Tellmi Co-Creation

Everything that we do at Tellmi is a process of collaboration; we design, build and test everything with our end users. Although the value of co-creation and PPIE are widely recognised, they are inconsistently implemented in the development of digital mental health tools. More systematic use of co-creation in the design, development and evaluation of digital tools, improves acceptability, cultural relevance and engagement (Croke at al., 2025).

At Tellmi we recognise that young people know more about what they want from our service than we do, so co-creation is one of our core principles. The inclusion of local young people’s voices is crucial to our ability to deliver an authentic, acceptable and relatable support service. Youth input has directly shaped the app’s tone, safety features, moderation, user experience and wider service development. 

Youth Advisory Board

User research was fundamental to the design process during the early days of Tellmi’s development. Once the app was launched we recruited a Youth Advisory Board from our user base. The 11 members of the Tellmi Youth Advisory Board are instrumental to our development process. They are consulted on all new projects and their input determines the direction we take.

As well as consistent input from our users in all aspects of developing the Tellmi service, we have involved them in collaboration on several specialist projects.

In 2020 we conducted creative workshops with inpatients at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital to create posters to encourage young people to use Tellmi. Conversations revealed that patients would like to access Tellmi in private, but the only time they were alone was when they used the toilet. Young people came up with a number of creative ideas which we developed into posters that were hung on the back of toilet cubicle doors. This approach ensured that we designed promotional material that addressed the issues that mattered most to young people who were spending time in hospital.

Autism

We recently completed an Innovate UK funded co creation project which helped us to design the Tellmi+ Autism Support extension. Tellmi supports high numbers of neurodivergent young people; 18% of users have a diagnosis of autism and 14% have a diagnosis of ADHD. In weekly sessions with small groups of autistic users we figured out all the things that they would find really useful in a support extension. Tellmi+ Autism Support includes resources around sex, relationships, hygiene and pre/post diagnostic support which autistic young people found very difficult to access.

We also worked with Dr Sarah Cassidy at the University of Newcastle. She had validated a paper-based safety plan with autistic adults, but our co-creation group created an interactive digital version for young people. The plan can be updated and it includes things like information for people who are trying to provide support in a crisis so that they don’t unintentionally make things worse.

Listen to Izzy and Jayden talk about the benefits of the co-creation process.