Mental Wealth Academy
May 2023 - June 2023 (6 Weeks)
Hackathon project for Buildspace
Mental Wellness Checks Can Be Hard To Maintain Without Proper Planning
As a working class citizen, I've noticed how some people were able to succeed, while many seemed to be "stuck" in their own patterns that were no conductive for their mental health, wellness, or growth as an individual. Blocking them from their true higher calling and purpose.
Accountability Partners
How We Stay Accountable
Track your mood daily.
Get updates on soundscapes.
Read impactful stories.
Add value to your life.
*according to Mental Health America
Manage Your Goals
Check in with professionals.
NFT Stickers upon completion of weekly tasks.
Read community scoreboard.
Customize and set new patterns.
Set goals and stay accountable.
Starting with a whitepaper, I began to draw inspiration from Constitution DAO and how they united under a common goal using blockchain technology. I also stumbled upon a super interesting fact from Mental Health America:
"Nearly 1 in 5 American adults will have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year."
Competitive Analysis + The Gap
The competition had EXTREMELY long onboarding times.
While keeping the above statistics in mind, I analyzed 6 popular apps surrounding this topic. I found that majority of them had extremely long onboarding times, with 7/10 asking for a subscription with no free trial before even using the product.
User Interviews
My interviewees were 3x more likely to succeed when there was accountability for their goals.
Although I saw from research accountability was important, I've conducted interviews with 8 students who struggled with goal settings and acomplishment. I asked them questions below to find qualitative data and then organized my data by mapping.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1. Tell me about the last goal you set?
2. How do you feel about mental health?
3. What motivated you to start learning more?
4. What was your process for trying to achieve that goal?
5. Tell me about a time you had to do something difficult and accomplished it.
The Main Insight
None of the apps really gave any sense of real human interaction.
Based on the trends found in the affinity map, there was no pain or real consequence with missing out on goals. Also from interviews with BetterHelp employees I found out that many of the people offering help were just interns with undergraduate degrees. The pay structure was based per word typed and not hourly, this was a really weird and serious problem.
Theme 1: Community
When surrounded by other successful and hardworking people, others are more motivated.
Theme 2: Motivation
Students are not motivated by pleasure of learning, but rather by running away from pain.
Students are concerned about keeping a positive image to other students, they value reputation.
External circumstances often lead to internal motivation.
Major Insight
Remote therapy causes more chances for distractions.
Monetary & Technological impact can have different variables on growth and long-term client success.
Design
Setbacks + Pivoting
Initially, I aimed to use blockchain for a fun, engaging twist on typical DApps, blending delight with mental health. One scrapped idea was a Tamagotchi-style pixel pet flow. We added on-chain features like payments but soon realized we were heading in the wrong direction. I spent 2 weeks trying to play with multiple directions at this time during the buildspace competition. Found that a simple and clear-to solution was best and settled on that for the final solution platform.
Testing + Improvements
3 major improvements in my design
Based on various feedback from reddit, and in-person surverys + mentor feedback. I iterated my design over the span of 4 weeks.
Final Design Screens
The Final Product
Review My Paragraph
Philadelphia, PA