Public Funding for Mima Group Limited

Tellmi is a scalable early intervention that delivers safe, digital (IOS/Android/Web) clinically supervised anonymous, age-banded, pre-moderated peer support to children and young people (CYP) aged 11-25\. Tellmi also offers preemptive counsellor intervention for high-risk CYP, text-based Solution Focused Therapy and a Directory of 700+ crisis and specialist services and resources. Tellmi can be filtered by topic. This creates a 'shortcut' to like-minded peers that is invaluable for isolated CYP. Independent evaluation by the Evidence Based Practice Unit at UCL found statistically significant evidence that using Tellmi improves CYP mental health (Ravaccia, 2022). Although Tellmi was not designed to support autistic CYP, 20% of respondents to our 2024 impact survey (N=770+ ongoing) have an autism diagnosis; just 1.8% of CYP in the population have an autism diagnosis. In 2023, preliminary research with 1,880 autistic CYP conducted in partnership with the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge found evidence that Tellmi facilitates social connection and removes barriers to communication for both speaking and non-speaking autistic CYP. However, autistic users made 3 times more posts about suicide than neurotypical users. There is an urgent need for autism-specific mental health solutions because 70% of autistic CYP have at least one mental health condition and autistic CYP are 28 times more likely to think about, or attempt, suicide (Willgross, 2022). Working in partnership with human-centred design agency Mima, with support from the autism specialist team at Leicestershire NHS Trust, we will use people-centred and systemic design methods to prototype and test the first inclusive digital peer support solution with integrated clinical supervision and enhanced suicide prevention capabilities, which will be designed with, and for, autistic CYP. A dedicated autism module, which will be built into Tellmi and unlocked by subscription, will integrate Machine Learning (ML) to detect high-risk posts. Autistic CYP who are identified as needing additional support will be automatically escalated for clinical supervision and suicide screening with a trained autism counsellor. An autistic PPIE lead will support a cohort of autistic CYP who will contribute directly to research, ideation, prototyping, testing and iterative development of screening tools, safety plans, simpler navigation, video instructions, and signposting to a directory of postcode-linked support services, bespoke wellbeing resources and psychoeducation. Co-creation will ensure that our solution meets the specific needs of autistic CYP, increasing the likelihood of adoption.

As museums begin to reopen post-COVID 19, new innovations will come into place to enable safe visits for museum staff and audiences alike. In addition, traditional museum challenges, such as the simple act of finding your way around, still stand. Whilst wayfinding initially seems a simple obstacle in comparison to social distancing and museum's potentially facing an 80% drop in visitor numbers, these hurdles actually come hand in hand. Effective wayfinding helps prevent overcrowding, provides greater accessibility through step-free routes and most importantly, delivers enriching experiences where visitors can easily find works that interest them. All of these moments reinforce the economic resilience of publicly funded museums through the increased likelihood of a visitor recommending a museum and spending more money in the cafe and shop which are key income sources. Current options for museum wayfinding are not only a potential health hazard; with rented devices and stacks of paper maps potential bacteria spreaders, but fall way behind innovations in other sectors. Only a small proportion of 23-38 year olds use physical maps with apps like Citymapper becoming the default route finding option for many; and a third of museum visitors reporting inaccessibility in confusing museum buildings (MuseumNext). Existing software solutions for museum wayfinding are time-consuming and expensive to develop and maintain. And on top of this, no existing museum wayfinding tools are personalised to visitor interests. By 2021, 75% of commercial apps will incorporate AI and over 50% of consumers will interact with AI (Information Age) - museums are already behind expected functionality. CCD and Smartify have come together to produce the world's first Artificial Intelligence assisted wayfinding tool for museums - 'Museum Explorer' which combines navigational and creative content. Museum Explorer will have a front-end navigation experience within the Smartify app and a corresponding management platform for staff to review analytics; visualise journeys; manage content and send push notifications. Personalised wayfinding will offer audiences an easy way to explore a museum, view busy hotspots to avoid, and immerse themselves in the cultural experience. For museums personalised wayfinding offers an opportunity to collect important data on visitor habits and increase visitor confidence in returning to museums in a post-COVID 19 world. It will also convert casual visitors to spend in the shop, cafe and as members.