Healthut

Making mental health resources for students simple & accessible

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Inspiration

Humans are naturally social beings, and good social interactions can boost our mood and mental health. It can be linked to better memory, cognitive function, self-esteem, and even physical health. However, there are multiple factors that can lead people to push away or avoid these interactions. We can be afraid of rejection, judgment, or being ignored. This can escalate into social anxiety, which can hinder us from creating close relationships. With feelings of isolation at a high in modern times, and a population recovering from the consequences of long-term social distancing, forming meaningful connections or finding ways to combat loneliness are imperative.

What it does

Our website aims to provide a safe space for students to get mental health support. It acts as a hub with various resources including conversation starter flashcards, which allow users to develop meaningful relationships through questions, curiosity, and fun; a discord bot with helpful prompts to guide those experiencing social anxiety, and to show them how to combat it; and a notes feature on the website for writing down and storing useful information.

In the Conversation Sparkers tab, there are three levels of randomly generated cards- Perception, Connection, and Reflection, with increasingly thought-provoking conversation starters. The user can find prompts they like, refresh to get a new batch, or level up to a higher level for more in-depth/intimate questions- depending on the level they are comfortable with. Every user’s experience is slightly different, since the cards are randomly shuffled every time the site is accessed. An additional resource page (Level 0), Notes, and additional resources can also be found in the top navigation bar.

How we built it

The website was built using HTML, Javascript, Python, and CSS. The discord bot was built with a combination of the discord developers tool online as well as some programming on VScode. The Healthut logo was made in Procreate.

Challenges we ran into

When we started designing the website, we realized our original idea of implementing a live chat feature would be difficult given our toolset and limited amount of time. We added a discord bot instead, which could still emulate the experience of talking to another person while providing useful live suggestions to the user.

With more time and resources, we would’ve liked to create our own server and have people join. Upon joining, they would be randomly placed in a private channel with another person (or people, if requested through the website). After the session, they would leave the server.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were able to build a functioning discord bot that could display prompts and wildcards. This increased interactivity as opposed to just the flashcards on the website. It also allows leaders and coordinators to utilize this tool to help those who may be socially anxious or need some motivation to interact with others. The website that we built was also fairly comprehensive and covered a lot of things that those struggling with mental health could make use of.

What we learned

We learned more about javascript as well as how to build a discord robot. We also gained a lot of experience with bootstrap and basic html.

What's next for Healthut

Given more time and resources, we would implement a live chat feature in order to turn our website into a platform for users to interact and network on. A greater set of flash cards and tools could be added, a new type of card called “Wildcards” could be implemented (these cards would randomly pop up in the site after level 1 and have tasks/actions for both people to do, rather than just talking) into the website (we’ve got it working with the discord bot!), and collaborative note-taking implemented (as well as the ability for users to save their notes from the websites directly onto notepad).

Other features, such as study timers and reminders, can also be added to broaden the scope of resources provided. We believe that it would be possible to create a web extension, possibly with the help of AI, that can help generate questions and prompts to ask strangers, acquaintances, and even friends and family. This can be incorporated into online chat platforms (i.e. discord/instagram). Sometimes, we may want to talk to someone, but just not know what to say. These questions can help us kick start a conversation and “break the ice” so to speak. Through this, we can learn to ask better questions, start conversations easier, and also to stay curious about others.

As well, it would be great to expand the discord bot and add more functionality. Eventually, we would want it to be not only interactive but also educational, providing resources and support to those that may need it. As well, we could also have a dedicated server with private channels for people to join, in addition to the feature of having others add the discord bot to their own servers.

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