At 3 a.m., when everything feels heavier and there’s no one to talk to, opening a chat window might seem like a small act. But for someone struggling, that click can be the first step toward healing. In Croatia, that helping hand now comes in the form of POMOZI.hr, a free and anonymous platform that uses artificial intelligence to offer emotional support whenever someone needs it most.
Created by Croatian developers and mental-health experts, POMOZI.hr combines technology and empathy to make mental-health support accessible to everyone — even those who might never reach out for traditional help.
A safe space for open conversations
POMOZI.hr (meaning “Help” in Croatian) was designed with a simple idea: no stigma, no judgment, and no barriers. Users don’t need to sign up, share personal data, or log in. They just start typing.
The interface greets visitors with a calm message: “Hey, I can help you if you tell me what’s wrong.” From there, people can select topics such as sadness, anxiety, stress, relationship struggles, or panic attacks — and begin a conversation with the AI assistant.
The chatbot listens, responds with empathy, and suggests ways to cope — from breathing exercises and grounding techniques to gentle reminders to seek professional support if the situation feels overwhelming.
While it’s clear about one thing — it’s not a replacement for therapy or a psychiatrist — POMOZI.hr acts as a bridge, helping people take the first step toward self-care.
How AI is used on POMOZI.hr
Unlike typical chatbots built for customer service, POMOZI.hr’s assistant is trained to recognize emotional cues and respond with compassion. It uses AI to:
- identify the emotional tone of a user’s message
- provide supportive responses or reflective prompts
- share coping tools like mindfulness or grounding exercises
- guide users toward professional help if the situation seems serious
Behind the simplicity is an important layer of ethics. The team behind POMOZI.hr built the platform around privacy by design — it does not collect personal data, store conversation history, or use cookies. Everything stays anonymous, creating a sense of safety for people who may be hesitant to open up elsewhere.
The Croatian context: why this matters
Mental health has become a pressing topic in Croatia, especially among young people. Rising stress, anxiety, and depression rates — combined with the ongoing stigma around seeking psychological help — have created a need for accessible and judgment-free support.
That’s where POMOZI.hr steps in. The platform was developed by Split-based tech company Codeasy in collaboration with psychologists and AI specialists. Their goal was to create something simple yet powerful — a digital listener that could reach anyone, anywhere, anytime.
The platform’s creators note that many people struggle silently, unsure where to turn. With POMOZI.hr, support is just one click away, available 24/7 and completely free.
What people can expect
Visitors to POMOZI.hr can:
🌿 Talk freely and anonymously. No sign-up, no names, no tracking.
💬 Choose a topic that best describes how they feel — from sadness to burnout or panic.
🪷 Receive immediate, empathetic responses from the AI chatbot.
📞 Access crisis lines and mental-health contacts across Croatia for further help.
Each chat ends with a gentle reminder that help is available and that talking about how you feel is always a step forward.
AI and the human touch
A recent Croatian study explored how patients with mental-health disorders perceive AI chatbots like POMOZI.hr compared to human professionals. The findings were clear — while chatbots can offer comfort and accessibility, people still trust human psychiatrists far more when it comes to depth, empathy, and understanding.
And that’s perfectly fine. The point of AI in mental health isn’t to replace humans, but to reach people earlier — to open the door before things get worse, and to connect them with real professionals when they’re ready.
In that sense, POMOZI.hr complements rather than competes with traditional care. It’s a first step, not a final solution.
Why this fits into the AI2MED story
For AI2MED, which explores how AI can transform healthcare and education, POMOZI.hr is a powerful local example of human-centred innovation. It embodies what responsible AI in medicine should look like:
- built on ethics, transparency, and privacy
- designed to support professionals, not replace them
- focused on real human needs rather than technological hype
It also shows why digital literacy and AI education are vital. Future healthcare workers need to understand how AI tools work, where they can help, and where their limits lie — especially in sensitive fields like mental health.
Looking ahead
Croatia is still at the early stages of integrating AI into healthcare, but projects like POMOZI.hr show the potential of technology when guided by empathy. As AI tools evolve, their success will depend not on how smart the algorithms are, but on how human-centred and trustworthy they remain.
POMOZI.hr is a reminder that sometimes, the most innovative thing technology can do is listen.
