Open Parachute – Creating Positive Generational Change Through Peer Voices

Schools are required to teach students mental health skills as set out in their curriculums, however educators are very overworked, under enormous stress, and are not trained mental health experts. The Design Challenge for Open Parachute is to create a program that is easy to implement for schools, aligned to the curriculum, delivered via a platform that is intuitive and easy to adopt for educators, and contains lesson content that is engaging for students and is easy to teach for Educators. Designing a platform to deliver the program is central to our ability to create positive generational change.

The Design Solution is an intuitive platform that enables educators who are short on time to deliver meaningful lessons that teach their students core mental health skills. The design encourages users to explore content and makes it easy for them to achieve their desired outcome of running lessons. Working alongside users, we have responded to feedback and iterated designs based on our users’ evolving needs. This iterative process has resulted in a seamless user experience from navigation to content consumption. Despite facing numerous challenges necessitating multiple design pivots, the team succeeded in significantly reducing user clicks to access desired content.

Open Parachute has made a significant impact both commercially and for Schools, Educators and Students. Open Parachute supports over 350,000 students annually across 1000 schools, with over 25,000 lessons being delivered to students in the last 15 months. Recently completed independent research studies provide evidence to support the impact the program is having on students and educators. Video testimonials and feedback gathered from educators provide further evidence of the impact. Commercially, Open Parachute remains a self-funded company, supporting a diverse international team that is continually reinvesting in our product and platform.

Open Parachute distinguishes itself from other approaches by blending psychology with the powerful medium of film to tell the stories and share the wisdom of young people who have grappled with and overcome all forms of struggle. We use clinically validated, research-based psychological skill-building exercises to boost resilience, self-awareness, and social responsibility in youth, while at the same time helping to increase their connection and systems of support. This unique peer-to-peer approach captures the lived experience of real students through Documentary Videos, while providing engaging and relatable role models for young people. Videos also feature a clinical psychologist, to provide the main teaching people and provide context to the peer voices. By crafting programs in this manner, Open Parachute is providing equitable access for all students to these core mental health skills that will help students to not just cope but to thrive in their lives. The Open Parachute Team have successfully managed to scale this amazing content and the platform to Australia, Canada and the USA, with our platform being localised in each of those jurisdiction.