Month: September 2019

New Outcomes Stars for mental health

Posted on by Outcomes Star

Introducing the new My Mind Star and a new, improved edition of the Recovery Star

My Mind Star – a much needed and timely tool for early intervention with young people

My Mind Star was developed in collaboration with managers, service users and professionals at leading UK children’s charity, Action for Children. It was also piloted by:

The results of the pilot were very positive, with 94% of young people agreeing that their complete Star was ‘a good summary of my life right now”.

94% of practitioners agreed that My Mind Star gave them a better idea of the support needs of the young people they support.

“Often young people have not been listened to or given control: completing the Star gives them space and lets them take the lead.” 

 Grainne Hart, Manager of the Choices Service, part of the My Mind Star pilot

Find out more about the My Mind Star here.

The Recovery Star (4th Edition)

This is a new and improved edition, drawing on independent research and feedback from service users, keyworkers and organisations.

The new edition retains the person-centred, strengths based approach of previous editions but with even more accessible language, incorporating trauma-informed thinking and fuller acknowledgement of the impact of external factors.

There is fuller recognition of the necessity of on-going support for enduring and severe conditions. It is backed by a report on independent research into the psychometric properties and a review of literature supporting the Journey of Change and choice of outcome areas.

Find out more about the new Recovery Star here.

Both Stars were launched at the Govconnect Mental Health 2019 Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine on 26th September.

If you have any questions about our new Stars, any queries about transitioning between the Recovery Star 3rd Edition and the new Edition, or you would just like find out more about how the Stars can support your service users, keyworkers and organisation, please contact us on info@triangleconsulting.co.uk or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

An update on our redevelopment of the Star Online

Posted on by Outcomes Star

Our progress so far and what we’re learning along the way

By Sarah Owen, Product Manager at Triangle

As we explained in our last blog post in June 2019, we’re currently in the middle of a big project to redevelop our widely used online system for the Outcomes Star, working with our partners QES.

With the bulk of the project kicking off at the start of this year, we now have just under 3 months before the new product will go live for those new to the Star Online (existing accounts will be migrated from the old system to the new between January and March 2020).

Work-in-progress preview of the new design and interface for the Star Online – with a streamlined homepage featuring easy-to-access actions and notifications

Making progress

During the last 9 months, we’ve made some significant progress:

  • Establishing an Agile process – using the iterative, user-focused development approach but in a way that fits with redeveloping an existing, established product already on the market
  • Weekly (and sometimes daily) sessions between Triangle and QES, to flesh out the specification and turn it into well over 100 user stories – a simple way of capturing what the system needs to do from the point of view of its users 
  • A high-level prototype of the key elements of the system, to ensure a shared understanding between everyone working on the development and to iron out key design decisions
  • A work in progress site, developed with over 10 sprints so far (a sprint is a two or three week chunk of time with planned goals and tasks) – iterated and improved as we go
  • Ongoing input and direction from a Think Tank made up of practitioners, managers and data analysts – reviewing key decisions and the prototype as it developed
Work-in-progress screen from the Star Online prototype – with a new Summary page for each person being supported with the Star

You can see screenshots of the work-in-progress prototype dotted throughout this blog – or download our new PDF ‘Coming soon…Introducing the new Outcomes Star Online’ here.

A work-in-progress example of the new Star data reports that will be available through the new system – focusing on distance travelled and the outcomes being achieved

What we’re learning

It has been a fascinating project for us so far.  As a social enterprise our expertise is not in software development, but in building tools that help organisations to create change and help people to achieve the outcomes that matter to them.  We knew that building an effective relationship with our new partner QES was vital both for the short and long term.

In the early stages, we had to learn how best to communicate our ideas and requirements. Taking the time to do this has paid dividends now that we are in the thick of the detailed development, with greater understanding from both sides. Our experience of working closely with our existing partners, Jellymould and TappetyClick, has also proved invaluable, especially as we balance continuing to support the current system and preparing for the new one.

Next steps

We are running a period of testing with practitioners, managers and commissioners, as well as our team across Triangle, into October.  We’ll then be busy incorporating that feedback and finishing the development up to the end of November.   

In parallel, our Helpdesk team will be working closely with organisations already using the Star Online, to share information and plan the migration of each account.

If you have any questions about the new system, please contact us on info@triangleconsulting.co.uk or +44(0)20 272 8765.