You:Flourish: Developing Evidence-Based Mental Health Support
More and more, digital apps are being developed as a practical way to bridge the gap between the U.S.’ growing mental health needs and its shortage of mental health providers. This gap is particularly stark for LGBTQ+ populations who have even greater difficulty finding providers due to discrimination and lack of LGBTQ-specific training. Mobile apps have been proposed as a low-cost, scalable way to deliver mental health support despite provider shortages.
The Challenge
Most publicly available apps don’t use evidence-based approaches and very few are adapted to the unique needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ populations. Ensuring that these important tools are available and work for LGBTQ+ people requires developing them to address specific drivers of LGBTQ+ mental health challenges like social rejection, experiences of stigma, and reduced access to resources like health care. Apps also need to use treatment strategies that are backed up by data.
The Client
You:Flourish is a Public Benefit Corporation working to bring wellness and affirming mental health resources to LGBTQ+ folks across the country. Started by a team of mental health professionals dedicated to increasing mental health access for LGBTQ+ populations, You:Flourish is developing a digital platform providing tools specifically designed to meet community needs.
The Work
You:Flourish engaged Eidos to conduct a review of their initial product design and provide evidence-based recommendations for maximizing the platform’s impact. Through a series of consultations with the design team and review of initial behavior change models, platform prototypes, and user feedback, Eidos assisted You:Flourish in clarifying their therapeutic goals and aligning their product features to support those goals. Eidos then wrote a customized recommendation report, synthesizing research literature and best practices that addressed specific You:Flourish platform features: affirming provider directories, peer support chat forums, and multimedia content for mental health skill building. Through the report, Eidos also provided specific evidence-based strategies and outcome metrics that You:Flourish could use to maximize and quantify their impact.
The Results
You:Flourish launched an initial version of its platform to residents of Colorado in April 2024. The platform design incorporated key recommendations from Eidos’ report, including partnering with a respected national directory of affirming mental health providers. Through the partnership with Eidos, You:Flourish also developed social determinants of health (e.g. community, employment, finances, physical health) as an organizing theme for its skill-focused content. You:Flourish is scheduled to launch nationally in 2025.
Learn more about You:Flourish on their website and download the app today!