Building the Unlock Wellbeing website: What We Learned Co-Designing with Young People

by Prof Maria Loades, Clinical Psychologist, NIHR Advanced Fellowship holder & Professor in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Bath

Many young people struggle with their mental health. But services can be overstretched, difficult to access, or simply feel intimidating. Young people are already looking for help online, where a huge amount of information is available, but it is not always clear what is trustworthy, relevant, or genuinely helpful.

As part of an NIHR funded programme of work, we co-designed a website to help young people, parents, and professionals access activities that empower users by sharing evidence-based information and boosting hope. In this blog I describe what we did and created and outline the lessons we learned from co-designing this website.

What we did

We ran six online co-design workshops with young people aged 13 to 18 from across the UK and gathered additional input from parents. Together, we explored different aspects of the website, including its purpose, messaging, design, content, and user experience.

Their contributions directly shaped the website. They helped choose the name Unlock Wellbeing, guided the tone of the language, and influenced key design decisions. For example, they preferred terms such as “low mood” over more clinical language and favoured clean, professional layouts with authentic imagery rather than overly stylised graphics.

We used an iterative approach, continually refining the website based on feedback and bringing updated versions back for discussion. This meant young people could see how their ideas were influencing the project and help shape the next stage of development.

What we created

The result is Unlock Wellbeing. The site provides evidence-based information about mental health, immediate access to brief digital interventions, and links to other trusted sources of support. Different sections are tailored to different audiences, making it easier for users to find information that is relevant to them. The site acts as a hub, helping people find support that feels right for them and connecting them with additional resources when needed.

What we learned

1. Co-design takes time and that’s a good thing

From the first workshop to the website launch, the process took around 18 months, and we continue to refine the website today. Meaningful co-design is not a quick tick-box exercise. Building relationships, testing ideas, revisiting decisions, and making improvements all take time. While this requires commitment, it ultimately leads to a stronger and more relevant resource.

2. Co-design needs proper investment

Good co-design requires resources, including time, expertise, and funding. We compensated young people for their time through vouchers, invested in facilitation and technical expertise, and built dedicated staff time into the project. This was only possible because co-design was planned and funded from the start. To involve young people meaningfully, this kind of work needs to be properly resourced.

3. Sharing power has to be intentional

Perhaps the biggest lesson was that power sharing does not happen automatically. We created different ways for young people to contribute, including speaking, using the chat function, and providing anonymous feedback via surveys. We also used a “you said, we did” approach to show how feedback was being acted upon. Truly sharing power required us, as researchers, to be open to changing our ideas and assumptions. Young people influenced not only how the website looked but also how it felt, helping us create something that felt welcoming, empowering, and accessible.

Why co-design matters

Co-design brings together the people who will use a service (or resource) with those developing it, working collaboratively to create something that genuinely meets people’s needs. While many projects consult users, meaningful co-design goes further. It gives users a genuine opportunity to influence decisions and shape the final product. With young people, this is especially important. Adults often make decisions about services, but young people themselves are the experts in their own experiences.

Our experience reinforced something important: when young people are given a genuine voice in shaping services, the result is more relevant, more engaging, and more likely to be used in the real world. Perhaps most importantly, many of the young people involved told us they felt heard, valued, and proud to contribute to something that could help others. For us, that captures exactly what co-design is all about.

Acknowledgements

Prof Maria Loades (Advanced Fellowship, 302929) is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for this research project. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NIHR, NHS or the UK Department of Health and Social Care.