After graduation, I had a degree in computer science and a stong interest in psychology, but no idea what to do with either. I knew I didn't hold a passion for software engineering. But I didn't know what UX was yet.
I also had this nagging feeling, an urge to pursue something close to my heart. I took a gap year after college to explore this desire.
I didn't know what mental health was growing up. I didn't understand that my stress and rumination was actually a disorder. I didn't realize that my experiences could be explained. I didn't know that my pain was real.
Inspired by my own battle with mental illness, I felt this space held a lot of potential for change. Therapy taught me about myself — it inspired me to give back to the same community that changed my life.
Of lifetime mental illnesses develop before the age of 24 (Center for College Mental Health Penn State, 2015)
Average ratio of college students to therapists (Center for College Mental Health Penn State, 2015)
Students who suffer from a mental health issue (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2016)
In my mind, reducing overhead and workload capacity for mental health clinics (especially repetitive tasks) would lead to more time that could be spent with students.
I conducted several rounds of research to understand the full landscape of college mental healthcare. I talked to over 40 college clinic directors and therapists, designed and conducted surveys for students, and interviewed research psychologists to understand the space.
"College clinics don't have an efficiency problem, but a capacity problem."
— Ben Locke, Director of Center of Collegiate Mental Health
"Students need a primary prevention solution - something that catches the problem before it arises."
— Peter LeViness, Clinic Director at University of Richmond Clinic
• There is a clear need for primary prevention.
• Students have trouble identifying stress factors that can spiral into illness.
• Most clinics desire to spend more time in student outreach.
• Making clinics more efficient would not have the most impact.
My problem statement needed an adjustment. Although more efficient clinics would help, I learned that solving for primary prevention would have a far greater impact.
Clincis wanted students to learn self-care. It's more useful to invest in mental health early, long before they need to meet with a therapist. Primary prevention as this was called, is where my project needed to focus.
I revised my problem statement to focus on consumer, student-facing needs, as opposed to enterprise and clinic-facing needs before.
• The solution must be where the student lives.
• It may not be in the form of an application.
• Messaging and campaigns seems like a very promising approach.
• Students must be able to trust the solution.
Several of my initiatives are shown below. Reach out for a full deep dive on the respective concepts.
Won first prize in the University of Virginia's startup pitch competition for the social entrepreneurship track. I secured $7000 in grant funding and executed 4 pilots. I also became a paid mental health product design consultant to a local mental healthcare startup, helping kickstart their new market strategy and initial product MVP.
While I never fully brought my own product to market (starting a company on your own, from scratch, is really hard!), I learned so much about product design, business, and myself.
This gap year was the catalyst for my career in product design and fully cemented my passion for social impact. Afterwards, I joined The Washington Post and immersed myself in the world of design.
• There’s no weakness in asking for help.
• You’re often a mentor to someone, even if you don’t realize it.
• Surround yourself with people that push you.
• Networking is creating meaningful relationships to help each other move forward.
• There’s no weakness in placing personal well-being over work.
• Time management is a very underrated skill.
• You have to be confident in yourself before others can be confident in you.
• Forgive yourself. When you fail, when you make a mistake — there’s always something to learn from it.
The Washington Post