Mental health challenges have been on the rise in recent years, especially among children and young people. For instance, one in three young women and one in five young men aged 16-24 score low on the mental health scale. Additionally, over half (52%) of young women in this age group experience stress.
Despite the wide range of resources available in Denmark, many young Danes find it challenging to find mental health support and remain unaware of their options, resulting in long wait times for professional help.
Recognizing this challenge, the non-profit organization SocialSpace developed an app of the same name to centralize and simplify access to mental health services, providing an easy-to-navigate directory of counseling for young individuals.
Founded in the fall of 2021 by Freja Sangild Boysen, who has personally struggled with mental health issues, SocialSpace is driven by a deep understanding of the challenges many young people face today.
SocialSpace constantly works on improving its solution, where the experiences of young users are an important and valuable source of feedback. Continuous app development is guided by input from young ambassadors who have personally faced mental health challenges.
Through the #DINSTEMME (Your Voice) project, they ensure that the app and other initiatives remain relevant and impactful.
In response to feedback from the young ambassadors, SocialSpace wanted to ease how users identify themes based on their feelings within the app. This adjustment ensures that the app provides more personalized responses, addressing the specific needs of each individual. In this effort, Trifork Digital Health partnered with SocialSpace to explore integrating AI technologies, particularly chatbots, as knowledge and reference tools. This collaboration led to the development of a chatbot built on Gemini, which engages users with empowering, supportive, and helpful messaging, followed by 3-5 offers of the most relevant advice.
The integration of AI marks a significant breakthrough in addressing low engagement among young individuals in their own mental health well-being, offering personalized, anonymous assistance.
Technology offers many possibilities, but this new functionality does not provide advice on specific issues. Instead, it aims to minimize the distance between the young person and the counselor, acting as a bridge to guide young people towards the real world where they can talk to someone about their situation and get the mental health support they need.
Having someone to talk to and breaking the taboo that seeking help is a sign of weakness are core missions of SocialSpace.
Whether we want it or not, digitalization is here to stay, and we aim to show that technology is not only a problem for young people but can be part of the solution. This aligns with Trifork Digital Health’s ambition to not just create tech for the sake of it – developing health IT is a commitment. It is a commitment to develop technology that serves a meaningful purpose, in this case, to improve the mental health of young individuals.
Together with SocialSpace, we are fostering a community where seeking help is a sign of strength, leveraging technology to make a difference in young lives.
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