Peer Support Portal

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Introduction

Employee assistance portal to support staff, and offer opportunity to reduce the impact that mental-ill health may have if left unaddressed until crisis point.

The Problem

With today’s hybrid work environment and many people working from home, it is difficult for staff members to find who the trained peer supporters are inside their organisation, not to mention find the right peer supporter who can understand and empathize with their experience. Additionally, de-identified information is collected on peer support interactions using either pen and paper spreadsheets or survey monkey. This is a very clunky way of evaluating the effectiveness of the organisations peer support program.

Objective

Create an efficient method for a staff member to find the right peer supporter for them.
Enable peer supporters to easily record their interactions on the go, on any device.
Give organisation administrators the de-identified information about peer support interactions in one place.

Assumptions

Ability to connect with peer

Record the interactions

Identify what kind of help is suitable for the staff

Persona

Fran

Staff

Employees under the organisation who are using the technology platform to find trained peers to support them.

Rick

Peer Supporter

People in an organisation who are trained to provide support and Mental Health First Aid to their collegues.

Rebbeca

Admin

Person assigned by the company, usually from the HR department or Head of Health and Wellbeing, to oversee the peer support program and the metrics recorded from the interactions logged by the peer supporters.

Design Solution

Connect

An easy to use directory which lists all peer supporters, searchable by a number of filters so that staff members can find the right peer supporter for them. An algorithm which also suggests the best matched peer supporter based on age, location and experience.

The Staff dashboard is designed to show the number of help options for them. The tags are related to the profile filled out by the staff, describing what they are going through and what they are looking for support. The recommended peers is based on the matched location, age, and or experiences. And the coloured number, is inspired by the stop light sign. The colour can be describe the severity of the case for the staff.

Staff Dashboard

Peer Supporters Directory

Record

The main function of the peer supporter dashboard is for record-keeping. They log the key information on their interactions with the staff who reached out for their help. And with the recorded details, the peer supporter can determine if the staff is okay, needs to be checked from time to time, or the case needs to be escalated to the admin.

The Peer Supporter can also check the active and closed interactions, the total interaction time the support spends, and the most case they handle.

Peer Supporters Dashboard

Report

Peer Support interaction data to see common themes and trends where staff are struggling Monitor peer support workload and risk of burnout.

Peer coverage and demographic data to help inform recruitment and training of more peer supporters.

All the recorded interaction cases are shown on the Admin dashboard. The total of active and closed interactions of all the peer supporters, the number of support groups that are like a forum for all the members.

A graph as a visual representation of cases per interactions.

And a section where the escalated interactions from the peer supporters are.

Admin Dashboard

Conclusion

This platform was designed during a pandemic, where the majority of us suffer mentally.

It is made as a medium to build a strong community within the workforce of an organisation. Bridging the gap of communication from the staff up to the admin. Addressing the risk of burnout, having support from peers or staff/s with the common struggle.

This is to help both the staff and the management to improve the recruitment and training of the peer supporters.