Designing and building an online booking system for headspace

headspace, an organisation dedicated to supporting young people with their mental health and wellbeing, includes the Work & Study program as part of its commitment to assist young people. The program supports young people in finding suitable employment pathways through mentorship, resources, and 1-1 support. Originally the system worked with the young person needed to call a phone number and talk to an intake officer in order to connect to the service, with no online self-booking mechanism.

This piece of work with headspace came out of the need to streamline the process for young people to access the services they provide, specifically aiming to reduce the workload on intake officers by enabling clients to book their own appointments and helping young people find the appropriate service tailored to their needs.

The project kicked off with a Discovery Phase to unpack our understanding of the process and identify the gaps. We built on this research through a period of prototyping and testing with people who would be eligible for the Work and Study service, eventually leading to a sprint-based delivery approach focused on achieving high-impact, quick wins such as enhancing the variety of appointment types available in the booking flow and connecting Indigenous young people with Indigenous clinicians. This structured approach not only supports headspace's overarching goal of aiding young people seeking employment or study opportunities, but also underscores the importance of prioritising and roadmap new phases of work.

We worked with headspace to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) for an online booking system, which had to be executed within a very short delivery timeline. This system was not only required to provide immediate value by creating appointment scheduling for young people but also needed to be scalable and adaptable for future enhancements beyond the MVP stage. The deliverables were clearly defined to include a functional and user-friendly booking interface that could later be expanded to incorporate more sophisticated features and integrations. This approach ensured that while the initial product was simplified to meet the pressing deadline, it was also designed with a robust framework to support subsequent improvements, aligning with headspace’s long-term vision for a comprehensive support system.

• By delivering a streamlined booking system, young people can now independently schedule their initial appointments with the Work & Study program, fostering a sense of autonomy and ease in accessing the necessary support. This self-service functionality not only enhances user engagement, but also aligns perfectly with the project's focus on empowering young individuals in their career and study endeavours.
• Additionally, the creation of a prioritised roadmap of future enhancements has laid a solid foundation for continuous improvement and growth of the booking system. The roadmap is critical as it outlines the steps for building upon the initial work, ensuring that the platform remains responsive to the evolving needs of the users and the organisation.
• The launch day of the service saw immediate success with users actively making bookings, affirming the system's effectiveness and the project's immediate impact. The ongoing collaboration between our team and headspace is focused on addressing the next items in the roadmap, reflecting a sustained commitment to enhancing the platform.
• For the career mentoring subset specifically, the platform supports mentoring for career and study pathways, directly addressing the needs of young people looking for guidance in these areas. This tailored support is crucial in helping them navigate their future educational and career decisions, underscoring the project's alignment with the target audience and its core focus areas.