Allears | Mithravinda KG

Designing Mental Health Support for Healthcare Providers

All Ears | 2023 | 5 weeks -> Extended solo

MY ROLE

TOOLS

Figma | FigJam | Adobe Illustrator | Miro

TEAM

Solo Project (originally 3-person group project, continued independently after first iteration)

Overview

The Challenge

Healthcare workers face unprecedented mental health crises - 62.8% of physicians reported burnout symptoms during the pandemic peak, yet 18% couldn't acess mental health services due to constraints, stigma, or cost barriers. Existing solutions were either office-based (requiring time healthcare workers don't have) or generic wellness apps (missing the unique pressures of healthcare environment).

The core problem wasn't just access, it was dignity. Healthcare workers needed support that respected their privacy, understood their specific pressures, and integrated seamlessly into their demanding workflows.

Image: National physician burnout survey

The Opportunity

Our class project aimed to design a mental health solution specifically for healthcare professionals. When the group dissolved after our submission, I saw an opportunity to dig deeper into the research insights and design a solution that truly addressed the dignity gap we'd uncovered.

Physician Burnout

Mental Health Access Gap

Peak Crisis

62.8%

of physicians reported at least one symptom of burnout during the 2021 pandemic peak - the highest rate ever recorded

Unmet Needs

18%

of healthcare workers needed mental health services but couldn't access them due to time constraints, stigma, or cost barriers

Workforce Impact

50%

of healthcare workers reported considering leaving their field due to pandemic-related mental health burden

Healthcare providers were facing mental health issues

What I inherited from the group research

Our team had conducted interviews with doctors and interns from Mass General, Boston, who shared their experiences of:

Constant pressure and long hours draining mental reserves
Emotional situations making it hard to maintain composure
Feeling like seeking help would signal weakness
No private space to decompress during shifts
Fear of judgement from supervisors if they were seen 'struggling'

What I discovered through deep analysis

After the group project ended, I revisited all our research artifacts and realized we'd been solving the wrong problem. The issue wasn't jsut making support accessible, it was about preserving dignity while doing so.

I mapped out the complete ecosystem of healthcare worker mental health:

When burnout trigger happens (post trauma, during back-to-back cases, after patient deaths)
Where support was needed (during shifts, not just after hours)
Who was most affected (residents, nurses, especially juniors)
Why existing solutions failed (visibility, time, stigma, lack of healthcare-specific understanding)

This led me to identify a critical point: privacy and confidentiality were prerequisites for adoption.

We identified 3 major barriers

Privacy Issues

Our first iteration, the physical wellness stations situated in hallways and receptions, completely failed because they made healthcare workers more visible and vulnerable while seeking help.

There is a fine line between normalizing seeking help and upholding the privacy that people require to feel comfortable being vulnerable.

Urgency Barrier

Healthcare workers need support during their shifts, not scheduled weeks out. Traditional therapy methods requiring appointments couldn't address acute stress moments.

The solution needed to work in sync with their work environment and be accessible within their workflow, rather than as separate scheduled events.

Generic Solutions

Existing wellness apps didn't understand healthcare specific trauma - patient deaths, medical errors, life-or-death decisions, compassion fatigue, etc.

Healthcare workers needed support that validated their unique experiences and provided resources tailored to medical professionals

Healthcare workers needed a privacy-first platform

After our wellness station failed, I redesigned the entire approach from a physical intervention to a privacy-first digital platform. The key goal was to meet healthcare workers where they are, with a solution that feels like a work tool, not a public admission of struggle.

I restructured the IA

I restructured the entire information architecture from scratch, creating:

Immediate access through existing SSO systems (Workday/staff portals)
Private dashboard accessible on personal or work devices
Contextual support tailored to healthcare-specific stressors
Flexible engagement - use during breaks, between patients, or at home
Professional resources - both peer support and licensed therapists familiar with healthcare
Normalizing accessing mental health support through integration with workflow

Dashboard Home

Dashboard decision: Progressive disclosure keeps the interface calm and scannable, making sure there is no decision fatigue or information overload.

Quick mood check-in using one tap to log current state
Personalized activity recommended based on mood patterns and available time
Recent sessions at a glance provide easy access to continue therapy or self-care activities

Self-Care Tools Library

Design decision: Organized by how much time users have (5 min, 15 min, 30+ min) rather than by category, because healthcare workers think in terms of break lengths

Time based filtering removes extra decision time
Healthcare-specific grounding exercises for post-trauma, compassion fatigue, recover, even personal issues.

Activity Details

Design decision: Show exactly what to expect before starting - the duration, materials needed, what the activity involves, and how it helps

Clear expectation setting
Preview of Techniques

Therapist Booking

Design decision: Booking feels like any other professional service. Familiarity helps make it more natural

Therapist bio highlighting specializtions
Flexible schedules

Progress Overview

Design decision: Visualize mental health journey as data while keeping it encouraging

Mood trends over time to spot patterns
Activity streaks to bring gamification
Correlation insights based on feedback
Sharing and privacy options to help users feel empowered and in control of their information

I validated the design

Since this was a class project that I extended independently, I validated the design through

Usability testing with 5 healthcare workers

100% said that they would use this over physical wellness stations
"I actually think my hospital should get something like this." - Trauma nurse
"Everyone says you get used to it. I haven't and this would make it so much easier."

Key behavior changes the design enables:

Reduces stigma by making mental health support integrated into existing workflows
Increases accessibility by meeting users where they are (through staff portals)
Normalizes mental health care by framing it as professional development, not personal weakness

Reflections

This project taught me that some problems aren't technical. Mental health support is very normalized in the world, however, it takes understanding, care, and integration to be useful in people's lives.

After we had submitted our project (we were on a very short timeline), I knew I wanted to work on it and bring it to fruition. Choosing to dig deeper forced me to

Own the design process from research analysis through final screens
Make strategic decisions about scope and prioritization
Trust my design instincts
Create a cohesive system across multiple touchpoints.

With more time, I would

Design the integration with existing hospital systems
Design the multi-sided platform like the therapist portal and administrator dashboard
Create mobile version
Develop a data privacy framework