CoenThornton,LMHC

A UX researcher and service designer bringing clinical empathy, deep listening, and human-centered thinking to systems

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About Me

Designing systems
that care.

I am a user researcher who defines and refines design solutions through the lens of my clinical mental health expertise and thousands of hours of patient engagement.

I've worked in behavioral health, human services, and healthcare systems for years navigating and coaching patients through challenging UI design and frustrating user flows before we could even start the therapeutic session. Working on the provider side of EHR systems I have had to resolve and rework my clinical workflow many times, as well as help to coach other clinicians on how to best overhaul theirs for increased efficiency. This was my start in UX design, watching myself and other clinicians struggle to navigate systems that were not built for optimal clinical work.

I am passionate about understanding people and their methods of navigating the world around them. Now I am coupling that passion with clinical expertise, system thinking, patient engagement understanding and design principles. If you are working to build intuitive systems in the areas of civic tech, behavioral health care, or health tech, I'd love to chat more.

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Case Studies

01 / 03

Behavioral Health · UX Research · 2026

Behavioral Health UX, an Information Architecture & Intake Funnel Redesign

Roughly one in eighty of the people who reach this nonprofit counseling practice’s website each month ends up in a first session. An expert evaluation, a journey capture on both screens, and a read of the homepage source traced that gap to advantages the site expresses as processes instead of figures, a $70 floor and 48 counselors, neither one published as a number. The work produced a buildable intake funnel and IA redesign, not another findings report.

Expert Review Journey Mapping IA Redesign Design System
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Visitors 4,000
Submit intake 300–400
New sessions ~50
Conversion 1.25%
Reported Conversion
Current-state customer journey map for a self-referred adult seeking counseling, across five stages from Awareness to Start Intake Current-State Journey
Current-state information architecture diagram for redeemercounseling.com Current-State IA
The prototype homepage: a header with an anchor rail for cost, openings, counselors, how it works and FAQ, then a hero reading "Counseling in New York City, priced on a sliding scale to your income", with chips for $70 to $250 a session, 31 openings this week and 48 counselors, above buttons to start an intake or get help right now Prototype Homepage
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02 / 03

Product Design · UX Research · 2025

Removing Barriers to New Rider Adoption in the NYC Ferry App

The NYC Ferry app was failing to convert potential riders before they ever boarded. A self-initiated usability study using think-aloud protocol and emotional journey mapping across three core tasks revealed significant navigation barriers that were pushing new users toward other transit options. Findings informed a clickable prototype redesigning the app's core routing and scheduling flows.

Usability Testing Persona Development Journey Mapping Prototyping
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User Persona
Rachel
Social Copywriter · 27–32
Occasional Rider Mobile-First Exploration-Motivated
“I would give up and find the answers on Google.”
Goals
→ Reach Red Hook & Greenpoint via ferry
→ Buy tickets in-app, not at terminal
Pain Points
→ App can’t answer “can it get me there?”
→ Terminal names don’t map to neighborhoods
Rider Persona
Prototype Change 03
Neighborhood-first
terminal labels
Terminal names like “Stuyvesant Cove” left users with no geographic context — and no way forward.
3 of 5 participants couldn't confirm they found the right terminal even after completing the task
Before
ST. GEORGE
Ferry Terminal
After
ST. GEORGE
Staten Island
Ferry Terminal
Terminal Labels
NYC Ferry app journey map Journey Map
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03 / 03

Service Design · 2025

Reducing Wait Times at Solid State Coffee

Long wait times were impacting customer acquisition and raising reputational concerns at Solid State Coffee — but the root causes weren't obvious. Mixed methods research across consumer interviews, wait time analysis, and contextual inquiry surfaced the real bottlenecks and shifted how the organization prioritized its operational redesign.

Contextual Inquiry 1:1 Interviews Mixed Methods Service Design
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Solid State Coffee interior — counter and service space Shop Floor
Avg wait time, in minutes
0:00 3:00 6:00 9:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 Wait time 4:14 3:19 7:33 8:13 3:12 11:25 8:37 6:05 14:42 7:52 4:51 12:43 Mon–Thu Friday Saturday Sunday
Wait Time Analysis
Service blueprint — current-state mapping Service Blueprint
Solid State Coffee — counter and ordering area Order Counter
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Contact Information

Want to talk? Good news:there's no co-pay anymore.

thornton.coen@gmail.com

Say Hello See the Work