Bridge

Matching you with a compatible professional
Swipping through all the best choices
Easliy chatting with your choice of professionals

Inspiration

Oftentimes It is difficult to seek help and counsel regarding mental health issues. A matter which is exasperated by the need to cold call an office. Cold calling doesn't always feel comfortable and can lead to increased levels of anxiety. With Bridge we have laid the groundwork to create a better, less stressful way of finding and reaching out to mental health professionals in your area.

What it does

Bridge is an app that allows you to answer a few questions about your beliefs and be matched with a mental health expert in your area that will best match your unique situation. After you answer the questions you can then swipe through the best matched therapists and chose the one that sounds best. Next you can chat with them through the app and schedule an appointment.

How we built it

The backend is written in elixir using the phoenix framework. This facilitates the use of websockets in order to ensure fast and accurate soft real time communication between the different frontend clients. We also use postgres for our SQL database solution and a RESTful API for data retrieval.

The frontend built on react-native, using the Kitten UI kit for the visual aesthetic. The application features RESTful and realtime WebSocket connectivity.

Challenges we ran into

At the outset, the largest issue we wanted to resolve was proving that our Phoenix backend could quickly be connected to our mobile client. Thankfully we were able to draft a proof of concept in a couple hours. Having a common data schema across our team was an additional challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are probably most proud of getting the websockets working so that the clients could communicate with each other without the use of polling or additional ajax requests. We are also very glad we were able to take full advantage of our UI kit to finish a not only functioning but solid looking app.

What we learned

We learned how to use the concept of channels in the phoenix framework to make websocket connections between multiple clients. We also learned about the advantages of using a frontend design system in order to speed up development.

What's next for Bridge

There are many improvements that could be made to the product. The first and foremost would be integrating information supplied by insurance providers so users would only see the professionals that are in their insurance provider’s network. Speaking with industry professionals as well to improve the user experience as much as possible is also very important to us.