Enhancing Urban Wellbeing Through Digital Innovation: A Community-Based Mental Health Platform

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has increased psychological pressure among residents of Jakarta. Around 1 in 5 young adults in Indonesia experience mental health condition each year. Despite this, mental health support remains limited, stigmatized, and often perceived as overly clinical. This study proposes a community-based mobile application called SEJIWA, designed to offer a more relatable and contextually relevant approach to emotional wellbeing. Using a Design Thinking framework, user insights were gathered through in-depth interviews to identify unmet needs related to stress, social support, and engagement with urban environments. The resulting prototype integrates an LLM-based AI journaling component with natural language processing, a rule-based geolocation recommendation system for green spaces, a virtual companion, anonymous peer interaction, and gamification to support both personal reflection and social connectedness. A usability testing was conducted and showed that the application is easy to use and well received, suggesting its potential as an accessible and engaging mental health solution. Overall, this study highlights the importance of moving beyond individual-focused approaches by incorporating social and environmental dimensions, while also indicating the need for further evaluation across more diverse groups and contexts.