SafeSpace Educare

A digital mental health & wellness support platform for students and educational institutions

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What is SafeSpace Educare?

SafeSpace Educare is a full-stack web platform that connects students with mental health support in a safe, confidential environment. Students can chat anonymously with counselors, book one-on-one sessions, track their mood, access wellness resources, log victories, and share experiences with peers — all from a single dashboard.

Counselors manage their sessions, respond to anonymous chats, and view session notes. Administrators get a platform-wide analytics view to monitor engagement and counselor activity.

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Production

• Frontend: https://safespace.aimelive.com
• Backend API docs (Swagger): https://api-safespace.aimelive.com/api/docs#/

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Table of Contents

• Production
• Features
• Architecture
• User Roles
• Project Structure
• Quick Start
• Environment Variables
• API Overview
• Authentication Flow
• Database Schema
• Deployment

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Features

For Students

Feature	Description
Anonymous Chat	Start a confidential chat session with a counselor. Identity is never revealed.
Session Booking	Browse counselors and book a one-on-one counseling session.
Mood Check-in	Log daily mood entries and track emotional trends over time.
Exercises	Access guided mental wellness exercises and activities.
Resources	Browse and save curated mental health articles and guides.
Victories	Record and celebrate personal achievements and milestones.
Testimonies	Share and read community stories of growth and resilience.

For Counselors

Feature	Description
Sessions Dashboard	View all booked sessions with student details, date, time, and topic.
Session Notes	Add private notes and update session status (scheduled / completed / cancelled).
Anonymous Chats	View and respond to student chat sessions — student identity stays hidden.
Analytics	See session statistics and common topic trends for their caseload.

For Administrators

Feature	Description
Platform Overview	Live counts of students, counselors, sessions, open chats, and resources.
Session Breakdown	Scheduled vs completed vs cancelled counts with visual breakdown.
Common Topics	Most frequent session topics across the whole platform.
Counselor Activity	Per-counselor session totals and completion rates.
Analytics Page	Dedicated full-detail analytics with charts and progress indicators.

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Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Browser                          │
│              Next.js 16 (App Router, React 19)          │
│         Tailwind CSS · shadcn/ui · Lucide Icons         │
└───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                        │  HTTP / REST (JSON)
                        │  Bearer JWT
                        ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│               NestJS 10 REST API  (:5001)               │
│         Global prefix: /api  ·  Swagger: /api/docs      │
│                                                         │
│  Auth · Sessions · Chat · Moods · Resources · Posts     │
│  Victories · Analytics · Health                         │
│                                                         │
│  Guards: JwtAuthGuard · RolesGuard · ThrottlerGuard     │
│  Filters: HttpExceptionFilter                           │
│  Cache: in-memory (or Redis)                            │
└───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                        │  pg driver / connection pool
                        ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    PostgreSQL                           │
│  users · sessions · chat_sessions · chat_messages       │
│  moods · resources · saved_resources · posts · victories│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key design decisions:

• Stateless JWT authentication — no sessions stored server-side
• All SQL via parameterised queries (no ORM, using Kysely type definitions)
• Anonymous chat implemented via is_anonymous flag — counselors see "Anonymous Student" only
• Auto-migration runs on server start — no separate migration runner needed
• Rate limiting: 100 requests / 60 s per IP across all endpoints
• Analytics results cached (60 s) to reduce database load

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User Roles

student    → full wellness dashboard, anonymous chat, session booking
counselor  → sessions management, chat responses, analytics view
admin      → platform-wide analytics, counselor activity overview

Each role has a dedicated sidebar navigation and role-appropriate dashboard. The JWT payload carries { id, email, role } — the backend enforces access with RolesGuard.

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Project Structure

safespace-educare/
├── frontend/                  # Next.js application
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── auth/              # Login & register pages
│   │   └── dashboard/         # Protected dashboard routes
│   │       ├── page.tsx       # Role-aware home (student/counselor/admin)
│   │       ├── layout.tsx     # Sidebar layout (all roles)
│   │       ├── chat/          # Anonymous chat page
│   │       ├── sessions/      # Counselor sessions page
│   │       ├── analytics/     # Admin analytics page
│   │       ├── book-session/
│   │       ├── mood/
│   │       ├── exercises/
│   │       ├── resources/
│   │       ├── victories/
│   │       └── testimonies/
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── features/
│   │   │   └── anonymous-chat.tsx
│   │   ├── student-dashboard.tsx
│   │   ├── counselor-dashboard.tsx
│   │   ├── admin-dashboard.tsx
│   │   └── ui/                # shadcn/ui components
│   └── lib/
│       ├── api.ts             # Centralised fetch wrapper
│       └── services/          # Per-feature API service modules
│
└── backend/                   # NestJS application
    └── src/
        ├── main.ts            # Bootstrap, Swagger, CORS, global pipes
        ├── app.module.ts      # Root module
        ├── auth/              # Register, login, JWT strategy
        ├── chat/              # Anonymous chat sessions & messages
        ├── sessions/          # Counseling session booking & management
        ├── moods/             # Mood check-in tracking
        ├── resources/         # Resource library
        ├── posts/             # Community posts
        ├── victories/         # Personal victories
        ├── analytics/         # Dashboard & admin analytics
        ├── database/          # PostgreSQL pool, Kysely types, migrations
        ├── cache/             # Cache module (memory or Redis)
        ├── health/            # Health check endpoint
        └── common/            # Guards, decorators, filters, types

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

Tool	Minimum version
Node.js	18+
npm	9+
PostgreSQL	14+

You can use a hosted PostgreSQL service such as Neon or Supabase instead of a local instance.

1 — Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/aimelive/safespace-educare.git
cd safespace-educare

2 — Set up the backend

cd backend
cp .env.example .env          # copy the template
# edit .env — fill in DATABASE_URL and JWT_SECRET at minimum
npm install
npm run start:dev             # runs on http://localhost:5001

The server auto-creates all required tables on first boot. No separate migration step.

3 — Set up the frontend

cd frontend
cp .env.local.example .env.local   # or create manually
# set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5001
npm install
npm run dev                        # runs on http://localhost:3000

4 — Open in browser

URL	Description
http://localhost:3000	Main application
http://localhost:5001/api/docs	Swagger / OpenAPI explorer
http://localhost:5001/api/health	API health check

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Environment Variables

Backend (backend/.env)

Variable	Required	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes	—	PostgreSQL connection string
JWT_SECRET	Yes	—	Secret key for signing JWTs — use a long random string in production
JWT_EXPIRES_IN	No	24h	Token lifetime (ms format: 24h, 7d)
PORT	No	5001	Port the API server listens on
NODE_ENV	No	development	development / production / test
CORS_ORIGIN	No	*	Allowed frontend origin — set to your frontend URL in production
CACHE_STORE	No	memory	memory or redis
CACHE_REDIS_URL	No	—	Redis URL (required when CACHE_STORE=redis)
DB_POOL_MAX	No	20	Max PostgreSQL connection pool size

Frontend (frontend/.env.local)

Variable	Required	Default	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL	Yes	http://localhost:5001	Base URL of the backend API

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API Overview

All API routes are prefixed with /api. Protected routes require an Authorization: Bearer <token> header.

Module	Endpoint	Auth	Description
Auth	POST /api/auth/register	Public	Create account
	POST /api/auth/login	Public	Obtain JWT
	GET /api/auth/me	JWT	Current user profile
Sessions	GET /api/sessions/counselors	Public	List available counselors
	POST /api/sessions/book	JWT	Book a session
	GET /api/sessions/my-sessions	JWT	Student's own sessions
	GET /api/sessions/counselor-sessions	JWT	Counselor's assigned sessions
	PATCH /api/sessions/:id	JWT	Update session status / notes
Chat	POST /api/chat/start	JWT	Start anonymous chat session
	POST /api/chat/message	JWT	Send a message
	GET /api/chat/sessions	JWT	List sessions (role-aware)
	GET /api/chat/:chatId	JWT	Get messages for a session
Moods	POST /api/moods	JWT	Log mood entry
	GET /api/moods	JWT	Mood history
Resources	GET /api/resources	JWT	Browse resources
	POST /api/resources/:id/save	JWT	Save a resource
Posts	GET /api/posts	JWT	Community posts
	POST /api/posts	JWT	Create a post
Victories	GET /api/victories	JWT	List victories
	POST /api/victories	JWT	Log a victory
Analytics	GET /api/analytics/dashboard	Counselor/Admin	Counselor session stats
	GET /api/analytics/admin	Admin	Platform-wide stats
Health	GET /api/health	Public	Server health check

Full interactive documentation is available at /api/docs (Swagger UI).

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Authentication Flow

1. User registers or logs in → backend returns { user, token }
2. Frontend stores token in localStorage
3. Every protected API call sends: Authorization: Bearer <token>
4. Backend validates the JWT and extracts { id, email, role }
5. RolesGuard checks role against the required @Roles() decorator
6. Token expires after JWT_EXPIRES_IN (default 24 hours)

Passwords are hashed with bcrypt (10 salt rounds) before storage. The plain-text password is never returned or logged.

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Database Schema

All tables are auto-created on first server start. No manual SQL required.

users
  id UUID PK · email · password (bcrypt) · name · age · role
  school · specialization · available_hours · created_at

sessions
  id UUID PK · student_id FK · counselor_id FK
  scheduled_date · scheduled_time · topic · status · notes
  created_at · updated_at

chat_sessions
  id UUID PK · student_id FK · counselor_id FK (nullable)
  is_anonymous BOOL · status · created_at

chat_messages
  id UUID PK · chat_id FK · sender_id FK · message · created_at

moods
  id · user_id FK · mood_score · note · created_at

resources
  id UUID PK · title · description · url · category · is_active · created_at

saved_resources
  user_id FK · resource_id FK · saved_at

posts
  id · user_id FK · content · likes · created_at

victories
  id · user_id FK · title · description · created_at

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Deployment

Backend

cd backend
npm run build          # compiles TypeScript → dist/
npm run start:prod     # runs node dist/main

Set NODE_ENV=production, a strong JWT_SECRET, and restrict CORS_ORIGIN to your frontend domain.

Frontend

cd frontend
npm run build          # Next.js production build
npm run start          # serves the built app

Or deploy to Vercel — import the frontend/ directory and set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL to your live backend URL.

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Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
3. Commit your changes following conventional commit style
4. Open a pull request with a clear description of the change