Our school has a peer counseling program that was co-founded by me. Peer counselors are students trained to provide emotional support to their peers, serving as a more accessible alternative to the school counselor, who cannot support all students at once. During the course of training the student counselors, me and my co-founder realized that while a well-run program could help many students navigate personal challenges, there are significant issues in how it is actually implemented.
Although there is a training program that provides peer counselors with theoretical knowledge, students may struggle with the spontaneous nature of real counseling sessions and applying what they have learned in practice. When a friend comes to them for help, they may feel nervous. This issue is further complicated by the fact that counseling situations are sensitive, where even small missteps in wording can have an impact. These challenges can be summarized into three main points:
| Problem | Specific Situation |
|---|---|
| ① Not knowing what to say | When a friend shares their concerns, they can’t think of an appropriate response, leading to awkward comments or silence |
| ② Lack of a practice environment | Counseling skills require repeated practice, but it’s difficult to use real friends as practice subjects |
| ③ Unable to objectively assess one’s skills | After a session, there is no one to evaluate “Did I do well?” Without feedback, there is no growth |
"Would it be possible to create a safe space where students can practice their counseling skills without real life consequences through technology?"
And through this thought, the app was born.
The core idea of this solution is simple. The AI takes on the role of the student being counseled, and comes to the user with scenarios of hardships. The user must interact with the AI by responding to the initial prompt, with which the AI will present follow up that is based upon the user’s previous reply.
This is not just a simple chatbot. For each scenario, I designed an AI character with plausible issues that a high school student might have, such as struggles with identity, conflict with family or friends, and academic stress. In addition, the counselor must respond with genuine empathy and employ the skills they learned as a counselor, in order to allow the AI to gradually open up. If the counselor rushes to offer solutions or imprints their own beliefs and judgment into the conversation, the AI becomes more defensive. At the end of each session, the AI analyzes the conversation and provides specific feedback.
┌────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐
│ Choose out of | | Practice with the| | The AI gives |
| the 7 possible │ ──→ │ AI agent in real │ ──→ │ feedback & a score │
│ scenarios │ │ time │ │based on 4 criterias│
└────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘
│
┌────────────────────────┘
↓
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Student can check personal │
│ dashboard with performance |
| analysis and growth │
└──────────────────────────────┘
The scenarios are designed based on real challenges faced by teenagers, with varying levels of difficulty.
| Scenario | Difficulty | Topic | Estimated Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test Anxiety | Beginner | Academic Stress | 15 min |
| Friendship Issues | Intermediate | Interpersonal Relationships | 20 min |
| Appearance Insecurities | Intermediate | Self-esteem | 20 min |
| Social Media Comparison Stress | Intermediate | Mental Well-being | 20 min |
| Family Conflict (Career Path) | Advanced | Family | 25 min |
| Depression and Apathy | Advanced | Mental Health | 25 min |
| Identity Confusion | Advanced | Identity / Personal Growth | 25 min |
As the difficulty increases from beginner to advanced, the AI student exhibits more complex emotions and becomes more sensitive to the counselor’s mistakes.