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Bella Valore: A Supportive Portal for Therapy Clients
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How might we empower therapy clients to feel supported and confident in navigating their care between sessions?
Problem:
Therapy client portals are often clunky and fragmented, especially compared to the streamlined tools found in other areas of healthcare.
As a result, clients struggle to message their therapist, access documents, manage billing, and find support resources in one convenient place.
Goal:
Create a streamlined client portal for Bella Valore that simplifies communication, billing, document access, and resource discovery.
Reduce friction in the therapy process and help clients stay connected, organized, and supported throughout their therapy journey.
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Research: User Interviews & Competitive Analysis
Market Landscape
Before conducting user interviews, I analyzed leading mental health platforms like BetterHelp, Talkspace, TherapyNotes, and Headway to understand how they support client-provider communication and engagement.
A few patterns emerged:
- Clinical portals like TherapyNotes and Headway focus on admin features (billing, appointments) but offer minimal emotional support or personalization for clients.
- Apps like BetterHelp and Talkspace provide emotional connection and messaging, but lack flexibility and therapist-driven tools between sessions.
- None of the platforms offer a dedicated space for therapist-curated resources, personalized feedback, or emotionally grounding experiences outside of live therapy.
These insights revealed a key gap:
Clients must manage emotional and logistical needs across multiple tools, with few platforms providing a functional and human-centered space for support between therapy sessions.
User Interviews
I interviewed four therapy clients (newcomers to long-term users) to understand what they need most between sessions.
Key Insights:
- Between-Session Drift: Clients often feel unsupported once therapy ends for the week. They want lightweight ways like short recaps or weekly goals to stay connected to their progress.
- Therapist-Guided Resources: Users are more likely to engage with content that feels handpicked by their therapist. Generic or uncurated libraries are often ignored.
- Mutual Communication: Clients seek mid-week prompts and check-ins that feel collaborative, not just one-way outreach they have to initiate.
- Low-Effort Encouragement: Simple, affirming nudges (like a motivational messages or reminders) can make clients feel cared for without demanding extra energy.
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From Transactions to Therapeutic Touchpoints
The original client portal focused primarily on administrative tasks but missed key opportunities to support ongoing therapy engagement.
- Limited to three separate tabs: appointments, billing, and documents
- Served transactional needs without fostering therapist-client connection
- Offered no tools for guidance or continuity between sessions
This revealed a need to shift from a purely transactional portal to one that supports therapeutic touchpoints throughout the client journey.
Final Wireframes: Responsive Client Dashboard
The redesigned portal brings together essential functions with new features to enhance client engagement and support.
- Responsive dashboard combining appointments, billing, and documents
- Added secure messaging for seamless therapist-client communication
- Curated resources to provide personalized guidance between sessions
This integrated platform transforms a transactional tool into a meaningful part of the therapy journey, helping clients stay connected, informed, and supported.
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Results
- 90% of users found the dashboard intuitive and helpful for staying engaged between sessions
- 75% reported feeling more connected to their therapist through the platform
- Therapists valued the ability to share curated resources and maintain collaborative communication
Key Learning:
Integrating communication and resources in a single platform reduces client friction between sessions by combining clinical control with user-centered, emotionally supportive design.
