Background

The ReMind: Creativity on Prescription program, by MakeShift, uses creative practices, like drawing, cooking, music, writing and craft, to help people shift out of heightened anxiety, numbness, vigilance and a range of symptoms and impacts of PTSD. Many participants are first responders such as police or paramedics.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, the program was delivered exclusively face-to-face. The MakeShift team needed to quickly pivot to deliver the program virtually without sacrificing what makes the program so successful. They turned to The ID Crowd for help.

“We knew we needed to develop a powerful digital learning solution, but didn’t know where to start or what exactly we needed,” said Caitlin Marshall, Co-Founder and Program Facilitator at MakeShift.

“We were very aware that if the digital program was frustrating for the participant, it would take away from the value of the experience and further burden vulnerable participants. The experience needed to be as smooth and easy as possible.”

“When we first met with the team at The ID Crowd, we could see they cared about the same things we cared about. We immediately felt like we were in safe hands.

ReMind: Creativity on Prescription

Creativity kits

Our approach

Simply delivering the content of the program digitally wasn’t an option. We needed to design a digital experience for MakeShift that was as engaging and valuable as the face-to-face experience. The approach could not be content based, rather it needed to be completely centred around the mindset and needs of the learner.

We helped pivot the program to digital by designing how-to videos and live Zoom sessions. Participants also received their creativity kit by post. We knew, though, that there was a deeper need for human interaction that we had to meet.

Since the onset of the pandemic, we’ve recognised a massive shift in learner expectations when it comes to digital experiences. Learners want them to be rich, meaningful and human. That’s an expectation we should always aim for, to exceed. This would be no exception.

Thinking outside of the box during our Discovery Phase, we realised a chatbot solution would be an innovative and fitting choice to deliver on the needs we were uncovering together. The chatbot would complement the delivery of classes delivered via video conferencing; acting as a side-by-side companion to the participant throughout the program to prompt action, answer questions and update participants.

At The ID Crowd, we believe in collaborating to create the best outcomes for our clients. We partnered with Lever-Transfer of Learning to employ their powerful Coach M conversational intelligence (chatbot) solution.

Coach M

Coach M is a self-coaching tool that supports learners in a structured way to slow down and reflect on their specific learning commitments. Using chatbot technology, Coach M initiates two-way coaching conversations, tailored to the individual.

The goal was to create a completely safe space with no judgement, to encourage participants to engage. Coach M is an excellent way of keeping participants accountable without sacrificing psychological safety.

Communication with Coach M takes place via SMS. When we studied the learner, we found that SMS was a channel they used often and with high engagement. This meant that they were much more likely to engage.

Coach M is programmed to not need human intervention unless the person requests it or if a risk is identified. The system will flag certain words which may suggest the participant is at risk, alerting the facilitator of the need to intervene. The scripts used are bespoke to the participants, yet based on 20,000 human coaching conversations, and are constantly updated in line with new conversational inputs from participants.

Coach M chatbot