WA researcher develops AI therapy tool in hopes of helping FIFO workers’ mental health

A WA researcher has developed therapy tool in the hopes of providing mental health treatment to people without access to traditional services including fly-in, fly-out workers and farmers. For many, barriers to accessing mental health services include cost, location, waiting lists, and the social stigma attached to physically visiting a therapist. Many of those barriers are all too common for FIFO workers — in an industry where about one third of workers report psychological distress, often while working on site. Those in regional areas, particularly farmers are also impacted with 30 per cent reporting a decline in their mental health over the past few years and up to 45 per cent considering self-harm or suicide, according to the National Farmer Wellbeing Report. Murdoch University researcher Beena Kishore is hoping to reach more of these workers by testing whether an artificial intelligence psychotherapy tool could help those cut off from in-person services. The system she created, Bestie, uses best practice in psychotherapy to generate responses based on a patient’s emotional state, their background, and previous conversations collated by the tool. Typically AI learns and evolves its responses by using data and algorithms. But Dr Kishore’s software requires human interaction with language shared in the tool being programmed and evaluated by experts. “One of the inputs we need for this system is the patient’s current emotional state because that plays a vital role in the content formation process. During a regular therapy session the therapist always monitors the patient’s emotional state,” Dr Kishore said. “I was trying to mimic that in my system.” Dr Kishore said while the software would not be a complete replacement for in-person therapy it could make a huge impact to those who are reluctant or unable to seek traditional therapy. “For FIFO workers this could provide temporary relief for them and also in remote areas where there’s not many therapists available.” she said. “If people are scared or feel shame to talk to someone they can use this application. This is not a replacement but it can give them comfort that someone is listening to them and they understand.” In Dr Kishore’s research, the tool was put to the test, responding to various scenarios patients face including depressive thoughts, conflict, and anxiety. A focus group of participants found the system’s responses were helpful and provided appropriate advice in these scenarios. “The system can recognise their emotion and generate the right sentences,” Dr Kishore said. “This is a one-off prototype to prove this is possible. I would really like this to be implemented because I believe it is possible to help people through this AI.” Beyond Blue 1300 224 636