MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name

Neotalk

One-line solution summary.

Neotalk's idea is to create an anonymous connection to a counsellor.

What is your solution?

Neotalk aims to create the connection between students and teachers alike anonymously. My team and I have built a web app and a mobile app that is still in development.

The idea behind it is that one feels more secure channeling personal problems without having their identity revealed to anyone.

What specific problem are you trying to solve?

Being high school students, we have witnessed plenty of personal problems that students face. These problems can be solved by a counselor, Nevertheless, students hardly approach them.

What will my peers think of me? Will they think I am weak? What will the counselor think of me? These are a few of the reasons that prevent one from visiting a counselor. A day passes and one feels ok, the thought of reaching a counselor stops ringing in the mind.

A few more days pass and one begins realizing that it's only getting worse. Things begin getting on top of the person, the troubles are only piling up and one finds themselves falling into a pit of anxiety, stress, depression among other mental problems.

This is a scenario that can happen to anyone, students and adults alike. This happens in our communities even though we may not realize it.

Who does your solution serve? In what ways will the solution impact their lives?

As for the moment, our solution is aimed at schools; learners will be the priority while also welcoming school staff to use the platform. Students often face stress, depression, or get overwhelmed by a personal problem. This may lead to drug abuse, harming oneself, or even worse. These are among the problems we will solve for the end-users.

This is where Neotalk comes in with the primary aim of anonymously relaying one’s personal issues to a counselor. Other features that we have been rolling out include education on various things that occur in day-to-day life such as bullying, criticism, handling rumors, counseling, and more. Other essentials provided in the platform are a meditation guide and a games section.

We are planning on adding additional features related to matters of mental health and counseling.

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?

The idea of neotalk is influenced by problems we have witnessed in our community such as stress, depression, suicide attempts among others. We have also reached to the counselors to get their views on what a product like Neotalk could accomplish. We also questioned fellow students to get their opinions.

We also have a feedback panel where users can send their opinions and improvement requests to us. We use this information to further improve the platform.

Which aspects of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Improving learning opportunities and outcomes for learners across their lifetimes, from early childhood on (Learning)

Our solution's stage of development:

Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution—in other words, what have you accomplished to date?

Guided by our mentors and the school’s counseling and IT departments, my team and I launched the platform in our school, Mpesa Foundation Academy. It was favorably received by the students as well as the counseling department.

The feedback we received from the counselors made the hustle worthwhile. More students were reaching out to the counselors through the platform.

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Thika, Kenya

Team Lead:

Meshack Mutinda