SUMMARY
Challenge
When 13-year-olds enter middle school, they struggle with their identity and acceptance from peers. Because of this, they are critical and tend to talk to themselves negatively.
Opportunity
How Might We make mental health tools more accessible so 13-year-olds can learn to reframe situations more positively?
Intervention
A service that aims for schools to help their 13-year-old students reframe situations more positively through a workshop and app. The concept finds inspiration in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a proven tool used by psychologists to treat people with depression and anxiety. The tool allows people to be wary of their thoughts and understand how their thinking impacts their emotions and behavior.
Results
The final iteration was tested with a group of 13-year-old students.
*More on the process below.
Simplified CBT
Concept image
how it works
Concept explanation in the video below.
Concept video
PROCESS
statement of intent
The project's initial scope was driven by wanting to understand how children can develop resilience from an early age.
Research, Synthesis & key insight
The process began with desk research and in-depth interviews conducted with educators, school founders, child psychologists, design experts, parents, and children.
For Synthesis, I used a service design framework that funneled scattered interviewee quotes, interpreted them, and generated insights. The main one is that when 13-year-olds enter middle school, they struggle with their identity and acceptance from peers. Around this age, they are more critical but lack the space to interpret situations appropriately.
Framework 1
Framework 2
pivot #1
The intervention was for children ages 4 to 6. However, after careful consideration and the insight found, I decided that the project's focus would be more appropriate for 13-year-olds as they are more cognitively prepared to interpret situations. This pivot became the first significant change of the project.
opportunity area
How Might We make a safe space of internalization for 13-year-olds to positively frame situations and perceive them as a challenge and not a failure?
I moved into the prototyping phase and challenged assumptions with this question in mind. The premises are (1) 13-year-olds prefer to communicate verbally, (2) 13-year-olds want to start the interaction, (3) Phrasing is essential to avoid overwhelming the user (4) 13-year-olds find moments in their day to reflect.
Prototyping & learnings
I did two prototypes to test the previous assumptions. The prototype is a lo-fi bot (acted through WhatsApp) that allowed me to understand that verbal exchange requires more trust and that written communication allows for more reflection. It also showed that 13-year-olds preferred to start the interaction (rather than the bot) and that asking questions allowed thinking while assumptions did not.
The other prototype was a set of co-creation activities alongside child psychologists. The psychologist affirmed that written communication works better for reflection and that not even adults find everyday moments in their day to reflect, so why would a 13-year-old do it.
Lo-fi bot
Co-creation activities
pivot #2
After careful consideration, both the insight and opportunity changed. The information showed that 13-year-olds lacked a tool and not necessarily a space.
The updated key insight: When 13-year-olds enter middle school, they struggle with their identity and acceptance from peers. Around this age, they are more critical but lack a tool to interpret situations appropriately.
UPDATED OPPORTUNITY AREA
How Might We make mental health tools more accessible so 13-year-olds can learn to reframe situations more positively?
Concept
description
[RE] frame is a service that aims for schools to help their 13-year-old students reframe situations more positively.
13-year-old reframing fictional situation
Approach
I used a variation of the CBT model so 13-year-olds could become more aware of how controlling their thoughts could help them handle their emotional state better. The approach would allow the user to generate alternative ideas and challenge their negative thinking.
The concept includes a workshop and an app.
High fidelity cards
App
WORKSHOP iterations & learnings
I did two iterations for the workshop, one with adults and the second with 13-year-olds. The decision to do a workshop came from using the school's system in the concept's favor.
The main learnings from the adult's iteration were that (1) reflecting on emotions allowed for a deeper reflection on how thinking affects moods and that (2) even adults had a hard time recognizing and labeling emotions. Based on the learnings, I designed an emotional wheel to help the 13-years-old in the second iteration.
For the 13-year-olds, the learnings were (1) they preferred working in pairs as it gives them new ideas, (2) enjoyed fictional scenarios as they could relate to the characters without making it personal, and (3) the workshop was too long.
Workshop iteration 1
Workshop iteration 2
app & learnings
I designed the app as an intervention that follows the same order as the workshop cards. An important aspect was for the users to spend 2 to 5 minutes on it as it's the standard for mental health apps.
The test with the 13-year-olds indicated that the app needed to (1) organize the emojis in a less overwhelming manner, (2) label emotions and avoid confusion with users, and (3) encourage reflection at the end of the CBT model.
All of these decisions are in the concept video.
Labeling emotion
Interpreting emotion
value proposition
[RE]frame helps 13-year-olds to perceive negative situations more positively by giving them access to a life tool.
endgame
[RE]frame intent is to make mental health and well-being a priority from an early age. Strategies and tools to help youngsters to cope with issues such as anxiety and depression should be a must in the educational system.
Special appreciation for all who contributed to making the project better.
Tools used: Service Design frameworks, Figma, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Miro, Sony Alpha6400 & Miro