The challenge

There’s a real bottleneck for support. People present with a mental health disorder and then have to wait. Their needs can change or even deteriorate while they’re waiting.

Manjul Rathee, BfB Labs

According to the Centre for Mental Health, more than 10 million people in England and Wales will need mental health support in the 3-5 years from 2020. Demand is outstripping the supply of care and support, with services stretched to breaking point. This has prompted huge growth in the number and variety of digital products and services designed for mental health – especially since the coronavirus pandemic.

We have prioritised increasing Mind’s impact on marginalised groups rather than increasing overall reach.

Lived Experience Steering Committee, in Mind’s latest strategy

This big shift to digital in the mental health space comes with important challenges around impact, safety and reaching the people who need support the most. The leading mental health charity Mind has an ambitious new strategy and wants to ensure digital plays its most effective role in the fight for mental health.

Our approach

We partnered with Mind on two pieces of work to help lay foundations for an impactful digital future. First, we conducted research into the marketplace of digital products and services that support people’s mental health. Now, we’re working with Mind’s digital team to develop a roadmap of digital-led projects to support different areas of the charity – from services they deliver and information they provide to retail, fundraising and the ways they engage with supporters.

So far…

• Marketplace analysis research including expert interviews, scanning and data structuring
• Generated a list of existing digital products and services supporting mental health
• Deep dive on the most relevant products and services to surface themes and insights
• Interviews with internal stakeholders at Mind as well as digital experts
• Extensive desk research and creating a bank of case studies
• Series of ideation and prioritisation workshops
• Testing and validation involving stakeholders like people with lived experience and local Minds