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BerkeleyHaas Case Series: Hope and Grit

By the YOU at College Team, 1/3/2022

Check out the BerkeleyHaas Case Study.

A case study conducted by the Berkeley Haas School of Business focused on the partnership between Grit Digital Health, based on their development of the YOU Platform, and Hopelab to provide a new approach to tackling the loneliness crisis for college students through the Nod app. The case study focuses on the partnership’s fruition, how the app’s development prioritized an innovative student-centered design approach to leverage technology as a means of meeting students where they’re at, and the outcomes of Nod’s early utilization on college campuses. Check out a summary of the case study below for more details.


Two organizations focused on tech-based health innovation partner to improve mental health in young adults. In this ‘tech for good’ project, Hopelab and Grit Digital Health used human centered product design to create an app. With the core needs of users at the forefront, the team designed an app both with and for college students to combat loneliness, a prevalent issue that led to other problems such as depression, anxiety, and risk of dropout. The team also applied systems thinking to this ‘Wicked Problem’ to address root causes, resulting in their Nod app that improved outcomes for college students.

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case study
college
loneliness
mental health
nod
student support
well-being tools
wellbeing