Real are proud to provide the youth specific services of Pathways– one of the largest mental health NGOs in New Zealand.  Across New Zealand, Real provide mental health services including youth primary mental health , crisis respite and residential care services. The development of Pipi-in-Your-Pocket reflects a growing recognition that supporting youth mental health requires meeting young people where they are. For Real this meant creating a digital wellbeing tool to complement rather than replace the trusted relationships between taiohi (young people) and kaimahi (staff). What began as an idea to modernise a paper-based wellbeing plan, evolved into a co-designed digital platform, for use on phones and computers, that places wellbeing resources, goals, safety plans and support networks directly into the pockets of taiohi. 

Pipi-in-Your-Pocket: co-designing digital wellbeing with taiohi

Taiohi navigate a world where digital technology is woven through almost every aspect of life. Yet many mental health and wellbeing tools struggle to engage young people in ways that feel authentic, useful and relevant.  Real utilised underspend funding from Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand, to design, build and deliver a digital wellbeing tool that would assist taiohi to stay connected to their wellbeing goals between sessions with their Real kaimahi.

From the outset, the intention was that ‘Pipi’ should not become “just another wellbeing app”. Instead, the vision was to create  digital wellbeing resources that strengthen existing relationships and keep wellbeing conversations active in between face-to-face interactions.

Early project planning was informed by New Zealand research on digital mental health. The work of Associate Professor Terry Fleming and colleagues highlighted several important factors for successful digital wellbeing tools: they should be part of a broader ecosystem of support, increase human interaction, be culturally relevant, offer meaningful choice, be evidence-informed, and be trustworthy. These findings became guiding principles throughout development.

The project team partnered with digital agency Springload and embarked on a co-design process involving both taiohi and frontline kaimahi. Rather than assuming what taiohi needed, the team committed to listening first.

During an initial consultation workshop hosted at our Real service in Hamilton, taiohi explored existing wellbeing tools, shared honest feedback, and described what they would want from a digital wellbeing platform. Their message was remarkably consistent. They wanted something fast, visually appealing, personalised and purposeful. They wanted a tool that reflected who they were and that felt like it belonged in their world.

Real kaimahi participated in virtual consultation sessions with the project team. They shared concerns about increasing levels of anxiety, low mood, sleep difficulties, family stress, housing insecurity, education disengagement and online challenges affecting the taiohi they supported. Kaimahi also emphasised the importance of ensuring technology strengthened rather than diminished human connection.

These combined insights became the foundation for the development of Pipi-in-Your-Pocket.

Challenges faced and lessons learned

One of the earliest challenges involved accessibility, particularly the need for Pipi to be usable offline.

Many taiohi have intermittent access to Wi-Fi or mobile data, and the team were mindful that a wellbeing tool would be least helpful if key information could only be accessed when connectivity was strong. Particular care was therefore taken to ensure that essential information could be available and logged offline. This included the ability for taiohi to access their safety plans even when they did not have reliable internet access.

These decisions required trade-offs. Some of the more interactive or expansive features were deferred so that the platform could remain focused, reliable and practical. This was not a move away from innovation, but a deliberate choice to place safety, usability and relevance first. The project team recognised that for Pipi to be genuinely useful, taiohi needed to be able to open it quickly, find what mattered, record information when they needed to, and return to their support plans at any time.

These trade-offs were also shaped in part by the project’s limited financial envelope, which required the team to hold the vision for a useful, engaging and clinically safe digital wellbeing tool while making careful decisions about what could realistically be built.

In the early design stages there were many possibilities for interactive features, personalisation and additional digital experiences. However, resourcing meant the project team needed to make careful decisions about where investment would have the greatest impact. Rather than attempting to build every possible function, Real prioritised the core elements that were most needed by taiohi and kaimahi: wellbeing plans, goals, mood check-ins, support networks and safety planning.

This also meant being realistic about what young people already had available to them through other apps and standard phone functions. The team did not want to duplicate tools that were already easily accessible, such as reminders, calendars, notes or messaging. Instead, the decision was made to focus spend on the functions that were specific to Pipi’s purpose: supporting shared wellbeing planning, strengthening connection with kaimahi, and ensuring that personally relevant information could be easily found when it was needed.

The lesson was that good digital design is not always about adding more or having the most innovative digital interface. In this context, it was about making disciplined decisions about what would be most useful, most accessible and most aligned with the purpose of the tool. By prioritising essential wellbeing functions and offline access, Pipi was designed to support taiohi in real-world conditions, including the moments when connection, data or Wi-Fi may not be available.

Impact and early user feedback

Pipi-in-your-pocket is now available to, the over 3000 taiohi we support each year.  Although Pipi remains in its early implementation phase, feedback from taiohi and kaimahi has been highly encouraging.

Across services, kaimahi report that the platform is helping maintain continuity between sessions. Rather than wellbeing planning being confined to appointments, young people can review goals, track mood, access coping strategies and revisit support plans whenever needed.

Mood tracking has emerged as a particularly valuable feature. The custom-designed emoji-style symbols developed through co-design have generated strong engagement because they invite conversation rather than impose predetermined emotional labels. Kaimahi report that these symbols often create opportunities for deeper discussions about how young people understand and experience their emotions.

The support network feature has also been especially well received. One young person involved in the project identified this as their favourite component because it enabled them to immediately see who was available to help and contact them when needed.

Future plans 

The development of Pipi in Your Pocket represents the beginning rather than the end point of a broader digital wellbeing journey.

Looking ahead, Real intend to continue refining the platform, as funding allows, through ongoing feedback from taiohi, whānau and kaimahi. Maintaining a co-design approach will remain central to any future development.

Areas of exploration include expanding personalisation options, enhancing strengths-based goal tracking, increasing opportunities for connection between taiohi and support networks, and continuing to build evidence-informed wellbeing resources into the platform.

The team also sees significant potential for deepening engagement with whānau and creating more opportunities for shared wellbeing planning across young people’s broader support systems.

For Real, the success of Pipi-in –your-pocket will not ultimately be measured by downloads or screen time. It will be measured by whether taiohi feel more connected, more supported and more empowered to navigate life’s challenges, supporting them to meet their wellbeing goals more quickly. Early signs suggest that a small tool in a pocket may be helping achieve exactly that.