From Social Work to Tech-Driven Solutions: Harnessing AI for Community Impact

Patty Stoddard Dare, PhD, professor of social work and women’s and gender studies at Cleveland State University (CSU), has built her career at the intersection of disciplines. At a large urban public university serving many first-generation college students, she also co-coordinates the Chemical Dependency Counseling Certificate Program and co-directs the CSU TECH (Technologies, Equity, Community, and Health) Hub.

“I love interdisciplinary work,” she says. “I love putting things together that most people don’t think fit together—but they do.”

With an MSW and a PhD in social work from Washington University in St. Louis and a fellowship in mental health services research through the National Institute of Mental Health, Dare expanded her focus to public interest technology—the use of technology for equity and community impact. As part of the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), she has advanced initiatives that connect innovation with the public good, including co-creating a course on civic data privacy.

Innovating in the Midst of a Crisis

In the heart of Cleveland’s opioid crisis, Dare trains future mental health professionals, equipping them with the skills needed to serve communities in urgent need. “My students come in with incredible experiences and motivation, and I feel in my soul how important it is for them to do a good job,” she says.

Her interest in technology emerged from co-creating drughelp.care, a web application designed to solve a critical community problem. The platform collects detailed data on treatment program availability across Northeast Ohio, allowing providers and individuals to search more than 100 criteria, from co-occurring mental health conditions to pregnancy status, to find the right treatment slot. By connecting people to care more quickly and freeing up time for social workers to focus on direct intervention, the tool has transformed local substance use treatment delivery.

“The success of drughelp.care planted a seed in my brain about the value of using technology to solve vexing community problems,” she reflects. 

Expanding Skills Through AI Leadership

When Cleveland State’s TEC Hub sponsored her tuition for Harvard Medical School’s Leading AI Innovation in Health Care certificate program, Dare saw an opportunity to merge her passions for social work, technology, and interprofessional collaboration.

“My life’s work is to improve the lives of vulnerable and disenfranchised communities,” she says. “If we can all understand one another and work together, we can use technology to solve or greatly alleviate some longstanding problems.”

Dare approached the program eager to learn from faculty and was surprised by the breadth of its impact. “I did not expect to learn so much about the business perspective,” she notes. “Understanding who the stakeholders are and what motivates them was extremely helpful. If I am going to partner with venture capitalists for a public health use of AI, I need to understand what drives their decisions.”

Learning from a Diverse Cohort

Dare found the global cohort to be transformative. Conversations bridged clinical practice, technology, and organizational strategy, and she quickly realized how much could be learned from peers in different fields. She was especially encouraged to find others who were passionate about mental health. “Every single person was open and accepting of me and my background, and we were all able to learn from one another,” she says.

The program’s learning sessions offered both strategic insight and hands-on skills, giving Dare a deeper understanding of AI’s potential in health care and the practical steps needed to make it work in real settings. “I found immense value in every single session,” she says. “I left with a better understanding of the broad facets of this field and with the confidence to speak competently on AI to benefit my colleagues, students, and community.”

A Capstone with Real-World Potential

Dare’s group project focused on Therapy TrAIner, an AI-powered tool that provides feedback to counseling feedback to students in simulated therapy sessions. Building on this idea, she began shaping her own vision for a free ambient listening AI tool to help social work students practice therapeutic skills and increase fidelity to evidence-based practices.

Through the program, Dare has refined her understanding of critical considerations—from the FDA approval process for medical devices to electronic health record (EHR) integration, privacy protections, and sustainable business models.

“This wasn’t just a tech exercise,” she says. “It was about creating a tool that could have a real human impact.”

Bringing the Learning Home

Since completing the program, Dare has begun sharing her knowledge widely. She is developing a series of lectures on AI in health care for her university community and has reached out to professional networks to explore opportunities for presenting her work at the national level. Over the next year, she plans to create and pilot her free AI counseling practice tool.

For Dare, Leading AI Innovation in Health Care was more than professional development—it was a launchpad. “It gave me the framework, the connections, and the confidence to move forward with something I’ve been thinking about for years,” she says. “The challenge now is to make it happen.”

Written By: Meredith Faxon