Mobile app content supports mental health for children

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of mental health in children, adolescents and teens. In response to this need, in the fall of 2021, Children’s Health, a leading pediatric healthcare provider, partnered with WG Content to develop content for an app that supports the mental health needs of kids of all ages. The app, called BeeHive, empowers kids to find mental health information, engage in activities and check in with themselves and their friends in an effort to improve their emotional and behavioral health.

One of the challenges the Children’s team faced was writing age-appropriate content to engage young children, teens and everyone in between. When downloading the app, the user enters their birth month and year so the app can provide content specific to their age. Children’s needed to develop hundreds of pieces of healthcare content and sought a partner with experience – from research and ideation to writing and editing of content, videos, infographics and engaging daily activities tailored to specific age groups.

“It was hard to take a one-size-fits-all approach in the app,” says Ronak Assadi, program manager for Network Development & Innovation at Children’s Health. “Elementary school kids need information presented in a different way than high schoolers.”

With funding from the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) and United Way, Children’s needed to launch the app fast. And the team knew it wouldn’t have a second chance to make a first impression.

“The first version of any app is always a little rocky. But we knew we’d lose users if we didn’t neatly organize the content or if the app’s look and feel was off,” says Assadi.