Case Study: Mental Health Association

Saving families, saving lives, and making the community whole

The Mental Health Association (MHA) of Frederick County is a non-profit organization that supports the whole community through mental health education and advocacy. They work to prepare children with the mental and emotional strength to face life’s challenges, support vulnerable families by ensuring safe environments and supportive relationships, and stand ready to help individuals going through crises.

Client

Mental Health Association of Frederick County

Project Name

Mental Health Association Website

Services

Improving site navigation

MHA originally had a static website that didn’t really work how they needed it to. It wasn’t mobile friendly, and because of its age, was going into legacy mode due to the technological changes that have happened over the years. They also wanted to refresh their brand and online identity with a new design and color palette. The biggest challenge for MHA was search results and ease-of-use. Many people using the site are in dire need, and should be able to find help immediately. It wasn’t enough for them to find the MHA site either. Once there, they needed to be able to easily navigate the pages to find their required information. Their original site was disorganized, so this was a necessary change.

Supporting the whole community

Orases worked with MHA and a team of graphic designers to develop a brand-new website with an updated online personality. The site uses Orases’ custom 24Watch® Content Management System (CMS), making it easy and intuitive for MHA staff to update the site as needed with new content and pictures. Orases trained MHA’s staff on using the backend of the site, and worked closely with a copywriter to develop the correct messaging, site navigation, and organization to cut down on the time users spend finding the necessary information. The copywriter was also able to help MHA select specific keywords to be used in their web copy, increasing their search engine results.

Mental Health Matters

The most important result that came out of this site is that people across the county can get help with one click. The old site was disorganized and confusing for users, but the new site has an intuitive design, making it much easier to use and navigate. Traffic to the site increased by X, and the site was launched on time and on budget. With a more organized layout and design, online donations have increased by 20%, and MHA saves thousands of dollars every year by updating the site themselves, instead of requesting updates from a third party every time. Together, MHA and Orases have created a beautiful site, that’s easy to use and helps save lives every day; we can’t think of a better outcome than that.