AI OpaMind

What is the problem you are trying to solve?                                                                                               Studies showed that there is an estimate of 800.000 annual death by suicide. Nearly one billion people worldwide suffer from some form of mental disorder, according to latest UN data. The world Economic Forum conducted a study showing that the cost of mental health conditions (and related consequences) is projected to rise to $6 trillion globally by 2030, from $2.5 trillion in 2010”-World Economic Forum. Mental Health research tells us that one of the biggest challenges is people not being able to talk to others about their pressures.

Millions of people arrive at work burdened by significant hidden issues related to the state of their mental health. Our research identifies that many of these people are “unable to engage with anyone’’ related to their issues and this particularly relates to the workplace, because of the stigma attached to mental health. Mental Health American have found that 4 in 5 employees feel emotionally drained from their work, as an early sign of burnout”-Mental Health America, May 2021.

While many EAP (employee assistant programs) programs are helpful, they do not deal with the employee’s underlying issues. The privacy and anonymity offered by the Opa Mind platform allows employees to engage with themselves by talking privately into the voice diary and start tackling and gaining understanding of their issues. The Opa Mind platform allows the employee to engage at the very earliest stage of their recovery journey.

How did you go about it?                                                                                                                                                        The OPA mind digital solution removes the stigma in the first step of reaching out for help by using an AI-powered app, available 24/7 without the need to talk to another person and provide instant personalized mental health assistant. The AI solution and the therapeutic framework have the academic stamp by being developed by lead scientist at DCU. Our AI-Powered voice diary analyses the users voice and reflects various metrics of the analysis back as well as offering validated therapeutic guidance. This enables a private and anonymised journey of self-discovery on a supported pathway that they can trust. Opa allows a user to take that all important first step of vocalising their feelings to themselves. This leads to self -empowerment and the confidence to emerge from the Opa process ready to engage with the therapeutic community. What technologies did you use and why? A state-of-the-art AI Solution with Voice-Driven Multimodal Sentiment Analysis and Emotion Recognition, developed in the insight center for data analytics at DCU under the leadership of Dr. Tomas Ward. Which Enables the AI to reach a great level of emotional intelligence Along with a support solution for Mental & Cognitive Health and delivering ‘Reflection Report’ metrics developed in the School of Psychology at DCU under the leadership of Dr. Darragh McCashin. This multidisciplinary effort encompasses Linguistic and Acoustic features, Multiple Machine Learning Models for Prediction, Emotion Recognition and Sentiment Analysis , Speech Processing + Text.

Why this approach?                                                                                                                                                               (1) Multiple Studies show the connection between talking to someone about an issue and improved mental health outcomes. Multiple Studies show the connection between talking to someone about an issue and improved mental health outcomes (https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/11849/1/HRB_ResearchSeries1.pdf , https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/mental-health-services/connecting-for-life/publications/talking-therapies-moc.pdf )

(2) a voice-based AI : unlike the current mental health solutions that relays on text-based AI, such as Woebot and Wysa, voice is a rich source of indicators to one’s emotional state. The AI can extract acoustic features (i.e the pitch in the voice, pauses, energy , central moments and harmonics) that can provide a more accurate assessment of one’s mental state.

What challenges did you need to overcome?                                                                                                      The founding team bootstrapped their way to success. We were able to develop our MVP and assemble a team of engineers to develop the first version of the app with minimal funding. – The result was: landing our first Project with SFI-Insight centre for data analytics at DCU with a budget of roughly 300k. Through this collaboration, we were able to develop our core AI within a university and gain the Academic Stamp. In addition to our project on the therapeutic framework with Dr. Darragh McCashin at the School of Psychology in DCU. What was the result? A personalised voice-tech platform designed to reduce the stigma around addressing mental health issues and available for everyone. Allowing clients to tell their own story through a voice diary, Which empowers them with knowledge about themselves and take them in a journey of healing and self-discovery. This help achieving our mission in Breaking Stigma, Empowering People and using AI for good. The reflection metrics enable employees to gain understanding about their issues, gain confidence & empowerment. Happier & healthier employees, Happier employer (Increase productivity & profit).

What is your unique competitive advantage?                                                                                                  The only App offering voice analysis AI directly to the end user. Only 6 American companies worldwide use voice but mostly targeting clinicians. We offer a state-of-the-art & academically validated platform with therapeutic reflection metrics: the Fitbit for Emotional Health. Anonymity and privacy is a unique quality, to support users in their journey to gain deeper understanding of their emotions, therapeutically guiding people towards building confidence & becoming empowered around the concept of eventual engagement with the therapeutic community. Vocalising one’s feelings offers a more comfortable and reliable method of recording mood. No one else offers our service.

Global and Local Recognition: – Opa Mind AI Solution won the ((Top innovator)) award in the Youth Mental Health Challenge from the World Economic Forum’s UpLink innovation network. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/these-14-innovations-are-tackling-youth-mental-health-challenges/ – Opa mind gained recognition with an article in Silicon republic highlighting the innovative approach in Opa Mind solution , as a DCU start-up recognised as mental health innovator by World Economic Forum ( See link below):

DCU start-up recognised as mental health innovator by World Economic Forum

https://www.dcu.ie/computing/news/2022/jun/opa-mind-recognised-top-innovator-world-economic-forum

Finally, Amy Awad the co-founder and CSO of Opa Mind was interviewed by Niall Kitson at TechCentral / RTE radio: about how AI is helping mental health in the workplace using the Opa mind platform.

https://www.techcentral.ie/opa-minds-amy-awad-on-how-to-protect-your-mentalhealth/