Designing the Stack

Mental healthcare is under pressure while demand keeps growing. 80,000 people are waiting for help, but there's a structural shortage of capacity. A transition to more informal and preventive care is part of the solution. This requires online environments based on public values for peer support, community building, and reliable information provision.

Designing the Stack explores how the creative industry can contribute to this development. Together with healthcare organizations, designers, and social partners, we are developing new methods for designing such digital environments as a 'stack': from app and user experience to community management and governance.

The team behind Designing the Stack will test this approach in mental healthcare practice and translate the insights into tools for the creative industry. This enables designers to better contribute to social technology applications, and social organizations gain greater control over their roles as stakeholders and clients.