MiMente Activo
Care for your physical and mental health as one.
Mi Mente Activo is a
coaching service where coaches accompany you, either remotely or in person, guiding you through a therapy session while you engage in an exercise of your choice.
What was the design problem?
Mimente, an online therapy service based in mexico, identified a unique opportunity to provide Latin Americans in the US with therapist who share a cultural bachground and language as their patients.
Mimente asked us to design a mental healthcare offering for members of the Latinx community in the United States to aid Mi Mente in expanding to the US Market.
Empathy Interviews
After doing background research on the problem space we conducted 10+ empathy interviews with Latines, people who use mental health services, and people who work in mental health services during our empathy stage. Here are some nuggets from our interviews, hover on them to see what key finding they led us to:
Machismo
Many latine men expressed feelings of internalized masculinity and struggles grappling with their emotions due to societal and familial expectations to be self-reliant
“Others will see you “as a pussy if you are using (mental health) services”
Language & Stigma
The language used within the Latine community to refer to mental health is strongly stigmatized to the point that it's acting as a barrier to accessing care.
“In my town, that is called laziness [having symptoms of depression/anxiety]”
Family Relationships
Parents want their children to be well, but because of the stigma surrounding mental health, they prefer more "natural" methods of wellness.
“Sometimes when I see her like that, I tell her ‘Okay, let’s go!’ I take her with me on a walk… we don’t take the bus, we walk so she relaxes.”
Personas
Because we identified that family is central to Latin Culture and attitudes towards mental health we created a family of personas. We identified that gender and generation was a huge factor in someone’s relationship and level of comfort towards therapy.
Laura is a mother who moved to the US in her late 20s. She speaks English and Spanish, but only speaks the latter in her household. She grew up in a tight-knit community where mental health was never discussed and heavily stigmatized.
Her views on mental health are complex. She is skeptical of therapy; she doesn’t know much about mental health and how it’s perceived in the US. She associates therapy with severe mental distress, and does not know the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists. She is cautious about mental health services prescribing medication for emotional issues, which she is strongly against. Although she has reservations about therapy, she acknowledges its potential benefits for her children and is tires to be open to it because she wants the best for her kids.
Early Solutions
After doing some large scale brain storming we prototyped design for each of our personas.
Hover on them to see how the prototype aids the persona to connect with mental healthcare.
Laura is skeptical of therapy and believes that it is not for her. She would never pay to go to therapy, but could potentially be open to her children seeing one if they really needed it.
By making Mimente’s app, Sherapa, free and public, it could act as an entry point for people who are reluctant to the idea of full on therapy. Rather then giving clients access to Sherpa after they start using Mimente, we believe you should use it as a pathway which leads people to Mimente services. Sherpa acts as a lower stakes, less intimidating aid for metal health. The app could have Mimente “ads”/promotions for users who are not currently seeing a Mimente therapist
Sherpa Onboarding
For Mother
Maria is open to therapy and feels she would benefit from it, but can’t afford the long process it takes to find a therapist.
Inspired by Hinge, a dating app for those who want to seek a serious relationship, this function serves as an easier and less overwhelming way to look at potential therapists. Some therapy
searching websites give you too much information, so with this “Hinge” format, we’re showing an easier way to access information and reach out to therapist.
Find a Therapist
For Daughter
Miguel is uncomfortable with the idea of going to therapy but knows he could benefit from talking to someone about his feelings.
Mimente Activo allows a coach to accompany you while doing a form of exercise of your choosing while guiding you through a therapy session at the same time! This product attempts to make therapy less intimidating by building on a tool people already use to take care of their mental and physical health, exercise. It also builds on the connection between the well being of the mind and body that our interviewees expressed as a strong latine value.
MiMente Activo
For Son
Extreme User
We decided to more forward by designing for our most extreme user, men, who we identified as the most reluctant to doing therapy within the latin community). By desiging for our most extreme user we were able to design for more people, making a product that works for users at all different levels of comfort with therapy.
We asked ourselves, how can we rebrand therapy to make it less intimidating for men?
Mimente Activo attempts to make therapy less foreign and intimidating by build on a tool that based on our interviews, lots of men already use to care for their mental and physical health: Exercise! The product also connects the well being of the mind and body, a strong value within Latin Culture that our interviewees expressed.
Testing and Iteration
We did multiple rounds of testing to reach our final prototype. Hover on them to see what iteration our findings led us to.
Testing: Coach or Therapist?
We asked 5 people if they preferred the term coach or therapist in the contest of this product?
All respondents Coaching and three said that both could work.
Testing: Finding a Coach
We asked 4 people if they preferred to swipe through a data base of therapist OR take a quiz about what they are looking for in a therapist and get matched with a few?
All respondents said they would prefer to be matched with 3-5 therapists and one person said they would like to have both options
We see this as an opportunity!
Testing: Remote or In-person?
This service could be online or in-person, giving clients an option. If online, you could be on the phone and talk while going for a bike ride.
We also believe the online option will allow Mimente to enter the US market faster, before they enter it physically.
Quote “Is this online or in-person? People might not want to meet in-person with someone they just met online without having a virtual session first.”
Feedback: People seemed to be very confused wether this was an online or in-person service. People tend to initially think it was an online service
