MIT Hacking Medicine

Role: Product Designer

Overview

The hackathon consisted of three different tracks all geared towards solving for problems involving medicine. My team and I decided to solve for Mental Health.

Challenge Prompt

Whether directly or indirectly from depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, substance use, personality disorders, loneliness or burnout, millions of people live with a mental health condition. Join others in the mental health track & professional burnout track to tackle the broad range of pain points surrounding this complex field. How can we better detect, diagnose, and prevent these mental health conditions that often occur from professional settings? How can we help patients suffering from conditions such as PTSD improve their health? How can we continue to de-stigmatize mental health conditions and ensure that our society better accommodates for those who live with chronic mental health conditions? How can we ensure broader access to care, especially for vulnerable populations, and improve retention in treatment?

Challenge

Mental health among top 3 illnesses driving costs to employers. Average cost of $348/year
Productivity losses: absenteeism, short-term disability, turnover, low work performance
Depression-related productivity losses linked to human capital costs of nearly $2 billion.

User Research

I interviewed 8 hackathon participants. To my surprise, all of them had seen a therapist before but they all seem to share the same pains and needs.

Pains

couldn’t find a therapist in-network that matched their personality style
it was difficult to know which therapist was best trained for their problems

Needs

a therapist who understands their situation from years of working with similar situations
a therapist who is the right personality and emotional fit

Individuals meet with 3-4 different providers before finding the right fit

Competitive & Comparative Research

We found that the stakeholders for the companies we researched were the therapist and not the patients, so we decided to focus on the patient experience and help them gain control over their mental health.

Hypothesis

If we help patients suffering from mental health issues, find the best therapist that not only is certified to help them but also fits the patients personality style, it will increase the use of in-network therapist and decrease cost for patients.