A Mental Heath Conversational Chatbot

About Ava

Ava is a chatbot designed for people who are coping with mental health issues. The chatbot is capable of forming bonds with users by talking about their troubles and receiving counsel from the bot.

With Ava, users can set a time of the day when the bot can check in on them about their wellbeing or send them funny videos.

Sometimes you just need to talk to someone who will listen to you without passing judgment and help you make sense of things. This is where Ava enters the picture.

While designing the chatbot, I made sure to keep some limitations in mind and what it is designed to do.

Bot Identity

Name of Bot : Ava

Gender : Female

Age : 30

Character Traits: Delightful, witty, emphatetic, optimistic

Interaction Goals: Trustworthy, support, seamless

Sample Dialogue & Persona

User Persona: Nancy is a 24 year old masters degree student passionate about becoming a business analyst.

User Context: Nancy is grieving the death of her sister

User Goals: she wants to find relief by speaking to someone about how she feels

Key Use Case: find relief, emotional support

Scenario A Scenario B

Design Process

A. User Limitations and Needs

Understanding the users and their goals is the first and most important thing I do when designing a product. Due to the stigma surrounding mental health issues and the cost of affording therapists, people are hesitant about getting proper mental health care.

People dealing with mental health issues need a place to find relief and comfort from their anxiety, burnout, and depression without feeling like a bother, which is why conversational chatbots are important because they are always ready to talk to you. That being said, these chatbots are readily accessible for people seeking psychological relief and setting the right personality and tone can go a long way towards achieving their purpose, which is to make a great companion.

B. User Goals

To gain support and guidance with coping with mental breakdown and improvement.

To gain better understanding of their mental states on their own.

To gain a friendly ear to listen and provide instant and available chat.

C. Designing for Security and Data Protection

When working on products with sensitive data, it is important to make sure that this data is protected. This action enhances trust between users and products/businesses.

An effective solution for this is end-to-end encryption of the user and chatbot interactions or an anonymous user profile on the database.

Multi-flow conversation design

Chatbot Prototype

What Factors Will Impact Product Success?

Intent-based metrics

Great UI/UX

User satisfaction and returning rates

Continuous AI training

Features & Fun Fact

This project earned me a feature on Voiceflow's online publication called Pathways, where I had the opportunity to share insights into my personal journey as a conversation designer.

In Pathways, I discussed everything from my experiences crafting chatbot prototype to the incredible impact of AI in the field of mental healthcare.

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