Why we built MindGuard
A decision-support tool that helps counsellors catch the signals of distress earlier — without ever crossing the line into surveillance.
Our mission
Around 720,000 people die by suicide every year. Most showed warning signs first. The signals are there — counsellors just need the tools to see them in time.
MindGuard exists to give school and university counsellors an earlier warning — powered by a purpose-trained model, governed by consent, and always reviewed by a human. We build for trust because nothing else works in a counselling room.
From research to product
Mental-RoBERTa
Consent-first by design
Built with practitioners
Recognition
DeepTech Runner-Up
Grand Rapids DeepTech
Innovation Day Winner
GVSU Innovation Day
The team
Diana Opiyo
Founder, Lead Developer & ML Engineer
Diana built MindGuard from research to production — training Mental-RoBERTa, designing the consent-first product, and leading the engineering that ships it.