Generative AI for Simulated Conversations: Preparing Frontline Workers and Volunteers to Support Youth with Anxiety and Depression

This 24-month project brings together Kids Help Phone (KHP)—Canada’s only 24/7 eMental Health service offering free, multilingual, confidential support to youth— and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), a leading institution known for community-engaged, equity-promoting innovation and education. Our project addresses the urgent need for scalable training solutions for frontline mental health providers through the co-development and evaluation of a generative AI system built on a multi-agent infrastructure. Key components include a conversation simulator and a performance assessor. The simulator, co-designed with youth and frontline providers will create realistic single-session counselling and crisis response text conversations of youth experiencing anxiety and depression. The performance assessor delivers real-time feedback to trainees that is grounded in KHP’s established supervision and quality assurance measures. Using a developmental evaluation approach, we will iteratively refine the prototype and assess its validity, usability, and acceptance. We will complete a pragmatic evaluation to assess the tool’s effectiveness on provider confidence, knowledge, skills, and retention, as well as its impact on youth anxiety and depression. We will also leverage an established partnership with Childline Trinidad and Tobago to explore tailoring the developed simulator and assessor to their context.