We believe storytelling can heal. Therapy through Create-Your-Own-Adventure Storytelling transforms interactive fiction into a form of self-reflection and emotional care. Instead of static mindfulness apps, our platform engages users in a personalized story world that reflects their emotional state and encourages awareness and curiosity.

When users log in, they answer a short series of yes/no screening questions—simple, non-invasive prompts that help gauge their current mood. Based on their responses, the system dynamically generates a narrative chapter starring a character they can read, relate to, and emotionally project onto.

As the story unfolds, users interact through pre-generated dialogue prompts—selecting thoughts, emotions, or actions that gently guide both the narrative direction and emotional insight.

Our goal: create a space that feels like reading a story—but secretly feels like being heard.

• Adaptive Story Generation – Each chapter tailors its theme and tone to user responses.
• Interactive Prompts – Users make decisions through emotional or narrative options, creating self-reflective micro-choices.
• Character Mirroring – The main character reflects the user’s mood and growth, allowing for projection and empathy.
• Private and Safe – All personal data is stored securely in DynamoDB with anonymous session identifiers—no personal identifiers required.
• Scalable Cloud Architecture – Fully serverless design for accessibility, performance, and low cost.

The website uses AWS Amplify to handle user authentication along with hosting.

The website can be tested using Vite's dev script. In the /client directory, run:

npm install
npm run dev

This will start a development server.

The website can be deployed using AWS Amplify Gen 1 CLI:

npm install -g @aws-amplify/cli
amplify configure

Then in the /client directory, run:

amplify init
amplify add auth # Pick 'Default Configuration -> Username -> No, I'm Done'
amplify add hosting # Pick 'Amazon CloudFront and S3'
amplify push

You can finally deploy your website by publishing:

amplify publish

You can update an already published website by updating the local codebase and running:

amplify publish -c

The API uses AWS Lambda along with the Cloud Development Kit. You will need the CDK CLI tool installed.

Deploying the API can be done by being in the /cdk directory and running:

NOTE: Make sure the Cognito user pool ID defined in the cdk_stack.py file is consistent with the user pool ID deployed by the frontend.

cdk synth
cdk deploy

You can remove the API by running:

cdk destroy CdkStack

The AI and Polly are handled by the Lambda functions and the CDK stack.

The database uses DynamoDB and has a CloudFormation file for deployment. In the cloudformations directory, run:

aws cloudformation create-stack \
    --stack-name MyStack \
    --template-body file://dynamo-template.yaml \
    --region us-east-1

1. User logs in and answers screening questions.
2. API Gateway triggers a Python-based AWS Lambda function that processes responses.
3. The Lambda function calls Llama (via AWS Bedrock) to generate adaptive story content.
4. Responses and user data persist in DynamoDB for continuity.
5. The React frontend renders the generated chapter with smooth UI transitions via shadcn and Tailwind, enabling branching prompts and real-time interaction.

• Emotion-Responsive Narrative Therapy: Bridges the gap between entertainment and mental health reflection.
• Serverless AI Design: Built entirely on AWS Lambda and Bedrock for cost-effective scalability—no traditional backend servers.
• Safe Self-Expression: Encourages introspection without diagnostics, ensuring accessibility and privacy.
• Hackathon-Optimized Implementation: Modular architecture with fully deployable AWS stack and lightweight React frontend.

• Translating emotional data from simple yes/no responses into nuanced narrative tones.
• Balancing creativity with emotional sensitivity and avoiding prescriptive “therapy talk.”
• Integrating Meta Llama through AWS Bedrock and managing latency in real time.
• Designing an interface that feels like a storybook rather than a questionnaire.

• Collaborate with therapists to add guided coping paths and emotional safety checks.
• Introduce mood progression visualization through narrative arcs.
• Build persistent characters that evolve alongside the user’s choices and emotions.

Created by a team of developers and storytellers from Wilkes University for Lehigh University Hackathon 2025. We believe that healing doesn’t always come from advice—sometimes, it begins with a story that understands you.