Common Ground
Supporting connection for people with long-term conditions
CommonGround is an online peer support platform developed to support the mental wellbeing of people living with long-term physical health conditions.
CommonGround sits right in the space Bitjam knows well: where research, lived experience and healthcare need have to be translated into a digital product that feels safe, useful and human.
About CommonGround
The project is led by researchers from King’s College London’s Department of Psychological Medicine, with support from King’s Health Partners and Impact on Urban Health.
It has been developed in collaboration with people with long-term conditions, specialist software developers and wider project partners.
Supporting mental wellbeing alongside physical health
Living with a long-term physical health condition can affect far more than physical symptoms.
People may also experience low mood, anxiety, isolation, uncertainty and the emotional impact of managing their condition day to day.
CommonGround was developed to explore how online peer support and evidence-based self-help information could help people better manage both their physical and mental health.
Connection with people who understand
A digital space where people can connect with others who may understand what they are going through.
Support beyond symptoms
Support for the emotional impact of living with and managing a long-term physical health condition.
Evidence-based support
Information designed to support people alongside their physical health needs.
Designed around trust
A platform shaped with care around safety, usability and the needs of people living with long-term conditions.
Creating a safe, supportive digital space.
The aim is to create a safe, supportive digital space where people with long-term conditions can connect with others who may understand what they are going through.
People living with long-term physical health conditions may be at increased risk of poor mental health, yet the right support is not always available early enough.
CommonGround responds to this gap by exploring how peer connection and digital self-help can support people before difficulties become more serious.
Our co-design approach
At Bitjam, we do not simply take a brief and build in isolation. Our approach is based on working closely with clients, researchers, clinicians, users and wider stakeholders to shape digital tools that are useful, accessible and grounded in real need.
For CommonGround, this meant working with a multidisciplinary project team to help turn research insight, user needs and clinical considerations into a practical digital platform.
Shaped with people who understand the need.
The project brought together academic expertise, lived experience, healthcare knowledge and digital development. Bitjam’s role was to support the translation of that work into a platform that could feel welcoming, usable and appropriate for people managing long-term health conditions.
A key part of CommonGround is that it has been developed in collaboration with people living with long-term conditions.
This matters because a peer support platform needs to feel safe, respectful and genuinely useful to the people it is designed for. It cannot be shaped by assumptions alone.
Developed with people who understand the need
By involving people with lived experience, the project team could better understand what users might need from an online community, what would help them feel supported, and how information and interaction should be presented.
That insight helped shape a platform focused on connection, trust and practical support.
Feeling less alone
Helping people feel less alone by creating opportunities for shared understanding.
Safe and respectful
Designing the platform around safety, respect and the needs of its users.
Support that feels manageable
Making information and peer support easier to access in a way that feels realistic and manageable.
Welcoming and usable
Supporting a digital space that feels approachable rather than clinical, cold or overwhelming.
Turning research into a usable platform
CommonGround is designed to bring together peer support and evidence-based self-help information.
Users can access a digital space where they can connect with others, share experiences and find resources that support mental wellbeing alongside physical health.
Behind that simple idea sits a more complex challenge: the platform needs to be secure, accessible, easy to use and suitable for a healthcare research environment.
Digital development focused on safety, usability and real need.
- Creating a usable and welcoming platform
- Supporting safe online interaction
- Helping translate research and user needs into digital features
- Working within the expectations of healthcare research and governance
- Building technology that can support future learning and development
Technology that supports human connection.
CommonGround shows how carefully designed digital tools can support human connection, not replace it.
For Bitjam, the value of the project is not just in the technology behind it, but in what that technology makes possible: connection, shared understanding and earlier support.
Why this matters
There is a strong link between physical and mental health.
People living with long-term physical health conditions may be at increased risk of poor mental health, yet the right support is not always available early enough.
CommonGround responds to this gap by exploring how peer connection and digital self-help can support people before difficulties become more serious.
More than a platform.
It is not just about building a platform. It is about creating a space where people can feel heard, understood and supported.
Building digital spaces that feel safe and human
CommonGround brings together research, lived experience, healthcare insight and digital delivery in a way that feels practical and purposeful.
By working with King’s College London, King’s Health Partners and people with long-term conditions, Bitjam helped shape a platform designed to make peer support more accessible and meaningful.
CommonGround shows how carefully designed digital tools can support human connection, not replace it.
Need a digital partner for a health research platform?
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