The problem Dr. John solves

Problem Statement: Limited Access, Long Wait Times, and Stigma in Mental Health Support

Mental health issues affect people worldwide, hindering their well-being and functioning. However, barriers like limited access and long wait times prevent individuals from obtaining timely and affordable support. Moreover, societal attitudes and stigma discourage people from seeking help, leaving mental health conditions untreated. Overburdened resources struggle to meet the increasing demand for services, leading to gaps in identifying and providing timely support. Traditional mental health systems often lack personalized assistance tailored to individual needs, making it difficult for individuals to find suitable coping strategies and resources. The cost implications of mental health services further compound the problem, rendering them unaffordable for many. Additionally, a shortage of mental health professionals poses challenges in delivering adequate support to those in need.

Solution: Mental Health Chatbot

To address these challenges, Team Equinox has developed a mental health chatbot named Dr. John. This chatbot offers accessible, personalized, and confidential assistance to empower individuals in their emotional well-being journey. People can use Dr. John for various purposes, including:

1. Accessible 24/7 Support: Dr. John provides round-the-clock assistance, ensuring help is available whenever needed.
2. Personalized Guidance: The chatbot offers tailored support based on individual needs, providing personalized coping strategies and resources.
3. Anonymity and Confidentiality: Users can seek help without fear of judgment, as Dr. John ensures anonymity and maintains confidentiality.
4. Convenient and Immediate Responses: Users receive instant replies and support, eliminating long wait times and providing timely assistance.
5. Continuous Monitoring: Dr. John engages in ongoing conversations to monitor users' well-being and provide support

Challenges we ran into

Challenges Faced:

1. Creating a Perfect Prompt for ChatGPT: Crafting prompts for empathetic responses was challenging. Training the AI model to generate compassionate replies required careful language and context consideration.

2. Fixing Bugs and Enhancing Accuracy: Resolving issues and improving chatbot performance demanded thorough testing and bug fixing to enhance response accuracy and reliability.

3. Building a User-Friendly Website: Developing an intuitive and engaging website required optimizing page load times and ensuring cross-browser compatibility.

Overcoming Hurdles:

One hurdle was teaching ChatGPT to generate empathetic responses. We tested different prompts , asked different questions about our mental wellbeing after describing to it our problem, and experimented with prompt structures to enhance empathy gradually.

In summary, challenges included creating empathetic prompts, fixing bugs, and building a user-friendly website. We overcame these hurdles through iteration and technical expertise, resulting in an accessible and compassionate mental health chatbot.