Presence:
Presence is the leading teletherapy platform in the U.S., connecting school districts with a network of licensed clinicians—including School Psychologists, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Occupational & Physical Therapists. Our award-winning, HIPAA-compliant platform enables seamless virtual therapy sessions, supporting students individually or in groups as outlined in their Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).
The Presence therapy Room provides clinicians with powerful tools to administer assessments, engage students through interactive activities, and document progress in real time. Beyond therapy, our platform streamlines provider workflows, allowing them to manage assignments, caseloads, schedules, and notes—all while ensuring timely payment through integrated timesheet submissions.
My Role: Product Designer
I joined Presence in the spring of 2021 as a Product Designer, working across multiple initiatives to enhance the platform’s usability, efficiency, and impact. I have collaborated on various features, led research and design efforts, and contributed to improving both clinician and internal workflows.
Key Projects & Contributions
Kanga Launch – Led research, analysis, and design for the launch of Kanga, Presence’s [specific purpose of Kanga, e.g., next-gen therapy tool, scheduling system, etc.].
Jumbotron Capture – Designed an in-room image capture tool to enhance documentation during therapy sessions.
Billing & Time Tracking Enhancements – Improved invoicing and timekeeping workflows to align with evolving business models.
ATS Integration & Onboarding – Led research and design for integrating Presence’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS), streamlining provider onboarding and refreshing the landing page for new and existing users.
Leadership in Design Pods
In addition to being the lead researcher and designer, for Kanga,I have also served as the Lead Designer for two key pods:
Provider Efficiency (PE): Focused on improving clinician and internal staff workflows by enhancing assignment and self-service matching processes.
Billing & Experience Technology (BET): Driving UI/UX updates to optimize billing and scheduling, reducing late timesheets and improving documentation workflows.
Design System Advocacy & Standardization
As part of the Presence Design Team, I have been a key advocate for overhauling our design system. I spearheaded the transition from an inconsistent, custom-built UI framework (PL Comps) to an upgraded, WCAG-compliant design system based on Material Design 2.0—bringing clarity, consistency, and accessibility to the platform.
KANGA
To learn more Kanga and my involvement please visit the dedicated page
Jumbotron Capture – Secure In-Room Image Capture
The Problem:
The therapy delivery room is a core part of the Presence platform, where clinicians conduct assessments and therapy sessions with students. Due to stringent HIPAA regulations, providers must ensure that no personally identifiable information (PII) is stored on their local devices.
While session notes and documentation were securely managed within the platform, there was no built-in way to capture and associate images with a student’s record. Providers who needed images for tracking progress or supporting documentation resorted to manual workarounds—such as taking screenshots via their operating system or using smartphones to capture images and later uploading them. These methods posed security risks and increased administrative overhead.
The Research:
Through user interviews across different provider types, we identified key use cases where image capture was beneficial:
Occupational Therapists needed images to track progress over time.
School Psychologists & Speech-Language Pathologists used images to support session notes and documentation.
We also uncovered the compliance risks associated with existing workarounds, particularly when images were temporarily stored outside the platform before being manually uploaded and deleted.
The Process:
Understanding when and why providers needed to capture images was crucial in designing an intuitive, compliant solution. We mapped user workflows, identified pain points, and iterated through low-fidelity prototypes to validate the concept with both providers and developers.
The solution:
Built-in, in-room image capture tool that securely associates images with student records.
Automated compliance measures, including explorations of facial recognition and blurring to further align with HIPAA regulations.
New user flow incorporating the new capture feature, along with questions and notes for the team.
Low fi-prototype for the
The Outcome:
The Jumbotron Capture feature was first released in beta to a select school district. Positive feedback led to refinements before a full rollout to all providers. The feature:
Provided a secure, compliant way to capture and store images.
Reduced workflow friction, eliminating the need for external captures, file transfers, and manual deletion.
Led to a follow-up epic focused on an image recall function from student records.
By streamlining image capture within the therapy room, Jumbotron Capture enhanced efficiency, security, and compliance—ultimately improving provider workflows and safeguarding student data.
Applicant Tracking System Integration (Fountain) & New Landing Pages
The Problem:
Every year, Presence onboards a large influx of new providers, requiring significant manual effort to ensure a smooth and timely hiring process. The existing onboarding model was inefficient, requiring providers to manually complete and report various internal and external tasks, leading to delays and potential errors—especially when completed tasks weren’t properly tracked.
To streamline this process, the Systems Integration team selected Fountain as the new Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to consolidate the application-to-hire workflow. The goal was to:
Reduce time-to-hire by automating and centralizing onboarding tasks.
Minimize manual input and errors in task tracking.
Enhance efficiency for both providers and internal teams.
Additionally, the existing landing page was underutilized by returning providers. Information was often outdated or difficult to find, and there was no clear hierarchy for action items. Many providers bypassed it entirely, favoring bookmarked pages instead.
The Process:
I collaborated with two product managers—one focused on ATS integration, and the other on provider experience optimization—to create a seamless onboarding flow from application to first assignment.
Key steps included:
Analyzing platform analytics and conducting user interviews with internal team members responsible for guiding applicants through the process. This confirmed the need for a structured yet flexible solution.
Exploring onboarding models, including an onboarding wizard versus a centralized task checklist.
Selecting the checklist approach, which allowed providers to complete tasks in any order while keeping progress visible and trackable.
Designing a new landing page experience, integrating the onboarding checklist for new providers and optimizing the existing landing page for returning users to improve usability and engagement.
The Outcome & KPI’s:
The new provider landing page and ATS integration significantly improved efficiency, reducing manual touchpoints while expediting the hiring process.
Faster Onboarding & Assignments:
All action items were centralized into one location (previously spread across four tools).
Time from hire to first assignment decreased by 42%, enabling providers to start working weeks sooner.
Students received services earlier, leading to faster intervention.
Business & Cost Efficiency:
The faster process accelerated client billing, benefiting revenue cycles.
Associated costs per applicant decreased by 27%.
Cost per hire was reduced by 24%, saving operational expenses.
Internal teams were able to process more applications, contributing to a 12% increase in hires YoY.
By streamlining onboarding and enhancing the landing page experience, this project not only optimized provider workflows but also improved business outcomes and student support timelines.
Landing Page Refactor and Refresh for Established Users
The redesigned landing page for existing providers played a pivotal role in enhancing user efficiency by transforming it into a dashboard-style experience. The new design introduced:
A reimagined UI with a cleaner, more structured layout.
Refactored notifications and action items, ensuring critical updates were surfaced.
Look-ahead views for schedules, helping providers plan ahead with ease.
Quick links to support resources and commonly accessed external sites, streamlining workflows.
User-Centered Design Approach
The redesign was deeply informed by user feedback gathered through focus groups and provider surveys. Not only did providers report higher satisfaction with the new landing page, but they also expressed a stronger sense of being heard—acknowledging that their needs and pain points were directly influencing platform improvements.
Early Exploration & Parallel Design Work
This project was closely linked to early explorations during the Kanga initiative and the adoption of Material Design, aligning with the platform’s rebrand from PresenceLearning to Presence. These explorations helped define a cohesive design language across the platform, ensuring a seamless transition between experiences.
Visual Evolution & Process
Wireframes explored how to integrate frequently accessed pages into a centralized dashboard, responding to user requests for a more unified experience.
Low-fi and mid-fidelity prototypes were developed in parallel with the Kanga landing page, aligning the Presence Platform with the rebrand.
Card-based content layouts were tested and refined based on user feedback, ensuring that each element provided meaningful value.
Final iteration & launch: The legacy landing page was replaced with the refactored and redesigned dashboard experience, which launched in Spring 2024.
The result was a modern, intuitive, and provider-centric landing page that not only improved workflow efficiency but also reinforced Presence’s commitment to user-driven design.
Referral Manager & Assignment Machine
The Problem(s):
The Presence platform is a robust tele-therapy tool that enables providers to conduct sessions, manage caseloads, and handle schedules and notes. Additionally, internal teams—including Empowerment Managers and Clinical Liaisons—use it to manage customer needs and ensure providers are effectively matched to contracts.
As business needs evolved, so did workflows—often in siloed and inconsistent ways. Key challenges included:
Redundant data entry across multiple platforms (spreadsheets, Salesforce, personal notes).
Inconsistent workflows, with each staff member using slightly different processes.
Increased risk of errors, making handoffs and transitions between staff more difficult.
Delays in provider assignments, leading to slower contract signings and uncertainty for both districts and providers.
To address these challenges, we focused on two key areas:
Referral Manager – A tool to streamline the provider matching process and ensure consistency across teams.
Assignment Machine – An automation system to make the matching process faster, more efficient, and less error-prone.The Referral Manager
Referral Manager: The Process
Previously, Clinical Liaisons manually matched providers to customer needs by cross-referencing spreadsheets, Salesforce data, and personal notes. Since each liaison had a different approach, there was no standardization, making it difficult to track assignments and transfer caseloads when necessary.
To improve this, we conducted user interviews and discovered key inefficiencies, including:
No unified data source for provider availability, caseload needs, and district requirements.
Lack of automation, requiring staff to manually track and verify provider matches.
Time-consuming handoffs, as each liaison’s tracking method was unique.
The Solution
By integrating Salesforce more deeply with the Presence platform, we developed a matchmaking tool that:
Automatically generates provider matches based on criteria such as caseload size, student needs, and required disciplines.
• Ranks matches using smart algorithms, surfacing the best provider-district pairings.
• Introduces bulk upload & actions, allowing Clinical Liaisons to process multiple assignments at once—saving time and reducing errors.
While automation accelerates the process, Clinical Liaisons remain the final decision-makers, ensuring nuanced factors (e.g., provider preferences, school culture fit) are considered before assignments are confirmed.
Below - Phase 1 (Summer 2024): Launched the bulk upload stepper flow, significantly reducing manual data entry for getting referrals into the Presence platform
The refresh of the Referral Manager within the platform greatly improved efficiency, while the reduction in visual clutter through the re-design adopting Material Design, allowed for clearer paths for the user to completed the associated tasks. The addition of bulk actions also cut down time that would have previously used due to repetitive tasks.
The Outcome & Business Impact
The Assignment Machine & Referral Manager overhaul significantly improved efficiency, reducing the time needed to match providers while increasing accuracy.
Faster Assignments & Earlier Commitments
Provider matches for the upcoming school year are now finalized up to 8 weeks earlier than in previous years.
Earlier contract signings with districts improve revenue forecasting and financial planning.
Providers gain greater confidence and peace of mind, knowing their assignments well in advance.
Key Metrics & Results
⬆ 8 weeks earlier – Assignments finalized for the upcoming school year.
⬆ Increased contract signings – Districts commit sooner, leading to more stable revenue.
⬆ Improved forecasting accuracy – FP&A teams can project revenue with greater precision.
⬇ Reduced data entry & errors – Bulk upload and smart automation minimize manual workload.
Below - Phase 2: Will introduced smart logic and data reconciliation, further eliminating errors and duplicates while expanding Material Design adoption across internal tools.
This project not only transformed provider assignments but also reinforced Presence’s commitment to UX-driven operational improvements, ensuring both internal teams and external users benefit from a more seamless, intuitive experience.
Assignment Manager: The Process
Working alongside the Product Manager, my focus was to rethink and improve the Assignment Machine in two key areas:
Optimizing the Assignments & Referral Manager table – Surfacing critical match criteria for better decision-making.
Redesigning the provider-facing Assignments page – Introducing a digestible card-based display to simplify reviewing and comparing proposed matches.
Through user interviews, workflow audits, and focus groups, we identified inefficiencies in the matching process:
Internal users relied on dense tables with inconsistent workflows.
Providers struggled to compare opportunities due to lack of clarity.
Match proposals were slow, requiring back-and-forth communication.
Inspired by matchmaking platforms, we explored opportunity cards that would provide a clear, digestible view of each proposed assignment.
Below are examples of the updated tables, associated modals and the assignment card styles for different assignment types
Outcome & Business Impact
40% Faster Assignment Acceptances – Clinical Liaisons reported significant time savings.
Improved Match Quality – Providers better understood opportunities, leading to faster, more compatible matches.
Higher Future Recommitment Rates – Early feedback indicates stronger long-term alignment between districts and providers.
Next Steps: The Assignment Marketplace
This project lays the foundation for a future Assignment Marketplace, where providers can self-select assignments rather than relying on curated matches. This will reduce the Clinical Liaisons' workload, allowing them to focus on improving satisfaction and retention for both providers and districts. This next update is planned for release ahead of the ‘25-’26 school year.
Billing Updates & Time Tracking
The Problem
Providers must submit timesheets to get paid, documenting hours in the Presence platform’s custom calendar. While most providers completed their documentation on time, a small percentage consistently submitted late, causing:
Delays in closing out the month
Late invoicing & payments
Unhappy customers
Inaccurate revenue tracking
Late time sheets = Delays to close out of the month = Late invoicing or amendments = Unhappy customers and/or late payments = Inaccurate revenue tracking.
The Goal
How can we minimize late timesheets and ensure more timely end-of-month accounting?
The Process
By analyzing accounting data and platform analytics, we identified patterns contributing to late submissions. User interviews revealed key insights:
Providers document therapy sessions promptly, fearing backlog and inaccuracy.
Late submissions correlated with overloaded schedules and a lack of in-session documentation time.
Deadlines were often missed when month-end fell on weekends or holidays when providers were off the platform.
While providers could see signed-off events on their calendar, they lacked a clear way to track progress.
Above: Visualization of accounting processes, expected automations, and calendar-based workflows.
Below: Flow diagram outlining the backend process and integration of new time-tracking tools.
The Solution
Shorter Reporting Periods: Shifted from monthly to weekly submissions to lighten perceived workload and encourage timely documentation.
Auto-Submission Guardrails: Implemented policy changes linking timely submissions to on-time pay—providers embraced this as a helpful accountability measure.
Time Tracking Widget: Designed and oversaw the visualization of scheduled vs. documented hours, giving providers a clear view of their progress toward completion.
The Outcome
Drastic Reduction in Late Timesheets: From 100+ late submissions per month to just over a dozen.
Less Manual Follow-Up: Accounting could focus on actual discrepancies rather than chasing late timesheets.
Higher Provider Satisfaction: Providers appreciated clearer progress tracking and reduced last-minute stress
By breaking down documentation into smaller, manageable tasks and improving visibility, we transformed a frustrating, error-prone process into a seamless, efficient workflow for both providers and internal teams.
Calendar Overhaul
The Problem
The platform’s calendar and scheduling tool was built on an outdated version of FullCalendar. While other parts of the platform were modernized with Material Design, the schedule page became cluttered with layered-on features that lacked cohesive functionality. The core calendar experience—critical to provider workflows—had become cumbersome and difficult to use, as seen in the example here.
The Process
To guide the overhaul, I conducted:
User Focus Groups to identify pain points and opportunities.
An Extensive Audit using NN/g’s Ten Usability Heuristics, highlighting major deficiencies.
Comparative Analysis of the Kanga calendar redesign, leveraging lessons from its successful rollout.
Findings confirmed user frustrations and internal feedback, shaping a refactor strategy focused on prioritizing the calendar view while ensuring supplementary tools complemented rather than competed for attention.
The Approach
Given team resourcing constraints and an active school year, we adopted an incremental, UI-first approach, rolling out targeted updates per sprint to minimize disruption.
Key Improvements (Winter ‘24/25 & Ongoing)
Taller Row Height – Increased visibility for short sessions (as brief as 15 min), previously hard to read.
5 & 7-Day Week Views – Allowed users to hide weekends, maximizing screen space for school-week schedules.
Updated Calendar Button Bar – Implemented Material Design CTAs, improving function hierarchy and clarity.
Collapsible Widget (V2) – Providers can toggle it for more calendar space while still accessing key tracking data.
The Outcome
Strong positive feedback from providers and internal users, with excitement for the full refactor.
Clearer, more intuitive scheduling experience, improving usability without disruptive workflow changes.
A foundation for future enhancements, ensuring a scalable and modernized scheduling tool.
With each sprint, we continue refining the experience, ensuring the calendar remains the central, efficient tool providers rely on daily.