In 2019, after collecting a great deal of feedback about and experience with the initial implementation of the STAND system of care with the UCLA student body, we secured funding from our generous donors to reimagine the way we would deliver cognitive behavioral strategies to participants leveraging technology. Funding was designated for both the delivery mechanism, which we refer to as the STAND platform, and for the content.
STAND 1.0 consisted of six lessons that were locked in their sequence. STAND 2.0 was envisioned initially as approximately 30 lessons, or modules, that could be packaged into 13 different packages of six to eight lessons each.
Content development was an iterative process leveraging expertise from both within UCLA and from other universities. We hired undergraduate and graduate students and artists, sound editors and voice actors who worked on storyboarding, scripts, exercises, animations, voice overs and editing to put together the lessons. Much of this initial content was created under the guidance of Zachary Cohen who was a postdoctoral fellow at the time and Tom Christiansen, who was a special projects consultant.
While the content is ready, the platform to deliver it is not at this point. As we are watching what is happening with COVID-19, we realize there is an opportunity to share our work with the public to help people now, even without the full system of care.
