Heal

Problem

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 1 in 4 Americans experience mental illness, yet only 50% receive treatment, highlighting rising demand alongside persistent gaps in access.

For some, therapy isn't an option, due to high costs or cultural stigmas. Others are open, but aren't sure when to seek therapy or where to find it. Most mental health apps today provide resources for mindfulness, such as meditations and calming audios, but don't offer a path towards long-term relief.

Heal’s goal is to bridge the gap between mental health needs and meaningful support by connecting users to the right level of care at the right time.

Audience

Process

Research

Competitive Audits

I examined both clinician directories, such as Psychology Today and Mental Health Match, and mental health platforms, like Calm, Headspace, and Modern Health. My focus was assessing experiences connecting patients and clinicians.

Psychology Today

• Learned standard information to gather & display for clinician profiles
• Found directory overwhelming from patient perspective — many options but limited guidance to navigate them

Mental Health Match

• Took inspiration from personalized matching between patients & clinicians
• Users fill out a questionnaire and platform recommends top 5 therapists, before they see the full directory

The audit revealed two important opportunities:

1. Large clinician directories provide many options but can leave users without enough guidance.
2. Matching tools can reduce decision fatigue by asking users about their needs before presenting recommendations.

These findings shaped the way I approached clinician profiles, filtering, and the matching questionnaire.

Design

Design System

I collaborated with the other designer on the team to create a shared design system for mobile and desktop.

We used a serif display typeface, readable sans-serif body text, and a cool-toned color palette to create an interface that felt calm and approachable. The system included typography, colors, buttons, and reusable patterns that could scale across the product.

Typography

Colors

Buttons

Color Schemes

Complete design system

Home

The home screen is the entry point to the mobile experience. It surfaces the mood check-in, pathways, and other next steps to help users understand where to begin.

Key Design Decisions: 

• Mood check-in: I used emojis and colors alongside the scale to make the experience feel less clinical and avoid reducing users’ feelings to numbers.
• Mood journey: I moved the mood journey from the profile to a homepage widget so users could view it immediately after completing a check-in.
• Hierarchy: I prioritized the mood check-in because it not only helps users track their progress, but allows the app to connect them with the appropriate care. “Your Next Steps” follows, as it guides the user to the next immediate task. 

Courses

Heal’s pathways are made up of guided, clinician-created courses across six areas of mental health. I designed & templatized the course experience to help users understand what to expect, move through longer-form content, and track their progress over time.
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Key Design Decisions: 

• Overview: Each course begins with a landing page outlining its topic, outcomes, and timeline so users know what to expect.
• Progress tracking: I added progress indicators at the top of the screen to help users understand their position within each course.
• Reusable templates: I created templates for course landing pages and content screens to maintain consistency and streamline future design and development.
  

Clinician Matching

I designed a questionnaire to help care seekers describe what they are looking for, including areas of specialty, budget, and location. The goal was to reduce decision fatigue while still giving users control over how they explored their options.
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Key Design Decisions: 

• Questions: The questions were designed to align with the information collected in clinician profiles, creating a clearer connection between user needs and potential matches. This includes key decision-making factors like budget, location, and areas of specialty. 
• Surfacing results: Instead of placing users straight into the full directory after the questionnaire, I first designed a transitional screen recommending the top five options based on their responses.
• Clinician overview: I designed clinician cards to show why each match was relevant right away, through icons and a list of criteria met.
  

Outcome

The mobile MVP is available on Android and iOS, and the desktop experience is live at pathtoheal.org. The clinician experience and directory are still under development.

Because the product has launched, the next phase of work is focused on improving implementation fidelity and gathering user feedback to inform future iterations.

Reflection

Heal has strengthened my ability to design across multiple platforms, audiences, and stages of product development. It has also required close collaboration with designers, engineers, product stakeholders, and clinicians.

One of the ongoing challenges has been maintaining a cohesive experience across the mobile app, public website, and clinician platform. That work has taught me to think not only about individual screens, but also about how the parts of a larger healthcare ecosystem connect.