Facilitating Conversations About Mental Health
Created by Alex, Audrey and Kelly
Hello! In this project we took on the topic of mental health in rural communities and delved into understanding the territory, its challenges and how we might create a service that can effectively support an audience we target. We explored methods at each stage of the process and develop a final design project. We partner with the Center for Clinical Excellence at BJC and we were able to work along side them, learn from their work, and explore ideas with them.
I’m Enrique, director of research and technology and a senior lecturer for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. I am a designer who uses visual language and human-centered design approaches to help innovate and improve services in the commercial and non-profit sectors. I have a wife and three kids, a dog, cat, fish and far too much work to do on a 1908 brick house.
I’m Christine, Creative Director at Epharmix and have partnered with Enrique before in his health-centered design classes. I’m into inspirational interaction, illustrative information, and intelligent intuition. And appreciate assonance and alliterations.
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I’m Kelly, a senior doing a dual degree in communication design and marketing. I’m interested in doing work in human-centered design, service design, user research, and user experience. I also like to cook, sing, speak French, and obsess about fluffy white spitz dogs.
I’m Audrey a junior and am pursuing a degree in Communication Design and Art History. In my spare time, I can be seen running through campus, competing on Washington University’s Cross Country and Track teams, eating spoonfuls of honey from my beehives back home in Seattle, or talking about my beloved Sheltie dog, Teddy.
I am Alex a junior in Communication Design, focused on graphic design. I am obsessed with all animals and love creating projects that create a positive impact in people’s lives. I basically live in studio so please come hang out with me.
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Define Problem & Scope
How might we address mental health in rural areas, focusing on Farmington, MO? Barnes Jewish Center (BJC) introduced the project by prompting this question: “How might we address Mental Health in rural communities?� Before we could start, we had to define what mental health meant to us. We understood we had to start by looking at the big picture before we could narrow down our scope. Although this process at first seems overwhelming and easy to get lost in, in hindsight it was necessary for developing what research problem we would pursue. We had to research what it means to live in a rural community, specifically Farmington MO, as our case study. We were able to visit BJC and explore all of the information that they had collected in Farmington, from interviews to general information about the services in the area.
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Research & Explore
BJC Research After exploring online resources available to us regarding Mental Health and rural communities, we visited BJC’s Center for Clinical Excellence to read past interviews from people in Farmington. The interviews were incredibly helpful and allowed us to understand first hand accounts of people struggling with Mental Health. In the scope of this class, we would not have been able to interview the number people that BJC had, thus we were very thankful to have had the opportunity to read this personal stories.
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BJC Research Alex: We asked them questions about their process, details about their findings, and basically just tried to absorb this huge amount of information. Kelly: Some examples of our takeaways were that co-morbidity is extremely common, having supporters significantly improves quality of life of the afflicted patient, and that listening to the patient talk about their lives without judgment, while telling them that having a mental illness is ok, actually helps the patients a lot by providing them a chance to do something they may not ever have gotten to do: tell their story and accept their mental illness.
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Personal Experience Interview Kelly: I was part of the group that interviewed a woman we’ll call “Experienced Eleanor” for the sake of this project. She described what it was like in both emotional and practical terms to find out that not one, but both of her daughters had mental illness, and her own role in taking responsibility for her younger, more severely affected daughter’s care. NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) was a huge help to her and changed her life by giving her a support group of experienced people in her same situation, who could guide her through the process of finding doctors, the right treatment centers, and navigating the legal and health insurance worlds. They also taught her daughter DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) by using a workbook to identify situations where she could potentially act out and practicing behaviors that would be a more healthy response than her illness was influencing her to do.
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Secondary Research We created a synthesis board about mental health in rural areas using research we found about Farmington demographics and secondary research about mental health stigma and care. This provided us with a more general overlook of the mental health landscape in rural areas like Farmington. Christine: I thought it would be a good idea for everyone to be able to define what different mental illnesses are and what the symptoms are like, so we have a better idea of what types of health problems we’re dealing with. Alex: We read newspaper articles, research papers, and online resources to find out more about mental illness. Kelly: We explored the types of events that were popular in the Farmington area and found a lot of focus on the high school. Popular events included sporting events, the homecoming dance, and so on.
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Research Synthesis After talking with the BJC team, we attempted to synthesize the information we gathered with out secondary research.
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Audrey: Truthfully all the insights were overwhelming, and personally it did not feel real due to not having experienced Farmington and talking with community members myself.
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Field Trip to Farmington Enrique: Let’s also go visit Farmington, MO in person and see what it’s like to treat mental illness in that town. First off, the Clubhouse is an interesting model for dealing with mental health in rural places, in brief it is a space for a group of people with varying degrees of mental health conditions to come together and support each other and have a facilitator. Sounds similar to all kinds of life copying and learning places. Audrey: I think this will be very helpful in gaining a better understanding of our topic, allowing us to see a rural town and to talk to community members. Kelly: Yup, too early in the morning for me, haha. Alex: Im happy to stay here in studio, I have everything I need here.
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Farmington ClubHouse Audrey: We entered Clubhouse at 9 am, the same time the members come in too. Members arrive from a shuttle system. Anne, the social worker, greeted us warmily. Looking around the area it was a large open room with circular tables in the center. The house exterior and interior was very homey, and did not feel medical or clinical. The space wasn’t “nice” but it felt appropriate for the location. Once we entered, Anne introduced us to a member, Sharon. She was very nice and led us on a tour to explain what the Clubhouse does. She looked as though she had been crying, and still might have crying, which made me a little uncomfortable, so I tried hard to be very attentive. She talked very positively about the clubhouse though. Sharon has a side project at the Clubhouse where she photographs someone then prints and sells the photo. She is also in charge of scrapbooking. I never asked but I assumed due to the fact she has scrapbooked for so long that she has been a member at clubhouse for awhile. Looking at the photos in the scrapbook it appears that clubhouse goes on frequent field trips and outings, which I think is very cool and a good way to add excitement and break routine. When Sharon led us on the tour she showed us the kitchen, computer room, and side room with the general store. The kitchen was large and organized, and easily could fit up to seven people. The computer room was also Anne’s office, but it was open for anyone to use. Facebook and Youtube was off-limits unless the member got permission first. The side room held the general store and a work out area. The general store had only candy and
junk food. I was surprised at first at the nutrition options available. I don’t think people should be forced into eating healthy, and after talking with Anne she said that before the option of healthier foods was available but no one would buy them. The workout area was very small and personally I found it depressing and not motivating. There were posters all around advertising for “healthy living” and tips for exercising and biggest loser, although many of the members were drinking soda and eating candy at 9 am. A large amount of the members were overweight, so encouraging activity in some way seems important. The Clubhouse is based on a volunteer system. Meaning no one “has” to do anything. You volunteer to cook, clean, etc., so everything is your choice. After Sharon finished the tour we sat down at a table in the middle of the open room and waited for the last shuttle with members to arrive so the intro meeting could start. The meeting, which happens everyday, is led by members and goes through the plan for the day and what everyone will volunteer to do. Some people seem to be doing a lot while others not as much, but it is all one’s own choice. After the meeting we asked Anne some questions. Sharon was sitting at the table when we were interviewing Anne, so I felt a little uncomfortable asking questions because I did not want to come off as offensive or as a “savior.”
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Farmington BJC Clinic Audrey: After we spent an hour inside the Clubhouse we drove into Farmington to visit the BJC Mental Health Clinic there. Anne drove ahead with three members to pick up prescriptions. I got the feeling Anne does a lot of unknown extra work at the Clubhouse. After about a ten minute drive, we arrived at the BJC clinic. The clinic was part of a large outdoor shopping center complex. There were about five people there waiting when we entered the building. We did not spend much time here, but we were able to recieve a tour of the one story facility. I am still a little confused on what exactly happens there. It appears to mostly be office work and picking up prescriptions, but they do offer walk-in appointments. We talked to one man who works there and he said there are around 10 walk-ins per week. In the waiting room there was a side corner with a lot of paper sheets talking about health needs and care, plus a place to check blood pressure. The info corner was a very good idea I think, but looked underused and hidden from view. Anne brought us across the street to where the new clubhouse will be. She seemed very excited about the move due to the location being literally across the street from the BJC clinic. Personally I do not know if this is good or bad. The new space is double the size and looks very new. Its nice and beautiful with lots of light, but loses the homeliness the originally clubhouse had. My guess is the new space will feel more medical and clinical than before. After we quickly walked through the new location we said goodbye and 16
drove through downtown Farmington. The town is not “rural” but not “not rural”. Where the Clubhouse was, about 10 min outside of town, was more deserted with less to do, but Farmington had boutique shops and restaurants. There seems to be a middle and upper class presence in the town. A contrast was the high school and hospital, because there was a field of cows across the street, which showed up the mix of urban and rural life.
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Synthesize & Ideate
Through research we defined possible topics, all of which were broad. Some early examples were addressing transportation, resource availability, and addressing stigma. We played around with ideas of developing an App, creating an awareness campaign, and creating an emotional support program.
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Audrey: This synthesis helped us get a handle on resources, needs, and facts about Farmington.
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Kelly: As well as an early opportunity to put down some of our thoughts and impressions of the research we’d reviewed at the CCE.
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Observations
feelings of being overwhelmed awareness on how to help, not hurt Understanding person vs. disease
Patterns
Help guide the supporter easy information access on how to get help general awareness
Insights
guidance for personal relationships dealing with diagnosis healthy ways to support loved ones
Design direction
pamphlet containing advice for supporter Online Quiz to see what help one needs Online guide with advice for action to take
How might we... Combine physical and digital products and services into an integrated whole that addresses mental health for people in rural communities? Facilitate difficult conversations around mental health? Educate people dealing with mental health? Create a produce that is accessible physically and digitally?
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How might we provide structured conversation starters and communication strategies for people to express their needs and receive support around mental health? Kelly: Woot! We have our “How might we” question! Audrey: Sweet! But now what does this mean... conversation starters? What do we know about conversations around mental health? Alex: We don’t have to be experts. We have resources around us we can use and experiement with. We got this!
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Solution
An online quiz to determine which category of mental health one falls into: Supporter Self Reflection Outreach Group A set of cards to start and facilitate conversations about mental health.
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Inspiration for the Idea The card games shown below, such as The Gift of Grace and Xplane, inspired us to create a card set. We began to play these games to get a sense of how the cards are organized and how they are able to facilitate conversations
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Personas
In order to understand who we were designing for, we created a set of personas. These personas are not real people, but generalized versions of who we would want to use our product. Audrey: We began by creating four unique personas, Supporter, Self Reflection, and Outreach. Through our early research we found examples of different relationships that we could study of people dealing with mental health.
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Group Group is a set that provides conversation tops on how to discuss mental health with a large group, and make sure everyone involved feels comfortable in their position.
Manager Keep a healthy work environment Male 45 Upper Class Manager of consulting firm. Wants to create a health and positive work environment, but unsure how He wants to make mental health awareness prominent in his workforce. He is not aware of any mental health issues with his employees, but wants to create the environment of healthy conversations. He does not now the best way to tackle this problem though. He is looking for a tool to start a conversation around mental well being.
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Employees Taking care of mental health Female/Male 28-55 Middle Class Employees come from a range of backgrounds. They are friends, but do not know much about each other’s lives. The employees are confused why the manager wants them to focus on mental health. They do not see mental wellbeing as a priority in their life, but are open to trying new things. They are not actively looking for change, but will listen to that their manager suggests.
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Supporter A supporter is someone seeking to help a friend or loved one who is struggling with mental health issues and wishes to find better ways to talk about their mental illness and create an open dialogue.
Lethargic Larry Undiagnosed depression Male 52 Middleclass Married with two teenage sons Construction foreman and basketball coach Likes watching and coaching sons basketball games Larry is no longer feeling satisfied with life. He stays inside on couch and watches TV in his free time. He is not communicating with wife. He is lethargic and has a lack of energy. He is uninterested in sons life and more fights are occurring within his family due to the tension. Larry views Mental Health as stupid and does not think it applies to him. He knows that his family is upset, but does not seek active change. 32
Concerned Connie Seeking help for husband Female 50 Middleclass Married with two teenage sons Stay at home parent Likes gardening and being involved with Church Connie is willing to do whatever it takes to put her family back together. She doesn’t know yet what her role should be and may be accidentally making things worse in the meantime because her previous communication style and motivating method with her husband doesn’t work anymore. Connie is confused and unsure what to do. She wishes there was someway she could have a guide on how to help her husband. She does now know where the closest therapist is, and does not think her husband would want to go anyways.
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Outreach Outreach is for someone looking for the support of a friend in dealing with their mental health. We would provide a system to help tell someone you need mental health support and provide ways to discuss your needs with them.
Seeking Sarah Asking for support with Bipolar disorder Female 24 Lower Class In a relationship but having difficulty Graduated community college in teaching Cashiering at Walmart Hailey met Sarah while she was in a positive mood and became friends with her while she was partying, and they now work at Walmart together.. Now that Sarah has gone into a depressive mode she is struggling to connect to her old friend and show her how to be supportive of the “new her”. Knows she is bipolar and in a depressive state, but is struggling to keep motivation to stay on meds. She likes herself better is her happy state, but when her friends encourage her to act like her “old self” it doesn’t help. She needs to address productive support strategies with friends. 34
Helpful Hailey Learning how to support Female 22 Middleclass Single Still in college and lives off parents money Cashiering at Walmart Hailey likes the “fun Sarah” and is having trouble understanding the changes in her friend’s personality. She understands Sarah needs help and struggles with mental health, but doesn’t know what to do or say. She does not know how to help Sarah, and is getting tired of Sarah getting mad at her when she says to be happy! She does not know how much longer she can try to help.
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Self Reflection Self Reflection is for someone searching for methods to help themselves. They could be undiagnosed or unsure if they have a mental illness, or seeking new methods of therapy and treatment.
Wondering Wendy Unknown Mental Illness Female 18 Lower class Single Student Likes watching Grey’s Anatomy and using Tumblr Wendy is becoming more cut off from friends, losing interest in school and motivation, and is beginning to have a strained relationship with family. She is scared about her future and feels as though she has nothing promising ahead. Wendy wants to get more information about mental health and see if she needs to talk to someone or get help. She knows she feels different, but just feels lost and does not know what to do or look for.
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Finding the Focus of Our Project Audrey: We understood that group therapy is important, but we decided to focus on a different relationship other than group. Other conversation sets we found that were focusing on mental health had resources available but for large groups or businesses, and we wanted our project to be personable and individualized. We still are incorporating a group section, but the group would be small, for example ten people, rather than one hundred. Alex: Originally we decided to further our exploration and focus on the Supporter, who is someone seeking to help a loved one or friend, and wishes to find better ways to discuss their mental health needs. Our personas were Lethargic Larry and Concerned Connie, a husband and wife. Larry was struggling with depression and was in denial. Connie wants to help her husband but is unsure how to go about talking with him. However, after we created these unique sets of personas, we realized that we were designing for the wrong Persona. Originally the Supporter was the card set we were creating, but after analyzing Lethargic Larry and Concerned Connie, we felt Helpful Hailey is actually our target audience. The supporter does not need to be the husband/wife of the person struggling with mental health, instead a friend is the perfect supporter. The friend is involved in the person’s life, but not the extent of a marriage. We want the Supporter not to feel overwhelmed with responsibility, but rather to want to be there for their friend.
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Storyboard
Kelly: I illustrated a storyboard of how we imagine our target user discovering, buying into, and using our product. Alex: It starts when someone notices their friend acting different or feeling down. They want to help but don’t know how to start. So, the friend Googles “information on mental health” and finds our quiz and website.
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They read about Mental Health information and resources available
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Then they take the quiz on okconversationcards.com to see what type of help they can give
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After taking the quiz they see they are the supporter, and they are provided the option to buy the supporter conversation card set
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They order the cards, and they arrive in the mail
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They read the intro packets
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And practice conversation skills and read more about healthy conversations
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Now that they are ready, they can approach their friend
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And start to talk
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The conversation cycle is showing how these are not set in stone conversations. You can skip steps, repeat steps, etc. the conversation is never meant to stop. It can be 10 min one day, or an hour the next
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If they feel stuck or are unsure on how to continue, there are helpful reminder cards
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So they can go back to having a successful conversation
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Which leads to joy and happiness
Kelly: Now that we have a blueprint laid out of how it works, we need to do research into the content 51
Prototype & Test
Enrique: Team, I have a resource for you to check out. I met a woman named Ruby T. Solomon who works at the Zinker Wellness Center on campus. Audrey: Sure, I can definitely reach out to her! Hello Ruby, I am emailing of behalf of my group in Enrique Von Rohr’s Service Design class in Sam Fox. We would like to meet with you to get feedback, advice, and help with professional standards of talking about mental health. This semester my group is focusing on mental health access and awareness. Our specific question we are attempting to tackle is “how might we provide structured conversation starters and communication strategies for people to express their needs and receive support around mental health?” We are prototyping a quiz and card game designed specifically for the family members or friends of someone struggling. We would love to talk with a professional and learn insights on how to make our project as successful as possible. Ruby: Thank you for your email. I would be happy to meet with you. How about 9am-10am on Monday March 27th at the Zenker Wellness Suite in Sumer’s Recreational Center? If you have a project draft or a list of specific questions that you are hoping to have answered it would be great if you could send those along ahead of time so that I can be better prepared to offer guidance. I look forward to meeting you. Audrey: Hello Ruby, my group wanted to meet and talk to get advice on how to make our project and content legitimate. Our project revolves around facilitating conversations about mental health and how we might provide structured conversation starters and communication strategies for people to express their needs and receive support. Our target audience is the supporter, so the friend or spouse. We were hoping to talk over possible questions to ask in a conversation game, but overall we hope to get advice on how to build tools for healthy communication. Ruby: Sounds great! I look forward to talking. 53
Prototype 1: Ruby Alex: Ruby, we see this card game as being something that anyone can play with, or use to get closer to their loved ones with a mental illness. Ruby: One problem I see in this card game is that teenagers aren’t equipped to deal with and talk about some topics the same way that adults are. It’s hard to write questions that can address both adults and children. I have some resources. Application of V-Model These are examples of statements that may be used in each stage of the V-Model: Risk Assessment
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“Life Crisis, my name is _______. I’ll be happy to talk with you but first I need to know if you are having any thoughts about suicide.” Check phone number on caller I.D.; if not available, get demographics. “How are you feeling right now?” “How do you feel about that?” “What had you planned to do?” “What do you plan on doing tonight?” “Do you have the pills, guns, knife, etc.?” “Are you alone?” “Have you ever tried this before?” ”Are you receiving any professional help?” “Are you taking any medication?”
Establish Rapport
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“I’m so glad you called.” “So you say you are feeling “That must feel
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because of
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Problem Identification § §
“What would you like to talk about?” “Can you tell me what made you call today?”
Exploration
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“Can you tell me about…..?” “Tell me more…” “What happened when you…..?” “What happened today?” “What seemed to lead up to….?” “Have you had any change in appetite or sleep?”
Clarification
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The Seven-Stage Crisis Intervention Model: A Road Map to Goal Attainment, Problem Solving, and Crisis Resolution
“What bothers you the most?” “Can you be more specific?” “What would make you feel better?” “How has it affected your life?”
Sexual Communication Practice Worksheet
1. How could you turn the following comment into an “I” statement? “You don’t love me.” ______________________________________________________ How could you turn it into a reflection?
Albert R. Roberts, PhD
Allen J. Ottens, PhD
This article explicates a systematic and structured conceptual model for crisis assessment and intervention that facilitates planning for effective brief treatment in outpatient psychiatric clinics, community mental health centers, counseling centers, or crisis intervention settings. Application of Roberts’ seven-stage crisis intervention model can facilitate the clinician’s effective intervening by emphasizing rapid assessment of the client’s problem and resources, collaborating on goal selection and attainment, finding alternative coping methods, developing a working alliance, and building upon the client’s strengths. Limitations on treatment time by insurance companies and managed care organizations have made evidence-based crisis intervention a critical necessity for millions of persons presenting to mental health clinics and hospital-based programs in the midst of acute crisis episodes. Having a crisis intervention protocol facilitates treatment planning and intervention. The authors clarify the distinct differences between disaster management and crisis intervention and when each is critically needed. Also, noted is the importance of built-in evaluations, outcome measures, and performance indicators for all crisis intervention services and programs. We are recommending that the Roberts’ crisis intervention tool be used for time-limited response to persons in acute crisis. [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 5:329–339 (2005)] KEY WORDS: crisis intervention, lethality assessment, establish rapport, coping, performance indicators, precipitating event, disaster management.
We live in an era in which crisis-inducing events and acute crisis episodes are prevalent. Each year, millions of people are confronted with crisis-inducing events that they cannot
resolve on their own, and they often turn for help to crisis units of community mental health centers, psychiatric screening units, outpatient clinics, hospital emergency rooms, college counseling centers, family counseling agencies, and domestic violence programs (Roberts, 2005). Imagine the following scenarios:
______________________________________________________ How could you turn the following comment into an “I” statement? “It’s always about you.” ______________________________________________________ How could you turn it into a reflection? ______________________________________________________ 2. How could you focus on the behavior rather than the person in the following comment? “You’re a bitch.” ______________________________________________________ “You’re into some weird shit.” ______________________________________________________ Nonverbal: You observe that your partner is quieter than usual while you are fooling around. How could you focus on the behavior rather than the person in responding to this? ______________________________________________________
Kelly: That’s great! I can definitely use these exercises, as well as the work that Alex did already, to write up the questions for the cards! From Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Roberts) and Northern Illinois University (Ottens). Contact author: Albert R. Roberts, Professor, Criminal Justice, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Lucy Stone Hall, B wing, 261 Piscataway, NJ 08854. E-mail: prof.albertroberts@comcast.net. doi:10.1093/brief-treatment/mhi030 Advance Access publication October 12, 2005
You are a community social worker or psychologist working with the Houston
ª The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.
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Kelly: We ended up with four sections of cards: Life and Values, Experience, Goals, and Support. In addition, we created a new section we called introductory, in order to incorporate the information Ruby suggested.
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Prototype 2: MSW Brown School Student Kelly: Guess what team, I met another person who can help us with our project while waiting for the bus. Her name’s Brittany Lueken, and she’s an MSW student at the Brown School of Social Work doing her Practicum in mental health. She offered to be a test reader for our cards! Alex: Awesome! Audrey: Let’s ask her to look them over when we have a first draft of our cards done first. Kelly: Hello Brittany, thank you for taking the time to meet with us. We would love to get your feedback on the content of our conversation cards. We want to make sure the questions that we are asking are worded correctly and hitting the right points. Brittany: Hi everyone! I’d love to give feedback. I think what you are all doing here is fantastic. Mental heath education is a tricky subject that not many tackle. I think having a conversation card set to encourage people to talk openly about mental health is a great idea. One suggestion I have is how do you enourage people to keep having the conversations? What happens if someone is feeling stuck or is unsure on what to say next? I think having cards telling the person that silence is ok would be a good idea. Additionally, make sure the questions are open enough to encourage a conversation. You should try to prevent yes/no questions as much as possible. Alex: I really like the idea of having a stuck card section! I had not thought about that before. Brittany: Overall, these cards are great! I would totally use these. Feel free to send me a box when you are all finished with the semester. Kelly: Thank you so much Brittany. We would love to send you a box once we finish!
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Initial Drafts of Content
Website Alex: I thought through the ways in which someone could be placed into the categories of our persona and created quiz questions to reflect the placement in a certain relationship category.
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Website Alex: This diagram shows the different paths that could be taken in the quiz using some sample questions.
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Cards Alex: I played through the Gift of Grace game with Audrey to get some inspiration for questions we could use for our card set.
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Design & Deliver
Website Audrey: I took charge of the website and made a simple landing page, about page, link to the quiz, resources, and product page to buy the cards. Here is inspiration for the website that i found on the internet.
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Website Design Development
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Audrey: I wanted to design a website that was simple and not distracting. The website is meant to compliment the card sets, and so I aimed to keep a similar aestetic. The major changes I played with was with color relationships and how to present the quiz information. 67
FINAL WEBSITE DESIGN
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Card Design Audrey: The first set of cards we designed were simple primary colors. We picked the size to be a business card, because we felt that made the cards easily transportable. In this design we experimented with text placement and what should be included on the cards. We took inspiration from conversation cards EnRique provided us, along with images we found from Pinterest and Behance. We decided that primary colors would create a friendly atmosphere that was not too clinical, and did not portray the cards as being “too serious�
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Audrey: For designing a logo we wanted to show visually that the conversation cards would be a freindly, an “ok�, conversation between two individuals. The speech bubble was clear that the product was to encourage talking, and by having two of them at the same size it is clear that the conversation is an equal one.
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OK
OK
OK
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ok
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ok
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Card Design Alex: We decided to change the typeface to News Gothic in our second iteration and also to make the colors softer in the card set. We also experimented with the type scale and creating an identifiable logo for the cards.
Enrique: Something doesn’t feel right about this... How about you change the icon system in the introductory booklets to differentiate them? Audrey: Yah, purple would identify the cards as different from the questions. Good idea. Alex: I agree. Purple can become our welcome color. 73
Card Design We finallt settled on the final design of the cards
Alex: I made many booklets containing information that the card users should be knowledgeable of before they engage in a conversation with someone with mental health. These introductory booklets contained information on: Warning Signs, Crisis & Resources; Communication Tips & Practice; Self Care & Boundaries; and How To Use The Cards. The knowledge a supporter gains from the information booklets will make it easier for them to talk about a topic as serious and deep as mental health. The conversations we are facilitating should not be taken lightly as they pertain to a persons inner mental state, and they should be treated with care.
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We divided the conversation cards into four main conversations, the first two referring to the past and the last two talking about the future. The first is a positive conversation about what the person with mental illness finds important and what brings them happiness. The second is a conversation about listening to how they have been feeling and dealing with their situation. The third should be a productive conversation about where they would like to be in life. The fourth is a conversation about their past experiences with support and what they would like it to be in the future We were able to design questions that were appropriate for the topics of each conversation. Our second prototype test with the MSW Brown School Student allowed us to go through all of the writing to ensure that no questions could be triggering for a user. 75
Card Design Kelly: I made a box design like a set of cards, and made set of 4 Audrey: Cool, but...does it fit? Kelly: ….No….Ok, I’ll make a bigger one ~Kelly and Alex made all the final cards and booklets together on the nice paper while Audrey was out of town~ Kelly: Crap, this is way too big to go in this style of box. We need to make a completely new type of box. Alex: I’m a good maker, I got this. I will design a new system for the cards to fit. Kelly: Perfect! I’ll wrap the box in our paper so it matches as well. Enrique: You noticed that the inside color doesn’t match, yes? And your craft will probably get better as you make more boxes... All: Too late to fix it now…but we will be making more boxes soon. We all want to keep a set for ourselves! Audrey: In the meantime, I’ll photograph our final cards and box for documentation. I can also make mock-ups of them inside a library, office, and gas station. Alex: Ohh cool. Also...thoughts on stickers! I think they could be really fun. Kelly: Yes to all of that!
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Alex: Audrey and I prototyped the stickers and cards in order to represent how the cards could be displayed in the real world. Ideally, the cards would be avaliable at libraries, hospitals, and even gas stations.
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Thank you We ended our semester by presenting our concept and prototype to the BJC team. We greatly appreciate the advice and critique we received from Enrique, Kristine, the BCJ team, Ruby, and Brittany throughout this semester and would like to thank them for all their help. Without their assistance, we would not have been able to push the project as far as we were able to. Unfortunately, we were only able to develop the Supporter card set due to the scope of our project. Our hope is to develop the cards further and create sets for all the categories. Since Kelly will be graduating this spring, Alex and Audrey will be pushing the Ok conversation cards further through their senior year.
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