Elysian

Inspiration

Introducing Elysian, your personal AI-driven mental health companion! We were inspired to create Elysian by the countless stories of individuals struggling to access mental health support in their moments of need. We observed our friends, relatives, and even ourselves experienced difficulties getting timely support, and we eventually came to an understanding that the standard and traditional methods frequently failed to deliver prompt, specific and personalized therapy. By building a system that provides instantaneous, discreet access to certified therapists and customized guidance, we hope to close this gap and increase everyone's ability to get mental health care whenever, wherever and however they need it.

What it does

Elysian is designed to make accessing mental health support easier and more efficient. With secure user authentication, our chatbot connects individuals with licensed therapists online, providing immediate therapeutic advice and guidance tailored to their specific needs. For example, Sarah, a busy college student struggling with anxiety, can seamlessly find and connect with a therapist, getting the support she needs without waiting for appointments or navigating a sea of online resources.

Elysian also lends a hand to mental health nonprofits by making it easier to find support groups and connect with therapists. This means users can quickly discover the right resources and get advice that's tailored to their personal struggles. Our goal with Elysian is to make mental health support more accessible and immediate, so you can get the help you need, exactly when you need it.

How we built it

Chose a color scheme of light blue and white to create a calming and peaceful atmosphere, the mood we want to invoke when users use Elysian, which represents heaven and paradise, to be a stepping stone towards a peaceful and calm state of mind
Planned out the features and pages our app should contain and created designs for the pages utilizing Figma to give us an idea for what our app would look like on the front end to the user
We set up the front end using npm, in which we called Create React App to install React.js and other necessary libraries, and then installed Clerk for user authentication and creating user accounts
We installed all the necessary libraries for the back end through various pip commands and creating accounts to access the OpenAI API and Google Calendar API. We wrote Python scripts to connect to various back end services we used throughout our project, which includes Supabase, OpenAI, and the Google Calendar API
For connecting to the Google Calendar API in order to add event scheduling, we created a project on the Google Developers platform to create credentials to connect the Python script to Google Calendar API. This is to allow users to schedule appointments through the chatbot
After looking over and approving of the Figma designs we created the UI for the app using React and Tailwind CSS
We connected the front end and back end together using Axios

The overall tech stack that we used for this project

Front end: React.js Back end: Python, Flask

Database: Supabase

Authentication: Clerk

Frontend APIs: Tailwind CSS Backend APIs: OpenAI, Google Calendar API, Scikit-learn

Challenges we ran into

Coordinating with the team members across different time zones was a challenge. It required flexible communication to make sure that everyone stayed aligned and updated.
Ensuring the compatibility with integrating technologies such as React.js, Clerk, OpenAI, and Scikit-learn required persistent troubleshooting and adjustments.
Designing an interface that involved a balance between functional needs and visual aesthetics was difficult.
Ensuring the design meets user needs while being easy to navigate was a complex task.
Connecting the front end with the back end and getting both sides of the application to communicate was tricky.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Successfully collaborated to work well as a team despite different time zones, ensuring smooth communication and coordination.
Designed an intuitive, user-friendly interface for easy navigation and support access!
Built an extensive network of support groups and therapists for diverse mental health needs.
Made the chatbot smarter and more effective by deploying OpenAI and Scikit-learn.
Utilizing OpenAI and Scikit-learn libraries helped the chatbot provide more personalized and relevant responses for each user.

What we learned

Picked up hands-on experience with integrating tools like React.js, Clerk, OpenAI, and Scikit-learn to create a well-rounded and functional app.
Improved our problem-solving skills by tackling the logistical issues initiated with the project, and coming up with creative solutions to improve the chatbot's performance.
Learned how to plan and design features using Figma, turning ideas into clear, actionable tasks for development.
Realized the importance of designing user interfaces that creates a calming and intuitive experience and user-friendly interfaces, improving the user engagement and satisfaction.

What's next for Elysian

We plan to reach out to local nonprofits in our own communities and see how our project can help connect people to the right support groups and therapists.
Implement feedback tools for continuous improvement of Elysian Mental health support.
Launch awareness initiatives to address mental health challenges
Refine the chatbot for better accuracy and responsiveness.
Partner with mental health professionals to improve the platform’s effectiveness more.
Look into and add the latest tools to keep Elysian up-to-date and ahead of the curve. Integrate WebRTC for seamless real-time chat, voice, and video.