KTP Programme between University of Ulster and Pneuma Healthcare

To develop a Clinical Assessment and Intervention Support Assistant (CAISA).
Pneuma Healthcare has been delivering online and f2f therapy services in health and education sectors since 2022, using a professional team of Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs). PWPs undergo extensive academic and practical training, including vital role-play exercises essential for honing therapeutic skills.
This project seeks to develop a platform that harnesses the emerging benefits of Generative AI to simulate realistic clinical role-play scenarios. While general-purpose models like GPT-4 offer broad functionality, they often fall short in specialised domains such as mental health training. CAISA will be tailored using proprietary, domain-specific role-play data, enabling natural language interactions that replicate diverse clinical personas. CAISA will enable voice-based natural language interaction between the PWP and an LLM acting as a service user. This enhancement will build on the existing training experience of PWPs further enriching the realism and interactivity of CAISA.

To develop CAISA, an innovative AI-powered training tool that supports mental health practitioners develop their skills through realistic, simulated therapy sessions. Using latest AI developments, it offers scalable, high-fidelity role-play opportunities that seek to enhance training quality, improving service delivery, and supporting a pipeline of expert digital mental health care.

The project goal is to embed emerging AI capabilities within the company, moving from a service offering to product sales, ensuring knowledge transfer and long-term impact. The use of bespoke LLMs, built on the knowledgebase and expertise of the project partners represents a novel and strategically disruptive innovation