Children living with a mental health diagnosis, and those who care for them, were tracking appointments, prescriptions, and complex needs across disconnected systems and paper, while an ageing platform could not deliver the experience they deserved.
“In child and youth mental health, a confusing system is not an inconvenience. It is a barrier to care.”
A leading mental health service provider wanted a better, more efficient way to serve children living with a mental health diagnosis and their caregivers. Its older platform could not deliver the experience stakeholders deserved, with disconnected journeys across multiple agencies, manual intake, no self-serve channels, and the added responsibility of protecting sensitive information about children.
Working closely with the client, ML arteka gathered requirements, mapped workflows, and developed personas, storyboards, and a service blueprint. Progressing from paper sketches to high-fidelity mockups, the team designed a new back-office and client portal, unifying crisis interventions and regular intake with a central notification system, and making the patient profile the common point from which every task is handled.
The result, delivered in under a month: a cloud-based case-management platform, a mobile-responsive client portal, and a simplified back-office system.
Business Outcomes
A human-centered redesign turned a fragmented, manual process into a clear, unified experience for caseworkers and families.
Across the back-office and client portal.
With client stakeholders.
Concept to delivered design.
The Transformation
From disconnected, manual journeys to a unified, human-centered experience.
- 1
DiscoverRequirement GatheringCollaborated with stakeholders to map workflows and back-office processes for caregivers and the children in their care. - 2
ResearchUsers, Personas, StoryboardsMapped the roles of employees and clients and co-created storyboards for the key processes. - 3
BlueprintService MappingBuilt a service blueprint to visualize and simplify interactions between stakeholders at each stage. - 4
DesignFrom Sketch to PrototypeProgressed from paper sketches to high-fidelity mockups, designing a new back-office and client portal around the patient profile.
The Business Challenge
When Care Spans Disconnected Systems
Serving vulnerable children demanded a nuanced approach, and the old platform stood in the way.
Disconnected journeys
Unlinked processes across the client and patient care journey.
Multiple agencies and platforms
The process spanned many organizations and systems.
Manual processes
Most of the care intake process was completed by hand.
No self-serve channels
Patients under care had no access to their own information.
Business Outcomes in Detail
What the Numbers Mean
Across the back-office and client portal.
With client stakeholders.
Concept to delivered design.
Technology Snapshot
How the Experience Was Built
The patient profile turned out to be the common point behind every task. Designing around it, rather than around the org chart, is what simplified the caseworker’s day and protected the family’s experience.
Executive Questions and Answers
The questions leadership tends to ask when evaluating an approach like this.
Sensitivity
How do you design for such a sensitive user group?
With a nuanced, human-centered approach: personas, storyboards, and co-creation sessions that kept the needs of children and caregivers, and the duty to protect them, at the center.
Simplicity
How did the redesign simplify caseworkers’ days?
By establishing the patient profile as the common point for all tasks, so every option and action related to a patient sits within that profile view.
Speed
How was this delivered in under a month?
A tight, collaborative process, over 10 co-creation sessions and 350-plus screens, moved from chaos to clarity in four weeks.
