Service Design at Tyneside MindUsing design to rethink mental health

HEI: Northumbria UniversityCourse(s)/Research body: Doctoral Design Research ProgrammeMain Partners: Tyneside MindFunders: Northumbria University PhD StudentshipPlace: Gateshead and North Tyneside, North East England

Keywords: Third Sector, Public Services, Mental Health Care, Design Intervention

Context:Tyneside Mind is a local mental health and wellbeing charity that offers services to support those affected by mental health living in Tyneside. They are part of the national mental health charity, Mind. The significant reductions in public sector spending, as well as reductions in the funding available from trusts and foundations, has affected the way that Tyneside Mind (TM) operates and the services they are able to provide. Despite this considerable reduction in capacity, they are trying to cope with a sizeable increase in service demand that is directly linked to the financial crisis. As well as addressing the challenges posed by the difficult financial climate, TM also need to respond to new policy drivers and offer innovative, person-centred services.

Challenge:What mental health and wellbeing services should be provided in North Tyneside? How should they be offered and delivered?

Project response:The designer/researcher worked with actors in TM to support them to use a service design approach to develop a suite of services for a new geographical area. The designer guided staff in user-centered research to uncover the needs and demands of clients in this new area, as well as gaining an understanding of the value and challenges in TM’s current wellbeing service provision.

Using creative tools, the designer was able to engage directly with service users to enable them to contribute thoughts and opinions without them feeling threatened by the idea of change. These insights contributed directly to the development of the new wellbeing service, as well as informing improvements to current service offers across the region, and feeding into the strategic direction for the organisation.

Actor profile: Tyneside MindMotivations for involvement: TM had received a short-term contract from North Tyneside Council to deliver mental health services. TM had no experience working in this region, and wanted to develop a new service appropriate to this context, and secure a longer contract. TM looked to Northumbria University to provide both capacity and process to help them achieve this.

Contribution to the project: TM committed the time of all stakeholders from front-line staff to board members to engage in the process. They also contributed the resources necessary to undertake the service development work.

Project outcomes: “The designer was a ‘friendly critic’ challenging attitudes that had become entrenched in the organisation as well as consolidating the more positive aspects of our approach to developing services. The legacy, in terms of its subtle shift in organisational culture, has made us a stronger charity and better equipped to face new challenges.” Stuart Dexter, Chief Executive, Tyneside Mind

Actor profile: Northumbria UniversityMotivations for involvement: This project acted as a case study in an ongoing doctoral study into the value of a design for service approach to help voluntary organisations develop public services.

Contribution to the project: The doctoral candidate (also the designer/researcher) was situated within the organisation full time for an 8 week period to introduce, support the use of, and embed (as much as possible) a service design approach.

Project outcomes: “The permission afforded to me by all at TM meant that I was able to effectively support their team to develop a new service, based on robust user research and service prototyping. Their ongoing reflection on the value of the approach has provided me with vital detail for my PhD study.” Laura Warwick, Doctoral Candidate

Process:The designer used an iterative and inclusive process, co-designing as much of the service as possible with as many stakeholders as possible.

The designer worked with staff to design a questionnaire, set of personas and research event to engage with existing and potential service users.

The designer helped staff to collate all findings and see patterns in the data.

The team then highlighted the opportunities to focus

on going forward.

The designer helped the team to generate ideas, and develop their ideas

through visuals and prototypes to result in one

strong proposal.

The designer supported staff to test prototypes and adjust the new service so it was appropriate for a small pilot with their current clients.

Tools and Methods:Individually designed tools were used in the research and development stages including; customer journey mapping; design workshops; personas. Particular care was taken to ensure research tools were suitable for those with varying mental health needs, and that tasks would not alarm or confuse any service users. A simple visualisation style was used throughout the project to help communicate complex ideas and systems. Paper prototyping and desktop walkthroughs were used to understand how services would work. The service was then piloted before rolling out across the region. A service design toolkit was created for the organisation to provide them with a resource to draw on and inspire them in the future.

Design(ers) role:The service design approach provided a rigorous process for TM to understand client experiences, translate research into insights, generate ideas to address these issues, and test elements of these ideas. The designer/researcher acted as a facilitator throughout the project, providing the guidance, support and encouragement for staff, service users and volunteers to use service design tools to co-design aspects of the new service and to improve internal processes. The designer helped to challenge established perceptions about mental health services and encourage stakeholders to think differently about how their services could look and feel. Most importantly, the designer/researcher challenged the belief that mental health services could not be time-limited, and demonstrated how this could in fact create dependency, thus helping the actors to see their services from a new perspective which aided innovative thinking.

Project output and impact: -Two coherent, successful funding applications, worth £451,760; the most ever granted to the organisation.- A new wellbeing service rolled out across the Tyneside region - A new client-focused service development process- A shift in organisational culture - A commitment from Mind England and Wales to create an internal Service Design resource within their national office and to pilot the approach in three other local Mind organisations.

Learning outcomes: Northumbria University: The case study has provided vital data towards the on-going PhD study, and has been used in the publication of two academic papers. The project has generated a valuable partner in the department’s on-going research into the role of design in different communities.

Tyneside Mind: The organisation now has the ability to recognise where they have become entrenched in traditional patterns of working and have adopted a user-centred process to challenge established perceptions and develop desirable, effective services. The work has also helped them to be recognised as an innovative organisation by the Mind federation, and led to the federation investing significantly in the use of service design across the network, with Tyneside Mind being labelled a site of best practice.

The successes of the project: The developed service is more user-centred, or client-focused on the progression of service users, which is both better for their mental health and relieves capacity problems for TM. The resulting development has been highly praised by the Mind federation, who have subsequently committed significant funds to promote service design across the Mind network.

The key shortcomings of the project: Although TM are committed to using service design, they lack the capacity and skills within the existing team to use this effectively all of the time.

The key barriers to the project: The short timescale meant that the designer could only work with TM, and was unable to get key partners to participate in the design approach. TM therefore had to gain buy-in to the developed service from these partners without the understanding that their participation would have brought.

The key enablers of the project: The attitude of all TM’s stakeholders was integral to the success of this work; their willingness to engage in a service design process, their desire and commitment to change, and the permission granted to think and act differently.