K-12 Mental Health Startup
CO-FOUNDER
STARTUP
Imagine if we began strengthening our emotional toolkit at the same age we began to learn to read— What would the world look like?
Role | Co-founder
Team | My team included our CEO and remote engineering team.
Links | Closegap
Overview
Closegap is an emotional wellness app for kids and a platform for the adults who support them.
As often happens in a startup, my role included a bit of everything. I led Product Design and Creative Direction. I was also at times a Growth Marketer and Product Manager.
I started as an interaction designer for Closegap, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in January 2018 when the product was a giving marketplace and the focus was on donating basic necessities to underserved students. I came on as co-founder a few months later when we pivoted to an emotional wellness platform.
Our product was (1) a mental health check-in and emotional data profile for kids & teens, and (2) a real-time dashboard for the adults who support them (such as teachers, social workers, and parents).
Together we built a design-led business that now has hundreds of thousands of users in all 50 states, and abroad.
The Problem
Childhood trauma is a systemic problem. Our research led us through a complex system.
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Rates of anxiety and depression among youth are increasing rapidly.
45% of kids in the U.S. have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). If gone unprocessed or untreated, childhood trauma can wreak havoc on lifetime wellbeing.
Teen depression increased 60% between 2009 and 2017; suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth aged 15-24; and there was one school shooting per week in 2019.*
We found that many kids aren’t asked “How was your day?”— let alone “How are you feeling?”— even once by a parent, guardian, or educator during the day.
* From: CNN; Stat in image from: Youth Mental Health in America: Understanding Resources Availability and Preferences. Born This Way Foundation and Benenson Strategy Group, 2019.
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The current system of care is inadequate.
Only 20% of young people with mental heath challenges receive services.**
**From: Martini R, Hilt R, Marx L, et al.; for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Best principles for integration of child psychiatry into the pediatric health home.
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There simply aren’t enough adults in the school building.
In California schools we see the following ratios:
1 school psychologist to 1124 students;
1 school counselor to 681 students;
1 school social worker to 9277 students.
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And at home…
When we interviewed parents, 100% of them admitted that they don’t know how to talk about mental health.
Parents feel unsure if they are doing all they can to meet the emotional needs of their kids; and with all the nuances of today’s school experience— social media, online trolls, shooting drills— it’s no wonder there’s added stress at home.
Re-imagining the Current Experience
We started with a few questions.
Our society still stigmatizes mental health, but imagine if we held space for this information, let go of the stigma, and started a conversation.
Imagine if we began strengthening our emotional toolkit at the same age we began to learn to read— What would the world look like?
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How Might We…
How might we strengthen the emotional toolkit of kids & teens, while supporting the their existing network of caring adults?
How might we simulate “one caring adult” for kids and teens who don’t have one?
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mMVP
We re-imagined the “check-in” process already occurring in schools as a universal digital tool that could be used as often as needed.
We knew it was going to be very important that our digital app was visually engaging and experientially nurturing, so that kids would want to use us. We knew if we were going to get teachers on board, an easy-to-use, intuitive experience that did not take up too much of their most valuable resource—time— was essential. In addition to these, we came to an agreement on other key elements:
Extra Layer of Support for Kids and Their Adult Caregivers
Self-Guided: Kids can do a check-in without adult help
Feels like Human Connection: Interacting with the app feels nurturing and acts as a digital representation of “One Caring Adult”
Consistent, Dependable, Safe: Users will be sharing sensitive information and must feel safe
Personalization: The experience adapts to the user and the type of care changes depending on the emotional state kids are in
Immersive/Gamification: Engaging for kids in the short-term, with a bigger Disney vision in the long-term
Immediate/Real-Time Data
Access When Needed: Flexible for adults working on the ground in various environments
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Initial Creative Direction
We wanted to build something beautiful and all-encompassing of our grand vision— so initially, I felt free to shoot for the moon.
I decided space was the place! There would be a guide named Cadet that children could form an attachment to and the process of checking in would feel like fun, like exploration.
I hoped the metaphor would send the message that feelings are like places you visit, temporary rest stops on your journey.
That feelings are not to be disparaged. Good and bad, they are all okay!
I hoped to transport kids to a new world where they felt safe to share and grow.
The initial design concept became a theme carried through to the MVP. We consulted with our dev team and decided using Material Design as a guide would best serve us, especially in developing our Minimum Viable Product(MVP). We wouldn’t be able to carry the full vibrancy of this space world forward, but we could maintain some of the elements.
MVP Design
We were a very, very Lean Startup. We called our MVP an mMVP— Minimum Minimum Viable Product. We decided it would consist of the following:
A check-in for children grades 3rd through 5th based on CBT(Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), mindfulness, and other evidence-based practices
A dashboard for educators(teachers, school counselors, school social workers, principals) to monitor their students’ progress
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mMVP Features
The initial experience, the mMVP, would include just enough features to help us raise funds and prove our concept.
The biggest sacrifice we made was that children couldn’t register themselves or log in on their own. Adults would register through a step-by-step process and would add students. Students would check in through the adult dashboard. We would later add on additional features, including a better method for student access.
Features for Kids
Assessment of the child’s emotions, physical feelings, energy level, and needs (Did you eat breakfast? Did you sleep well last night? Are you being bullied at school? Is everything OK at home?)
Four diverse activities, ones to help the child either cool down or get energized for the rest of the day
Features for Educators
Triaged list of students based on their energy levels and whether they indicate they want to speak to an adult
View into individual student profile with a history of progress and trends seen as a data visualization
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Testing
We were building a web application. We decided to build the most accessible version of our product first, then create an app for tablet and mobile in the months afterwards.
Often educators are under-resourced, and if searching for something in a moment of crisis—say, a classroom outburst or student’s panic attack— they’ll use whatever device they have on hand with their students. With the web app they can log in from any device without needing to download anything. We also could make product updates immediate post-launch.
I visited schools and tested prototypes with educators and students in the Bay Area.
I used some elements from my initial design concept for the check-in. I used Material Design as my guide for the forms and dashboard.
The picture below is from a day spent at Futures Elementary in Oakland.
Product Launch
After launching in April 2019, we grew 40% WOW (week-over-week) in new users with our mMVP and were being used in over 300 schools.
We added additional features before the new school year began—so our mMVP finally became an MVP.
Student access with email addresses and passwords
Student archive system
Dashboard filters
Additional activities geared towards older students: middle and high schoolers
Student profiles (students can see their data visualization and history)
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Check-In
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Educator or Adult Dashboard
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Student Profile
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Interventions
Designing & Testing with Teens
We’ve talked to a lot of teenagers in Spring 2020 and designed a check-in that held onto the imagery but left the childish language behind. We added more emotions and curated our activities list. We were excited to begin expanding our offerings for young adults.
Our Impact
We maintained a 70% retention rate over our first year. We continued to grow into schools across the nation.
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Feedback from Teens
The feedback from kids was awesome. I sent out a Google Survey to some of our high schools and we got really thoughtful responses back from over 100 teenagers on the current product and future possibilities.
“I love the app and it’s easy to use. I’m about to put my feelings for the day and I’m not afraid to put what I’m feeling. My friend and I don’t lie to Cadet ‘cause that’d be rude!” — 9th grader, Los Angeles, CA
“Seeing Cadet reminds me that I’m still a kid and to breathe and to take things one step at a time because I’m still figuring everything out.” — 10th grader, Los Angeles, CA
“It’s really helped me to reflect on myself! Even just using it for a month or so I’m noticing a difference.” — 8th grader, Los Angeles, CA
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Feedback from Educators
The feedback from educators was also awesome. I made school visits to local elementary schools and spoke to educators over the phone and through Google Meets. I was in constant communication with all of our users through email outreach via Mailchimp, Mixpanel—and was generally in charge of customer service. Sometimes, my role even crossed into IT.
“From students who need psychological first aid, brief check-ins, receive direct individual counseling services per their IEP, or a parent is in need of a valid and reliable tool to build into their children’s daily routine, I have recommended Closegap as the ‘go-to’. I want to thank the Closegap team for making this tool available to us educators, especially during a time where we must be there for our students and support their mental well-being no matter how far we are physically. ” — Lauren V., School Psychologist, CA
“Closegap has helped me become more responsive to my students' emotional needs. The 'sharing' students feature is really helpful, because our site counselor knows if she needs to check in with a student without me having to stop a lesson and talk to her. ” — Kurt N., Teacher, CA
“Closegap is a great tool for me to gauge where my students are at emotionally and physically when they come to school and I've been able to support their needs at the start of the day. It has also given some of my more timid students an opportunity to let me know how they're doing when they typically wouldn't. I appreciate that each check-in is kept and graphed so I can look for any trends. ” — Jessi E., Teacher, IL
"Closegap allows students to find their own voice without having to approach an adult, record their emotions, and regulate those emotions with a variety of activities. It's allowed my students to feel empowered in a way that I could have never imagined. Maria Montessori once said 'help me help myself'. With the help of Closegap my students have taken a giant step close to helping themselves." —Heidi M., SPED Teacher, MN
Other Artifacts
From documents to swag; from presentation decks to company websites; from Closegap to a for-profit named InnerStellar, and back again— There have been many things designed.
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Characters/Illustrations
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Social Media Content
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Web Design (as of June 2020)
Today
Closegap continues to be a success today and has built out a teen version of the app, among other accomplishments. They currently have over 190K student and 20K educator users across all 50 states. I parted ways with the company in summer 2020 and have been excited to see how far they've come! It was an incredible journey.