The Listening Lab is a wellness innovation designed by the Feminine Intelligence Agency to support emotional regulation through peer-based group pods. These pods serve as affordable, accessible alternatives to therapy for individuals navigating intense emotions and seeking prevention before turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Unlike traditional peer therapy groups, the Listening Lab assigns structured roles that discourage unsolicited advice or unqualified therapeutic intervention. Instead, participants are guided toward coaching, artistic expression, and somatic regulation. The Lab has already undergone simulation testing by psychology students and an evaluation of ethical risks by mental health professionals.

Students will take the Listening Lab concept and build it out further using their professional skills and interests. Each team or individual will choose one or more of the following areas to focus on:

• Product Development: Prototype an app that facilitates pod registration, scheduling, role assignment, and moderation.
• AI Integration: Research and prototype how AI agents (e.g., via GPT-4, LangChain, or Claude) can support moderation, reflection prompts, or emotional triage.
• Business Development: Create a sustainable partnership or pricing model and identify launch markets (e.g., universities, crisis prevention programs, digital detox retreats).
• Marketing & Outreach: Design a go-to-market strategy that includes branding, user personas, and onboarding materials.
• Privacy & Ethics: Evaluate HIT and data privacy concerns related to AI-moderated emotional conversations. Recommend design safeguards and draft a consent policy.
• Training & Enablement: Design role guides, onboarding sequences, and end-user training materials for new participants and facilitators.

A successful project will:

• Demonstrate a scalable and ethical path forward for the Listening Lab.
• Propose innovative, implementable ideas rooted in user need.
• Apply professional techniques in business analysis, HIT training, UX, QA, or research.
• Deliver usable documentation that FIA can build on post-capstone.

Students can provide:

• Project Charter
• Project Plan
• Business Requirements Document
• Requirements Analysis Document
• Implementation or Deployment Plan
• End-user Training Materials (if applicable)
• A 1-hour presentation summarizing their findings
• Optional prototypes, branding assets, chatbot scripts, partnership pitch decks, or AI tools