Things That Help
A collaborative activity that helps teens with bipolar disorder and their families define what keeps teens on track to encourage consistency and engagement through changing moods
Overview
Things that help is a collaborative activity that helps teens and families define what support structures are effective during changing mood states.
Things That Help is a guided activity designed for teens with bipolar disorder and their families to identify and structure personalized supports that make it easier to stay engaged with routines, goals, and treatment.
The feature captures the teen’s perspective first, then guides families in translating those insights into a realistic, repeatable support plan. The result is a shared system of clear, actionable supports that can be used across different mood states.
My Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
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Synthesizing clinical research and psychological insights
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Defining the experience architecture
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Designing the full interaction flow
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Creating wireframes and prototypes
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Collaborating with clinicians, engineering, and leadership
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Preparing the experience for development
Team
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CEO / Product Lead
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Clinical psychologists
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Engineering team
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Additional UX designers
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Persons with lived experience
Tools
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Figma
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FigJam
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Journey mapping
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Interaction flow modeling
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Collaborative design workshops
This case study is a portfolio-safe adaptation of a real mental health product protected by an NDA.
Thryvia: Bipolar
Support System for Teens
Problem
Support often breaks down when mood changes, not because people don’t care, but because they don’t know what helps.
Teens living with bipolar disorder often experience shifts in both energy and motivation, ranging from depressive lows to periods of elevated or restless mood.
During these shifts:
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Motivation can drop significantly, making everyday goals feel overwhelming
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Or spike in ways that make it harder to stay focused, consistent, or regulated
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Routines and treatment activities can become difficult to maintain in either state
Families want to help but often don’t know what kind of support is helpful in the moment.
This can lead to a frustrating dynamic where:
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Families try strategies that don’t match the teen’s current needs
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Teens feel misunderstood, pressured, or unsupported
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Inconsistency in support makes it harder to maintain progress over time
Clinicians emphasized the need for a structured way for teens to communicate what helps them stay engaged across different mood states, while also helping families turn those insights into clear, consistent supportive actions.
Solution
A shared activity where teens define what helps and families turn it into a plan.
Things That Help is a two-part collaborative flow:
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Teen Suggests Motivators:
Teens select actions that could help them stay motivated when things feel difficult.
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Family Member Builds a Support Plan:
Parents review those suggestions and create a structured plan for providing them.
The result is a shared list of motivators categorized by how frequently they can realistically occur (daily, weekly, or monthly). This transforms abstract encouragement into clear, repeatable support behaviors.
Design Principles
Simple, collaborative, and grounded in realistic/real-life support behaviors.
Collaborative Support
The activity is intentionally co-created by teen and families, preventing support strategies from being imposed unilaterally.
Small, Repeatable Actions
Sorting motivators into daily, weekly, and monthly categories encourages consistent support instead of occasional large rewards.
Teen Voice First
Highlighting teen-selected items ensures their preferences remain central to the conversation.
Low Cognitive Load
Using tap-to-select pills allows teens to quickly choose options without needing to write or explain complex thoughts.
Positive Reinforcement
The activity focuses on encouragement and recognition, which can be particularly helpful when motivation drops during depressive phases.
Impact
Transforms vague/unstructured support into something clear, consistent, and usable.
This feature helps families:
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Turn vague encouragement into specific supportive actions
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Reduce guesswork for families trying to help
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Reinforce positive behaviors and routines
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Maintain engagement during challenging mood periods
Clinicians noted that structured reinforcement can help teens maintain small forward momentum, even when motivation fluctuates.
What I Learned
Designing this feature reinforced how critical shared understanding is in family-supported care.
This project reinforced several lessons that continue to shape my design approach:
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Giving teens a structured way to express what motivates them increased engagement and reduced friction between teens and families who were often guessing how to help.
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Motivation is not one-size-fits-all, especially in the context of bipolar disorder, and support needs to flex across different mood states and timeframes (daily, weekly, monthly).
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Translating emotional needs into concrete actions is essential; simple, repeatable behaviors like acknowledgment or small privileges can have a meaningful impact when clearly defined and consistently applied.