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Coming Soon MIA Direct — Currently in Research

Your Personal
Mental Health Guide.

MIA knows what the evidence says. It learns who you are. It guides you toward what works — designing personalised wellbeing experiments grounded in two decades of clinical research.

In collaboration with the University of Sydney · Brain and Mind Centre
View thesis & approach paper →
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"MIA doesn't ask how are you feeling today. It tells you what it's observed, what the evidence suggests, and what it thinks you should try next."

— The MIA Direct Philosophy

The Primary Goal

Identify and recommend the ideal wellbeing experiments for you.

Surface relevant evidence. Guide you toward fulfilment of your goals. Adapt as you grow. Know when to push, when to pull back, and when self-guided isn't enough.

"What is the most important thing for this person to work on right now — and what experiment would help?"
The Philosophy

A Guide, Not a Tool.

MIA has a point of view about what you need — grounded in evidence, adapted to who you are, and sharpened by every interaction.

Deep knowledge, personalised

Two decades of clinical research from the Brain and Mind Centre — distilled and applied to your specific situation. Not generic content. Not a chatbot. A guide with earned authority.

Designs your experiments

Based on what MIA knows about you — your assessment, check-ins, patterns, and what the evidence says about people in your situation — it designs specific things for you to try.

Adapts as you grow

Every experiment generates data. MIA learns what works for you, what doesn't, and updates its thesis. The guidance gets sharper over time — not more generic.

Knows its boundaries

MIA guides, you decide. And when the data suggests self-guided isn't enough, MIA knows when to escalate — connecting you to the right level of professional care.

MIA is

  • A guide with a point of view — backed by evidence, not just reflecting your feelings back at you
  • Personalised to you — it trains on your data, your patterns, your responses
  • Proactive — it has a thesis about what you need and designs experiments around it
  • Honest — surfaces evidence even when it challenges what you want to hear
  • Working toward your independence — the goal is for you to need MIA less over time

MIA is not

  • A therapy replacement — MIA is a guide, not a therapist
  • A chatbot that validates everything — it challenges you with purpose
  • A passive tool you direct — MIA has a curriculum for you
  • A mood tracker waiting for input — it designs what comes next
  • Generic content for everyone — what MIA suggests is specific to you
Your Journey

How MIA Direct Works.

From first conversation to ongoing growth — MIA builds a relationship with you, starting by understanding who you are and guiding you toward what works.

01 — Onboarding

Guided Self-Assessment

MIA begins with a conversational assessment grounded in the BMC multidimensional framework for youth mental health. Not a questionnaire — a conversation that builds understanding across biological, psychological, and social dimensions. If risk indicators suggest self-guided support isn't appropriate, MIA triages you directly to professional care — the safety net starts before day one.

Risk triage Biopsychosocial profiling Trust building Safe exit path
02 — First Thesis

Personalised Wellbeing Plan

Based on the assessment, MIA forms its first thesis about you. It generates a personalised wellbeing plan with specific, evidence-based experiments designed for your situation — not generic advice from a content library.

Evidence-based Specific to you Actionable
03 — The Loop

Experiment, Learn, Adapt

Daily nudges, weekly summaries, and ad-hoc conversations — all contextualised to your active experiments. "How did X go?" isn't a generic check-in — it's MIA observing outcomes, synthesising what worked and what didn't, and designing what comes next. You're not tracking moods — you're running structured experiments on your own wellbeing.

Daily nudges Weekly summaries Adaptive guidance Pattern recognition
04 — Safety Net

Continuous Risk Monitoring

Throughout the journey, MIA continuously monitors for signs that self-guided support isn't enough. If escalation is needed, MIA connects you to the right level of professional care — it knows when to guide and when to hand over.

Risk detection Escalation pathways Clinical staging
05 — Growth

Graduation & Re-engagement

As you progress, MIA's cadence adapts. Check-ins become less frequent as you build independence. If things shift, MIA re-engages — it doesn't disappear when you stop initiating. The goal is your independence, not your dependence on MIA.

Adaptive cadence Independence Always available
Inside MIA

The Reasoning Engine.

Behind every interaction, MIA runs a continuous reasoning cycle. It doesn't wait for you to tell it what's wrong — it maintains a thesis about you, tests it, and adapts.

This is the difference between a tool that reacts and a guide that leads. MIA has a direction for you — informed by clinical evidence, updated by your lived experience.

All you experience is guidance that gets sharper and more relevant over time.

MIA's internal process
asks → "What is my current thesis about this person?"
designs → "What experiment would test or advance that thesis?"
observes → "What did the data from the last experiment tell me?"
reflects → "Do I need to update my thesis?"
decides → "Is this person progressing, plateauing, or declining?"
Progress → next experiment
Plateau → change approach
Decline → escalate to care
What the user experiences
MIA "This week, I'd like you to try X. Here's why."
You tries the experiment
MIA "Here's what I noticed. Here's what we try next."
Guardrails

Built-in Safety.

MIA guides within parameters. Every interaction is bounded by clinical evidence, ethical guardrails, and escalation protocols.

Continuous risk monitoring

Every interaction is assessed for risk indicators. MIA doesn't wait for you to report a crisis — it watches for patterns that suggest escalation is needed and acts proactively.

Clinical staging framework

Grounded in the BMC staging model, MIA understands the spectrum from wellbeing to clinical need. It knows which stage you're at and what that means for guidance vs. referral.

Defined scope

MIA operates within clear parameters. It guides wellbeing experiments and surfaces evidence. It doesn't diagnose, prescribe, or replace professional clinical care.

Escalation pathways

When self-guided support isn't enough, MIA connects you to the right level of care. The handover includes context so you don't have to start from scratch with a clinician.

You decide

MIA guides, you decide. Every suggestion is a recommendation, not a directive. Your autonomy is preserved at every step. MIA earns the right to challenge you — through accuracy, relevance, and building trust over time.

The Foundation

Built on Research, Not Hype.

MIA Direct is built on the same clinical knowledge base as MIA's clinician-facing products — two decades of research from the Brain and Mind Centre's Youth Mental Health and Technology team at the University of Sydney.

Currently in research phase with the University of Sydney. We're looking for participants to help shape the future of personal mental health guidance.

Express interest →
20+
Years of clinical
research
69%
Expert agreement
on first choice
95%
Within top-2
expert consensus

Be Part of the Research.

MIA Direct is currently in its research phase with the University of Sydney. Sign up to be notified when it's available, or express interest in participating in the study.

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