Your Story My Story
YSMS (Your Story, My Story) is a safe digital platform where young people share stories of adversity, empowerment, and resilience related to mental health to inspire and support others who are struggling.
Technology
JavaScript, React, Express.js, Node.js, MongoDB
Industry
Teenager, Mental Health
Project Summary
YSMS (Your Story, My Story) is a web platform for young people (ages 10–25) in Australia to share and browse mental health stories to reduce isolation and build community. Built with React 19 (Vite) and Material-UI on the frontend, and Node.js/Express with MongoDB on the backend, it includes user authentication, story creation with images and categorisation (depression, anxiety, trauma, bullying, etc.), filtering by demographics and topics, story reactions (helped, thanked, related), and an admin CMS for story moderation, user management, and content oversight.
Technologies
Used
Our Approach
The project uses a phased, co-design approach with iterative development and MVP milestones. It follows six phases (theme management, media library, CMS, page builder, integration, and polish) over 4–6 months, deployable independently. Each phase starts with minimal viable features, iterates from user feedback, and prioritises well-established libraries over custom solutions. Backend and frontend are built in parallel with models, controllers, routes, and UI components developed together. Development focuses on incremental delivery, regular profiling, and risk mitigation, with each phase independently deployable to enable continuous user feedback and value delivery.
Product’s key features
Story management
Create, edit, and delete stories with images
Categories: mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, etc.) and life challenges
Tags for additional metadata
Media support via Cloudinary (images)
Story engagement & discovery
Story reactions: "Helped", "Thanked", "Related" with aggregated counts
Mark/save favourite stories
Filter by gender, age group, category, and search
Featured stories
Pagination for browsing
User features
Registration, login, and password reset
User profiles with demographics (state, gender, age)
Anonymity option
Personal dashboard to manage own stories
View saved/marked stories
Content moderation
Story workflow: Pending → Published/Declined
Admin review with notes
Email notifications for story submissions and rejections
Review history tracking
Got a project that you would like to discuss? Contact Us
Copyright © 2025 True Blue
Darwin Office: Level 1, 48-50 Smith Street
Mall, Darwin City
Alice Springs Office: Shop 5, 36 Todd Mall, Alice Springs
(08) 8943 0602