also acutely aware of the shortage of such therapists.

EMPATHIZE

Speaking with South Asians to Develop Empathy

Despite being South Asian myself, I recognized that I still have biases. In order to overcome these biases, I started researching and interviewing users about experiences with finding therapists.​ The interviews focused on gathering key information and helping me understand:

1. Difficulties in finding therapists

2. Solutions that they’ve already explored

3. Process they currently follow to find a therapist

4. Their experiences with these therapists

5. Key factors considered in deciding the right therapist

Thus, I interviewed 8 users whom I was able to recruit from my network of acquaintances. The data gathered helped me discover key insights and identify critical issues in this process.

These are some of the questions I asked:

1. What has your experience with accessing mental health services in Canada been like, if any?

2. Are you aware of mental health services that you could use should you need to?

3. What might prevent you from accessing the services?

4. Do you know of culturally sensitive mental health services you could reach out to? Is this important to you?

5. What might make you more willing to access the services?

Based on the interview responses I received, I had a large number of pain points to sift through. One of the easiest ways make sense of the data was to lay it all out visually. Here’s what it looked like:

define

South Asians felt that therapists did not understand their culture and values

By gathering the data and organizing it according to topic, I was able to narrow down the concerns of my interviewees to a few themes. I ultimately settled upon one that I hoped to provide a solution for:

IDEATE

To further humanize my user, I designed a persona that highlighted the key frustrations, interests, and characteristics of the user:

Based on the key insights and pain points derived from the user research, I started iterating various versions of an application with diverse features. 

This helped diversify my thinking capabilities, stepping out of pragmatism to ideate newer ways and takes towards solving the problem at hand. After zeroing in on the top four most interesting ideas, I began sketching to get a feel for what the project would be. In the end, I presented four ideas for a design critique:​​

PROTOTYPE

A solution for finding a therapist

A directory app where South Asians can easily locate a therapist, be aware of the therapist’s location, read qualifications and reviews of the therapist, and book an appointment with the therapist they choose.

I began by wireframing low-fidelity prototypes to efficiently gain user insights about the app:

Results from 20 min long user tests conducted with 10 users showed that 9/10 were able to complete the tasks of selecting a gift and creating a customized delivery experience! 

WHAT DID I LEARN

I learned how to take user interviews at a detailed level and further analyze them to create problem statements and formulate solutions to those problems. Getting exposure to the entire product design process instilled a thorough knowledge of each step and a deeper understanding of the design thinking process.

But if I were to go back in time ... I would spend some extra time conducting primary research and focusing on other possible solutions to the pain points. After the app is actually fully implemented, I would also spend some time working with the same users to test it out and add more customizations so users can cater it to their requirements and needs.

For more work inquiries, or to grab a coffee, do email me at: designbyuq@gmail.com ☕️✨

Thank you for reading! 🧠