A Mental Health Buddy

Wysa is an AI-driven mental health app, supported by USAID. About half of its users are women. (Photograph courtesy Wysa)

Access to mental health resources and the well-being of communities is crucial to ensuring the UN Sustainable Development Goals are achieved by 2030. While a number of apps provide urban populations with access to licensed caregivers, mental health and emotional well-being services remain out of reach for many people in rural India. Wysa, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tool supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is helping bridge the gap.

“USAID/India is committed to building a resilient and supportive mental health framework across all our work. With a health partnership spanning decades, USAID collaborates with partners to strengthen referrals, reduce the mental health impact on other health outcomes, and integrate mental health into comprehensive primary health care, with technology as a key enabler,” says Moni Sagar, family health division chief at USAID/India.

Wysa uses AI-enabled coaching through therapist-approved models, building skills to improve relationships, behaviors and actions. The app focuses on preventative well-being and early interventions by listening empathetically, offering users a safe space to explore their emotions. Jo Aggarwal, Wysa’s co-founder, says the platform is available round-the-clock, offers anonymity, and helps develop new mental resilience skills with 10 minutes of chat every day.

Mental health for grassroots communities

Wysa’s parent company, Bengaluru-based Touchkin eServices Private Limited, was a part of the 2023 cohort of the Yash Entrepreneurs Program, a USAID-supported initiative implemented by Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate. This incubator and accelerator program helps scale enterprises through intensive mentoring from technical and business experts, strategic partnerships, technical assistance support, and other benefits.

Wysa was launched globally, including in India, on World Mental Health Day in 2016. Since then, more than six million people across 95 countries have used the “mental health buddy.” About half of its users are women. “Gender sensitivity is an important element in the Wysa program, given the added barriers faced by adolescent girls and women in many countries,” says Aggarwal.

In India, with USAID and Jhpiego’s technical assistance, the tool is capable of addressing gender issues and mental well-being related to sexual and reproductive health. It has also been programmed to address issues faced by adolescent girls in underserved communities.

In 2022, Wysa introduced Hindi to enhance accessibility. More than 1,800 users have engaged with the sexual reproductive health model in Hindi since it went live in September 2023. Similarly, Wysa plans to introduce conversations in Marathi soon.

Creating a safe space

Aggarwal says their vision is to provide a personal mental health coach that helps users build resilience using their own language, “ensuring that the support is culturally relevant and easily accessible.”

She says the app respects and protects user privacy, just as a therapist would. “We do not require a user to register,” explains Aggarwal, “and redact personal identifiers.” Sensitive data is encrypted using advanced standards, with strict access controls, multifactor authentication and regular audits.

A wide range of experiences have informed Wysa’s development, with contributors ranging from blue-collar workers to rural women and youth with Type 1 diabetes. These experiences have helped Wysa address diverse mental health challenges and adapt to changing user trends for better reach. Aggarwal says they are exploring low-bandwidth and WhatsApp-based services, working on including more local languages, and leveraging partnerships with government platforms and mobile health clinics for a broader reach.

“These lessons are being applied to redesign our tools and feedback systems for other regions, ensuring they are tailored to local needs and effectively integrated into existing health care frameworks,” says Aggarwal. “Our vision is to create a supportive environment where anyone can access mental health resources without stigma, making mental health care universally accessible.”

---

Click here to sign up for the free SPAN newsletter: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSPAN

---

---