Opa Mind helps people with mental health issues express themselves

If you are going through difficult times and have trouble expressing that to others, an alternative may be to open up about it on your phone. Irish start-up Opa Mind (opa = Greek for uplifting) is utilizing artificial intelligence to help support people with mental health issues. The company is developing a voice diary app that will allow people to express their grief and receive feedback from AI programs. The founder of Opa Mind, Martin Lawlor, has dedicated 22 years of his life to helping people who struggle with mental health and talked about his company for today’s Start-up of the Day.

When did you start this project? 

“The idea revolving around the company first came up in 2018. After a great deal of research, we entered into a collaborative venture with the Insight Center for Data Analytics at Dublin City University in 2020. We set up the company in April 2020 and have been busy furthering our research and the technical development of our app.”

How did you come up with the idea for the start-up?

“About a year before I started mulling over the project, I got a call about a kind of emergency. It was freezing in Dublin, and this guy, John, was standing by the canal ready to throw himself in. People like John don’t feel like they can share their emotions with people around them or even therapists. That was a salient point for me, and since I already had experience with technology, I thought, “How can we use technology to help people who are reluctant to reach out? That’s when I got the idea to create Opa.”

What is the concept of Opa Mind?

“The concept of Opa Mind revolves around the idea of writing a private diary with the help of technology. When people don’t feel comfortable speaking to someone else, they can turn to the Opa Mind diary app. It provides an individual with a simple way to talk about how they feel and explore their thoughts and traumas just by pressing a button on their phone. Vocal expression is a powerful emotion, and people can do this anonymously using the app and at the same time trust the support system of the AI.”

How does AI work in the Opa Mind app?

“Simply put, we built a platform that has a lot of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). We thought about using AI for the greater good and providing users with insight into their emotional state. The technology analyzes the nuances in a voice, such as speed, tone and resonance. It then takes information from the emotional side and vocal biomarkers and analyzes and then combines these.”

Which components are specifically analyzed in people’s vocal biomarkers?

“It also concerns the content of what the voice says. For example, someone with suicidal thoughts tends to be very objective and there is a personal logic behind what they say, which is not so obvious to others. That’s why the APIs are built on keywords of self-harm, even on very small suggestions.”

What would happen if a person presents with those self-harm signs?

“That is another API. We baptized it the ‘tsunami warning system.’ This moniker gives people an insight into the situation. It implies that a specific person is in danger, the system alerts us, and we can then get in touch with that person. We direct them to the nearest emergency services or even arrange for direct intervention.”

Does Opa Mind have any other AI features?

“The system also incorporates certain metrics that let people score points in eight areas of their lives, which mainly relate to self-empowerment. Sometimes people score themselves as a 7 or 8 in some areas, but in other areas, they score themselves low. The system can respond to that information. It is a kind of reflective process that a therapist would use.”

Can your platform provide services similar to a therapist’s? 

“It is a tool. Our goal is to guide people towards developing a love for self-empowerment. Out of that self-empowerment, people can then reach out to the therapeutic community or to their families, etc. We are working on bringing those people to a level of self-empowerment so that they are comfortable with sharing.”

Are there any problems that you are experiencing with the platform at present?

“We are a small start-up based in Dublin and are so far unfunded; and we’ve just launched a fundraiser. We work with new technology and on a product that very few organizations and entities deal with. Regulatory standards and trust are also a struggle. People need to look at our platform and trust us with their mental health.”

How do you picture its future? 

“Our ambition is to launch a version of Opa Mind sometime in January 2023. We hope to get into the market quickly with our story and build people’s trust through an efficient marketing campaign. Hopefully, our fundraiser will allow us to get the stamp of approval for use in health care. Because helping people is at the essence of our company.”