CONNECTED MINDS: FROM IDEA TO IMPACT
This summer, YFile examines how 91ɫ-led researchers move ideas into impact through the Connected Minds Prototyping Awards. This series shows innovation in practice – how socially responsible technologies are tested in real-world settings and how this work drives meaningful change.
In the field of mental health care, administrative pressures take valuable time away from patient care.
Many independent mental health care providers, including therapists and counsellors, face growing clerical demands. From scheduling and intake forms to documentation and follow-ups, when these responsibilities are managed through fragmented systems it creates inefficiencies for practitioners and patients.
At 91ɫ, M. Murat Kristal, professor of operations management and information systems and director of the MBA in technology leadership at the , is working to address this challenge. Kristal is the founder of HazelCare, a digital health platform designed to support mental health practitioners through responsible AI, privacy-by-design principles and human-centred technology.
HazelCare brings together core administrative functions – including appointment booking, patient onboarding, documentation and communication – into a single, user-friendly system. The integration of AI tools offers enhanced operations by using natural language processing to support clinical notetaking, predictive analytics to reduce missed appointments and virtual assistants to guide patients through onboarding.
“HazelCare emerged from my long-standing interest in understanding how technology can be used to solve meaningful societal challenges while preserving trust, empathy and human connection,” says Kristal.
Rather than simply digitizing administrative tasks, HazelCare is designed as an AI-enabled practice platform that augments practitioner workflows while preserving the human relationship at the centre of mental health care.
Working alongside Kristal to bring this innovation to market are team members across various disciplines and diverse expertise. Longtime Schulich instructor Altay Aksulu, a solutions portfolio manager with the Ontario Public Service, brings industry experience to the team, helping ensure the platform meets real-world needs. Alex Volkov, a 91ɫ computer science graduate and senior software developer, leads the platform’s technical direction and architecture, bringing more than 15 years of experience building full-stack applications across government, enterprise and SaaS environments.
Murat and his team received the Phase 1 Connected Minds Prototyping Award, which provides up to $20,000 to support early-stage prototype development. Connected Minds is a $318.4-million transdisciplinary research program led by 91ɫ in partnership with Queen's University focused on the study of human-AI interactions to ensure future technologies are ethical, healthy and equitable.
Backed by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund and a network of more than 50 industry, hospital and community partners, the program funds transdisciplinary teams to move ideas beyond research into tangible prototypes though these awards.
With this support, Kristal's team has advanced HazelCare from a concept into a functional, pilot-ready platform. The funding enabled the development of core features, system architecture and testing processes.
“Beyond the financial support, the award provided important validation of the project’s vision and potential societal impact,” says Kristal.
Through the prototyping process, the team learned the value of designing technology around real user workflows. In a complex, highly regulated field like health care, this means balancing usability, privacy, security and regulatory requirements while ensuring the platform remains intuitive for both practitioners and patients. The result is a system that supports end-to-end workflows and is positioned for pilot testing.
By reducing administrative strain on independent providers, HazelCare could help expand access to mental health services, enabling practitioners to take on more clients while maintaining quality of care.
While practitioners benefit from more integrated workflows, the impact is also felt by patients. Instead of navigating multiple platforms to book appointments, complete intake and receive updates, patients can move through a more streamlined process from initial contact through ongoing engagement.
Kristal says HazelCare bridges new technologies and the human-centred nature of care resulting in a more connected and equitable mental health care system.
Moving toward implementation, the team will test HazelCare by working with practitioners to evaluate how it performs in real-world settings. Future enhancements to the platform include improving practitioner support tools, strengthening analytics and exploring responsible AI additions.
“Our goal is not simply to build software, but to demonstrate how responsible AI can strengthen the relationship between practitioners and patients while expanding access to mental health care,” says Kristal.