Oct. 12—Few counties have a mental health resource app like the one Rogers County announced it’s designing in September.
County spokesperson Diana Dickinson said Rogers County is following the lead of Erie County, New York. The county launched a mental health resource app called Erie Path in October 2023. About 950,000 people live in the Western New York county, which contains Buffalo, the state’s second-largest city.
A mental health app is one of several projects Rogers County and the city of Claremore are funding through a $289,000 grant from the attorney general’s office.
The app Rogers County is developing would collect a range of local resources in one place. Dickinson said people would be able to use the app at any time of day to directly reach a mental health provider.
Dickinson said District 3 Commissioner Ron Burrows learned about Erie Path during a 2023 National Association of Counties summit. When Burrows brought the idea back to Rogers County, there wasn’t yet money to realize it.
“When it became apparent that the county would be allocated the $289,000, I went to [District 1] Commissioner [Dan] DeLozier and asked him what his thoughts were, and he said, ‘Let’s do it … This would have a great impact for the county,'” Dickinson said.
Amy Rockwood, director of planning and evaluation for Erie County’s mental health department, led the development of Erie Path. Rockwood said 175,638 people have visited the app since launch, and people have interacted with the app’s features more than 15 million times.
“I’m over the moon about all of this,” Rockwood said. “In my perspective, the response to this has been shocking, amazing, shock and awe, holy cow.”
DeLozier said the county hopes to release the app in six months. Dickinson said she’s seeking a contractor to design it.
“We’re going to be looking to [Erie County] as far as collaboration, maybe guidance,” Dickinson said. “They’re very open to providing whatever resources and information that we need to guide us through this process.”
Erie Path is available on iPhone and Android, as well as on desktop at eriepath.erie.gov. Rockwood said the idea sprouted from County Executive Mark C. Polancarz after he saw how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated mental health issues, especially for children.
Once people log into the app, they’ll see a question: “What would you like to do today?” They have two options: “I am currently experiencing a mental health crisis” or “I would like help finding resources.”
The first option links to crisis contacts, while the second leads to a database of more than 1,200 resources. Both options ask further questions to guide users to a resource that suits their situation.
The county didn’t design the app alone; it contracted with a Buffalo data analytics firm, CCNY. David Monroe, director of analytics, said the app poses questions instead of providing a search bar because people may not know exactly what they need.
“For example, ‘Are you or the person you’re working with feeling anxious? Click here,'” Monroe said. “That’s a lot easier than looking for dialectic behavioral therapy. Not too many people know what that is, but they could get connected to dialectic behavioral therapy, DBT, by getting questions asked.”
CCNY assembled focus groups to test the questions. The firm posted flyers, spread the word on social media, asked community leaders to encourage people to come and visited partner agencies who would appear as resources on the app.
Monroe said attendance was good, and the firm attracted a diverse group of people. Attendees got to see prototypes of the app. They also gave feedback on if the questions made sense to them and helped them find what they were looking for.
“[Having focus groups] was very important on how [the questions] were designed,” Monroe said. “When you look at Erie Path and the questions that are asked, those are the same questions — and the organization of those questions are the same — as when we asked the focus groups.”
Monroe said CCNY also found out through the focus groups that a built-in Google Translate feature sufficed to guide non-English speakers through the app.
Rockwood said before the app launched, staff in the Department of Mental Health took it for a test drive. She also presented demos to the local disability council and schools.
Then the county and CCNY passed the feedback on to a company called B3IT, which made the app. Erie Path launched Oct. 4, 2023.
“Over time, it really has evolved and warped because you can’t tell what you’re looking at until you’re actually looking at it,” Rockwood said.
She said the county’s created a colorblind mode, added new resources and fixed bugs.
Rockwood is also working on making Erie Path a native app as opposed to a hybrid app. Native apps are built specifically for a single operating system — iPhone or Android, not both. She said it’s easier to implement accessibility features, such as screen readers, in a native app.
“The vision of Erie Path has always been to make it accessible to everyone in the community,” Rockwood said.
Rockwood said developing the app will likely take Rogers County longer than expected. But she said the feedback she’s received has been nothing but positive.
“It’s a tremendous amount of work, but this is, I think, the most impactful thing I’ve done in my entire career — and I’ve had a long career,” Rockwood said.
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