Small Steps

Small Steps delivers an automated mental health intervention via text messaging to the public. It implements a flexible curriculum that covers topics such as problem solving and gratitude through regular conversations with the Small Steps system. It was designed by Northwestern University clinical researchers and featured as a project funded by Microsoft and featured as part of their "AI for Accessibility" initiative.

Meeting users where they are

Small Steps integrates state-of-the-art reinforcement learning technology created by the Intelligent Adaptive Interventions Lab at the University of Toronto to:

• Identify the most likely times of day for individual engagement in shorter-form dialogs
• Select individualized strategies within longer-form dialogs of the clinical curriculum to tailor interventions for each participant

BRIC co-founder Chris Karr implemented the messaging and dialog system using a collection of software components from the Automated Conversational Kit library.