Overview
Nudge is a service that aims to enrich KidsTime workshops* to support and strengthen the connection between parents struggling with mental health and their children, encouraging participants to actively shape and reflect on their journeys and contributing to the goals of building family resilience and enhancing child wellbeing.
*KidsTime is a workshop programme under Our Time across the UK, which is an organisation focused on providing support to children of parents with a mental illness.
My Role
Service Design, User Research, Prototyping and Testing, Visual Design
Challenge
To support KidsTime families in recognising their learning and growth in mental wellbeing and parent-child relationships and building family resilience in daily life.
Parents who are dealing with mental health may encounter difficulties in forming close relationships with their children. A lack of understanding often leads to challenging relationships and interactions between parents and children, creating obstacles in mutual support and communication about their concerns.
Resilience is associated with understanding. This project explored ways to provide KidsTime families with the opportunities to capture and recognise learning and growth in the workshops, intending to create more chances to have continuous conversations in daily life and strengthen the bonds between family members.
Process
Primary Research: 1:1 Interviews and Site Visits
Throughout the discovery phase, I spoke with four mental health practitioners, including multiple interviews with two KidsTime workshop facilitators from different regions. The goal was to understand the impact of parental mental illness on children, children's needs, and how to discuss mental health with them. These interviews also gave me insights into KidsTime's operating model and its benefits for parents and children. Moreover, the valuable opportunity to observe a workshop firsthand allowed me to understand how KidsTime workshops are delivered and the constraints and pain points within the service process.
Interviews with multiple mental health practitioners.
Materials used by facilitators during workshops.
Key Insights & Opportunities
Mapping the KidsTime system and analysing research findings revealed numerous opportunities and gaps. These opportunities fall into five categories: peer support, tools and materials, showcasing workshop outcomes, organisational experience legacy, and age inclusiveness for children. After assessing their feasibility and potential value, I focused on the first three opportunities, with key insights identified below:
These insights lead to the following question:
How might we enhance the elements already embedded in workshops to support participating families in understanding their progress and growth and to help facilitators gain insights and demonstrate the intangible outcomes of KidsTime?
Stakeholders
In this service, the main stakeholders are the families attending KidsTime workshops and the facilitators of these workshops. Other stakeholders include Our Time and KidsTime workshops in various regions, which serve as service providers and coordinators, as well as the organisation's funders and associated practitioners.
Approach
Visualise participants' progress and growth in an easy-to-understand way.
Like collecting bright and lovely flowers during a hike, participants record their experiences and takeaways on coloured paper. This is a metaphor for participants continually learning beneficial things for themselves and their families, building resilience together. Using colourful materials and cutting and pasting in the activities attracts children and enhances their engagement. By making these learnings visible, participants can recognise their growth and that of their children and other families, fostering a safe and engaging workshop environment.
Service Concept
Nudge: Family Stronger Together
Nudge is a service designed for families participating in KidsTime workshops to shape and reflect on their journeys and recognise their learning on mental wellbeing and its impact on parent-child relationships through sustainable and accessible tools and co-creation activities.
Beyond using it as a workshop reflection, Nudge serves as a daily reminder, encouraging parents to celebrate their achievements and progress and try new activities with their children. The service also enhances existing workshop elements and offers facilitators an easy way to gain insights from families, showcasing participants' engagement and the value created throughout the process.
Storyboard
Service Blueprint
Reflection
Vulnerable Groups as the End Users
When end users of the service are vulnerable groups, special attention needs to be paid to protective measures during the research and design process, and considerations must be carefully handled and clarified when engaging the stakeholders. It is also essential to ensure that gatekeepers clearly understand the purpose of each research activity and respond to any concerns they may have in advance.
Supporting and Amplifying Strengths
This project taught me that, as a service designer, solving problems is not the only way to face challenges. Uncovering existing strengths within a system or organisation and supporting and amplifying them is equally important. This approach offers the potential to make an impact and alter the situation without making extensive changes.
Project Scope and Objectives
In the initial stages, I focused on promoting communication between parents with mental illness and their children about mental health and the illness itself. However, I underestimated the broad scope of this task, the limitations arising from varying types and degrees of mental illness, and the necessity of assistance and collaboration from mental health professionals. Considering these factors early on would significantly advance the project.