Going ‘Interstellar’ to help those facing mental health issues

Just as how objects in space float aimlessly in the darkness, people facing mental health issues can sometimes find themselves adrift, not knowing how to get out of their situation, said Singapore Management University (SMU) student Isaiah Chia.

- Zhaki Abdullah

Now, a tool developed by Mr Chia — together with five others from SMU’s School of Computing and Information Systems — aims to find young people facing issues such as anxiety and depression.

Dubbed Interstellar, the system takes a proactive approach to mental health by using bots to comb through platforms such as Discord and Reddit for posts by Singapore based users about feeling sad or anxious, said Mr Saurabh Maskara, 21.

Both of these platforms allow bots, but messages can come only from humans.

Someone from the Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH) will be alerted to reach out to these users privately, asking if they need help and directing them to Interstellar’s website, which has information about the organisations they can turn to for help, and other resources.

Interstellar also includes a Telegram bot that can connect them directly to information and booking an appointment with SAMH, if necessary.

The strategy is to prevent these young people from “drifting into a black hole”, said Mr Chia, a third-year student. “Instead of expecting them to come to us, we go to them.”