Overdose Lifeline is an Indiana-based nonprofit whose mission is to provide hope and resources to families, communities & individuals affected by substance use disorder and the opioid crisis. Over the past decade, our work has helped lower overdose rates by up to 26% in some areas. Yet one barrier persists: stigma. For many, asking for help isn’t just difficult; it can feel dangerous. That fear often creates silence. And silence can be deadly.
Our objective was to break that silence by creating a completely anonymous, stigma-free way to access accurate harm reduction information from trusted sources. Many communities cited that they were afraid of even calling a local phone support number for risk of being "found out."
Enter KATE: Knowledge, Advocacy, Trust, Education, a first-of-its-kind digital tool designed to:
By meeting people where they are with compassion, safety, and anonymity, KATE broke through stigma and created new pathways to life-saving support for thousands of people in and around Indiana.
Our strategy was rooted in trust, privacy, and accuracy. We set out to design a tool that could overcome the twin barriers of stigma and misinformation by delivering:
The tool was intentionally simple and trauma-informed. The interface invited users to move at their own pace, whether they wanted to read about safe practices or connect directly to treatment options when ready.
Behind the scenes, we built strict safeguards to prevent the common pitfalls of today’s information landscape:
Even our ad strategy reflected this mission. We ran campaigns designed to reach resistant audiences, including those in religious and political groups who often oppose harm reduction efforts publicly. Surprisingly, while these ads attracted criticism on social media, they drove the highest private engagement with the tool. This proved that KATE was reaching precisely those who needed it most.
One of our biggest challenges was how to communicate that KATE was trustworthy. By training her in 60+ languages and buying URL's directing people to KATE's landing pages in other popular languages (ex holaKATE.com) we were able to engage peoples curiosity by taking over 40+ billboards in Indiana with simply the URL's on Black Balloon Day (our launch day and a day dedicated to honoring loved ones who have been lost to overdose.) By piquing curiosity and meeting people in their native language, we were able to generate positive response and recieved email feedback that this tool helped them find free Naloxone in their area.
AI today has a lot of challenges including risks of it hallucinating or making dangerous recommendations to people in times of crisis. To ensure this maintained control, we developed a custom backend that KATE is able to pull from ONLY. This dashboard allows us to control whether or not we allow the bot to "infer," "deflect," or "reject" a question. The chatbot will also maintain a focus on anonymity by wiping conversations immediately after they end, except for flagged interactions where there is a risk of harm (self or others),which will trigger safety protocols such as recommendations to call 988 or 911.
We calculate KATE’s efficacy by evaluating her responses when she matches an “answer” without direct input. For example, if KATE recommends a Naloxbox in Indiana, we infer the question was about where to get Naloxone. Since she only accesses our repository, efficacy is measured by how accurately her matched answers reflect the likely user intent
This project was a success on multiple levels. Within the first three months of launch, over 250,000 Indiana residents engaged with KATE, far exceeding expectations. Not only were people interacting with her, but the majority of responses were meaningful and accurate, with only a small number of deflections from users attempting to test or trip up the tool.
More than a digital tool, KATE became a lifeline for thousands of people, breaking the silence, dismantling stigma, and opening doors to hope and healing.
Over the past few months, we’ve received numerous private testimonials via DMs and support emails, both from Indiana and beyond, sharing how KATE helped people feel seen and more confident and prepared should they ever need to save someones life.
