DTK^2

Connector

Promoting community connectivity through a centralised service in accessibility and mental health support.

The average age of retirement in Australia is 66.5. However, only 6.3 per cent of males and 6.7 per cent of females aged 60–64 needed help with core activities in 2018, reaching 35.6 per cent of males and 48.6 per cent of females for those aged 85–89. This shows people around the retirement age are still physically independent, so social aspects are assumed to remain as a primary focus for another couple of decades.

The Australian government initiative Health Direct lists three of the key issues impacting mental health in elderly people are:

loss of independence
grief and loss, and
increasing social isolation.

How can a socially-focused demographic still be lacking social avenues? This is where Connector can help.

What it does

Helpful suggestions to combat key issues in mental health is spending time with friends and family, sharing feelings with others, doing enjoyable and relaxing activities, volunteering and helping others.

Connector offers static options to access local community events (vetted by and sourced by employees familiar with their local LGAs) that are tailored to user preferences, a mood tracker, and a page for personalised content and psychology articles to help with combatting isolation and negative mental health. It is a centralised and accessible app that aggregates a user's preferences (regarding existing 3rd-party apps, personal contacts, stored information), and is dynamic to accommodate a user's preferred platform.

Our solution aims to bridge the gap between social need and social opportunity, increase confidence in potentially new social spaces, and encourage inclusion with community connection.

How we built it

App example front-end through wireframes of user flow using Figma.

Challenges we ran into

With team members all being passionate about helping and bringing their diverse range of abilities/skills to the solution, it was difficult to decide on one deliverable and focus on one topic. Through statistical research, discussion of perspectives and lived experiences, we employed abstractive and divergent thinking to optimise our ideas into a realistic goal that we believe will be most helpful to our target market of new retirees.

Pitch Deck

Link

What we learned

During the event, we quickly saw the value of diversity in a team and the abundance of solutions that could be created or explored in that space. The project also encouraged exposure to factors inhibiting social connection with the Australian elderly population, and other health, financial and accessibility issues that are faced.

What's next for DTK^2

We are hoping to continue research into the social connection climate of elderly people within Australia, and explore ways to bridge the gap between need and opportunity with social connections and existing health support. Furthermore, we would like to continue revising app design to include more accessibility needs, and build momentum with testing for recruiting investors.