A self-care and mental health chatbot app

Woebot is a free, AI chatbot app, created to help people cope with feelings of depression and anxiety by encouraging people to examine how they react to challenging situations. Woebot exchanges millions of messages every week to help users with everyday mental health concerns such as stress and anxiety, loneliness, grief and more.

Woebot checks in with users every day and guides them through practical techniques based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). During your chats Woebot offers guidance and reassurance, which can often be light hearted and personalised. It also offers links to academic research, and can help you to understand more about how you are feeling, why you are feeling that way, and how to try to overcome the problems. 

Woebot is not a replacement for an in-person therapist, nor will it help you find one, but the tool could help you to master skills to reduce stress, improve your wellbeing, and live a happier life. The tool is there for you 24/7 whether you’re looking for guidance, growth, or just a chat. Using the tool in turn helps to inform research to develop new mental health resources and treatments.

Before launching Woebot, the founder and her team tested an early version of the tool on 70 college students who had reported symptoms of depression. The students were split into two groups: one was assigned to chat with Woebot over two weeks, while the other was directed to read an e-book about depression. The students using Woebot reported that they saw a significant reduction in their symptoms, unlike those in the e-book group. They also reported chatting with it almost daily, even though they were not required to do so. 

Woebot is based on scientific research and clinical evidence based findings with the aim to act as your own easily accessible mental health and wellbeing coach.