Project T.E.D.D.Y – Text-based Early Distress Detector for Youth

By Mona O., Aanya G., Sophie W., Clare A.

Finalist, Technovation Girls Challenge 2023

Mental health concerns are a critical issue: ~14% of adolescents experience mental health disorders, yet these remain largely undetected and untreated, making suicide the 2nd leading cause of teenage death.

T.E.D.D.Y, the Text-based Early Distress Detector for Youth, aims to assist teachers and counselors in the early detection of students’ mental health concerns. When a student’s essay or self-reflection is entered at teddy-technovation.streamlit.app, T.E.D.D.Y uses AI to identify sentences expressing negative sentiment or showing the distinct language patterns expected of individuals with mental health concerns. Then, students with red flags in their work may be referred to a counselor for support.

With T.E.D.D.Y, we hope to make mental health support more accessible and less stigmatized, and to improve the lives of students struggling with their mental health.

Find out more at https://teddytechnovation.wordpress.com.

Try it out at https://teddy-technovation.streamlit.app.

Fill out this form if you would like to help us improve T.E.D.D.Y! https://forms.gle/AWfreoz9T54S7hz26

References and datasets used can be found here: https://teddytechnovation.wordpress.com/references