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Case Study

Scottish Action for Mental Health + Glasgow Caledonian University

To develop a psychologically-informed, artificial-intelligence driven service user gateway to support SAMH's place-based and online mental health services.

Scottish Action for Mental Health

Around since 1923, SAMH is Scotland's national mental health charity. SAMH now delivers over 70 services in communities across Scotland, providing mental health social care support, addictions and employment services.

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What was the need?

The Challenge

Scottish Action for Mental Health operates across a wide range of community-based mental health services, each serving different populations, needs, and localities. Historically, information about these services existed across multiple documents, systems, and formats, making it challenging to maintain consistency, ensure accuracy, and quickly guide individuals to the most appropriate support.

Service users often experience difficulty navigating complex mental health pathways, particularly at early stages of distress. Internally, staff faced challenges in analysing service usage, understanding emerging trends, and using data effectively to inform strategic decisions. The lack of integrated, intelligent tools limited SAMH’s ability to scale personalised service recommendations and fully leverage the data it already possessed.

At the same time, there was a need to ensure that any digital solution aligned with ethical standards, accessibility requirements, and the sensitive nature of mental health data. Addressing these challenges required specialist data science expertise, robust academic input, and close collaboration between technical development and real-world service delivery.

What did we do?

The Solution

The KTP project will deliver an intelligent, data-driven platform that applies machine learning and natural language processing to support accurate and context-aware mental health service recommendations. The solution integrates structured service data with unstructured text, enabling users to describe their needs in natural language and receive relevant, location-aware service guidance.

Academic expertise from Glasgow Caledonian University informed the design of robust data pipelines, feature engineering approaches, and model evaluation frameworks. The system will be developed with transparency, explainability, and ethical AI principles at its core, ensuring trust and usability for both service users and professionals.

In parallel, the project will embed data science capability within SAMH by introducing best practices in data governance, model deployment, and performance monitoring. The resulting solution not only improves user experience and access to support, but also provides SAMH with actionable insights into service demand, gaps in provision, and opportunities for continuous improvement.

What changed?

The Impacts and Benefits

Impacts for the Company

Enhanced Service Delivery: The AI gateway will significantly improves the efficiency and accuracy of mental health service referrals, adhering to SAMH’s "ask once, get help fast" principle.

Internal Digital Expertise: The project will be embedded high-level AI and data science capabilities within SAMH, positioning the charity as a leader in digital transformation within the health and social care sector.

Scalability: By providing a 24/7 digital entry point, SAMH can support a larger volume of individuals without a proportional increase in administrative burden.

Strategic Growth: The partnership will strengthen SAMH’s relationship with academic experts, allowing for continued innovation and evidence-based service improvements.

 

Impacts for the Academic Team 

The partnership will provide Glasgow Caledonian University with valuable applied research opportunities in the use of data science and artificial intelligence within real-world mental health contexts. Academic staff will gain insights into practical challenges associated with deploying ethical, explainable AI systems in sensitive, public-facing environments.

The project will strengthen industry-academic collaboration, supporting impact-driven research aligned with social good. It will also create opportunities for knowledge exchange, teaching enhancement, and future research projects focused on digital health, responsible AI, and applied analytics.

 

Impacts for the KTP Associate 

  • Skill Development: The Associates gains industry-leading expertise in applied AI, ethical governance, and the integration of digital tools in clinical settings.
  • Professional Growth: Benefit from a dedicated £4,000 training budget, leading to professional certifications and the opportunity to present at national conferences.
  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The role provided unique experience in working across two distinct fields, computing and psychology while managing organisation stakeholders.
  • Advanced applied data science experience
  • Cross-sector collaboration
  • Leadership and project ownership
  • Exposure to ethical and responsible AI
  • Strong career development pathway

The People

Meet the Team

Naomi White

Gokul Sivarasu

Dr Dawn Carmichael

Dr Bryan McCann

Ciaran Barbour

  • Company Supervisor

Lisa Feldano