Case Study: Augmented Reality Enabled Mental Health Chatbot

Background and Objective: In recent years, there has been a growing demand for mental health support. This has led to a focus on providing personalized and continuous care. However, traditional mental health systems often have long wait times and limited support for engagements beyond clinical hours. The goal of this project is to create ARden, a digital companion using augmented reality, to help improve mental health for those in need. Material and Method: This study aims to fine-tune a Large Language Model with domain-specific knowledge, ensuring a personalized and intelligent companion—ARden. The chatbot is integrated with the AR companion using an Application Program Interface (API). The mixed reality companion is accessible via a mobile application, making care available without the additional hardware costs associated with head-mounted displays. Results: The development of ARden has introduced new possibilities for personalized and interactive mental health support. Early feedback suggests that the chatbot may help improve user engagement and satisfaction, supported by encouraging retention metrics. By combining augmented reality, large language models, and a character-based interface, ARden offers an approach that could contribute positively to mental health support. Conclusion: ARden aims to help users with emotional regulation during long wait times between mental health interventions, overcome communication barriers, and provide exercises and suggestions to improve mental health wellbeing. This approach offers a promising solution to existing mental health challenges and holds potential for further improvement and scalability.