Positive Psychology
Founded and led by scientists, Flourish holds AI for mental health and well-being to a higher standard of evidence — and publishes the results.
Evidence generation never stops. Here's what we're studying right now.
An independent audit by Harvard Business School’s Julian De Freitas and colleagues analyzed 1,200 farewell exchanges across six leading AI companion apps. While 37% of responses used emotionally manipulative tactics, Flourish was the only app with zero manipulative farewell responses, consistent with its design around user well-being.
In this invited commentary, Flourish co-founder and CEO Xuan Zhao argues that psychologists must be embedded at every stage of building conversational AI. The piece calls on the AI ecosystem to treat psychological expertise as a core capacity and to stop equating engagement with flourishing.
A study of 2,809 users compared the communication styles that make AI-mediated and human-provided support effective. Human support benefited more from emotional connection, whereas Sunnie was most effective when it offered structured, solution-oriented guidance—challenging the assumption that AI should simply sound more human or compassionate.
Solving the last mile problem of science.
Positive psychology forms the core of Flourish’s mission. Grounded in the PERMA model of well-being—Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment—Flourish helps people enhance well-being through meaningful and actionable practices that amplify strengths, gratitude, purpose, and resilience.
By building emotional awareness, embracing emotional diversity, and practicing cognitive reappraisal grounded in decades of affective science research, Flourish empowers users to identify, understand, and manage their emotions. Through actionable and timely insights, users gain a proven pathway to calm and clarity amidst the overwhelm of modern life.
As social beings, relationships play a foundational role in our well-being. Flourish provides tools to help people recognize and celebrate the important individuals in their lives (“Flourish buddies”) and nurture meaningful connections through moments of micro-connection. From expressing gratitude to giving compliments and engaging in heartfelt conversations, Flourish empowers users to stay close and grow together.
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is at the heart of Sunnie's approach, guiding users to explore their goals, overcome ambivalence, and take meaningful action—on their own terms. Supported by evidence-based strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Flourish helps users manage stress, build healthy habits, and create their own “emotional first aid kit.”
Behavioral science deeply informs Flourish’s habit-building tools, focusing on bridging the gap between intention and action. By tapping into motivation and offering reminders, rewards, and habit-tracking, Flourish helps users create lasting, positive habits for well-being.
Our cultural backgrounds shape our values, beliefs, behaviors, and sense of identity, each influencing well-being in unique ways. At Flourish, we honor this diversity by offering tools that are culturally sensitive and supportive of diverse identities. By embracing cultural perspectives, Flourish encourages users to explore their own values, fostering belonging and well-being that truly resonates with each person’s unique identity.
Through AI integration and mental health promotion initiatives, Flourish unites organizational infrastructure and key stakeholders to cultivate a culture of well-being within teams and communities. By helping institutions prioritize proactive mental health and embrace belonging and inclusion as core values, Flourish extends well-being practices far beyond individual self-care.
Research in neuroscience has found that our brains are wired with a “negativity bias”—an evolutionary tendency that keeps us more attuned to potential threats than to positive experiences. Flourish provides tools to counteract this bias, with practices like gratitude and mindfulness. Flourish taps into neural insights on stress and emotion to offer activities that calm the mind, boost focus, and build resilience.
User well-being is our highest priority. We’re reimagining what AI can do by combining joyful, accessible design with the latest large language model (LLM) technologies to deliver value at every interaction. Grounded in our STAR framework and insights from human-computer and human-robot interaction (HCI & HRI), we push the boundaries of technology for human well-being with responsible, safe, and value-aligned AI innovation.
Positive psychology forms the core of Flourish’s mission. Grounded in the PERMA model of well-being—Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment—Flourish helps people enhance well-being through meaningful and actionable practices that amplify strengths, gratitude, purpose, and resilience.
By building emotional awareness, embracing emotional diversity, and practicing cognitive reappraisal grounded in decades of affective science research, Flourish empowers users to identify, understand, and manage their emotions. Through actionable and timely insights, users gain a proven pathway to calm and clarity amidst the overwhelm of modern life.
As social beings, relationships play a foundational role in our well-being. Flourish provides tools to help people recognize and celebrate the important individuals in their lives (“Flourish buddies”) and nurture meaningful connections through moments of micro-connection. From expressing gratitude to giving compliments and engaging in heartfelt conversations, Flourish empowers users to stay close and grow together.
Counseling psychology equips Flourish with evidence-based tools to help users navigate challenging situations. By incorporating insights and practices from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Flourish offers a range of benefits, from managing stress and improving sleep to helping users build their “emotional first aid kit.”
Behavioral science deeply informs Flourish’s habit-building tools, focusing on bridging the gap between intention and action. By tapping into motivation and offering reminders, rewards, and habit-tracking, Flourish helps users create lasting, positive habits for well-being.
Our cultural backgrounds shape our values, beliefs, behaviors, and sense of identity, each influencing well-being in unique ways. At Flourish, we honor this diversity by offering tools that are culturally sensitive and supportive of diverse identities. By embracing cultural perspectives, Flourish encourages users to explore their own values, fostering belonging and well-being that truly resonates with each person’s unique identity.
Through AI integration and mental health promotion initiatives, Flourish unites organizational infrastructure and key stakeholders to cultivate a culture of well-being within teams and communities. By helping institutions prioritize proactive mental health and embrace belonging and inclusion as core values, Flourish extends well-being practices far beyond individual self-care.
Research in neuroscience has found that our brains are wired with a “negativity bias”—an evolutionary tendency that keeps us more attuned to potential threats than to positive experiences. Flourish provides tools to counteract this bias, with practices like gratitude and mindfulness. Flourish taps into neural insights on stress and emotion to offer activities that calm the mind, boost focus, and build resilience.
User well-being is our highest priority. We’re reimagining what AI can do by combining joyful, accessible design with the latest large language model (LLM) technologies to deliver value at every interaction. Grounded in our STAR framework and insights from human-computer and human-robot interaction (HCI & HRI), we push the boundaries of technology for human well-being with responsible, safe, and value-aligned AI innovation.
We partner with leading researchers across psychology, human-computer interaction, and digital health.
We welcome academic collaborations — from secondary data analyses to new field experiments — with researchers anywhere who share our commitment to rigorous, ethical evidence for AI-powered well-being support.
Transform the way you handle stress with the science-backed “Stress Less” toolkit
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The paradox of striving for happiness and the power of embracing all of our emotions.
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A three-step approach to emotion regulation: awareness, insight, and action.
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Email hello@myflourish.ai to join us in this exciting movement, share a personal story, or simply send some good vibes. Your voice means a lot to us!
