Nidal Alrouh

Mental health support platform for Moroccans - Open source, non-profit. Built with React and scalable full stack architecture.

2023-01-01

full-stackOpen GitHub

Nidal Alrouh — نضال الروح

"The Soul's Struggle" — an open-source, non-profit mental health support platform built for the Moroccan and broader MENA community. It connects people seeking emotional support with trained volunteer helpers in a safe, anonymous, and culturally aware environment.

No ads. No fees. No monetization of user data. Just people helping people.

Why it exists

Mental health support in Morocco and the Arab world faces two real barriers: cultural stigma and a lack of culturally-sensitive resources. Most available platforms are built for Western audiences, in English, with no understanding of the social dynamics or languages of the people they're trying to reach.

Nidal Alrouh is built differently. Arabic with full RTL layout, French, and English. Peer support rather than clinical framing. Anonymous by default. Community-driven from day one.

Two sides of the platform

For seekers — people looking for support:

Browse verified volunteer helpers filtered by specialization, language, and availability
Schedule sessions through a Cal.com integration
Encrypted real-time chat with helpers
Private journal with mood tracking and guided reflection prompts
Curated resource library (articles, videos, educational content)
Community forum for anonymous shared experiences
Workshops, webinars, and peer support group events

For helpers — volunteer supporters:

Guided onboarding with training guidelines
Cal.com scheduling for managing availability
Dashboard with session history, ratings, and feedback
Full session lifecycle management with notes

Stack

Frontend

Tech	Role
Next.js 15 + React 19	App framework with App Router
TypeScript	Type safety throughout
Tailwind CSS + Radix UI	Styling and accessible components
React Query	Server state management
React Hook Form + Zod	Forms and validation
Socket.io Client	Real-time chat
Tiptap	Rich text editor for journal
Recharts	Dashboard analytics
Cal.com Embed	Session scheduling widget
next-intl	Full i18n (Arabic RTL, French, English)

Backend

Tech	Role
NestJS + Fastify	High-performance API server
Prisma + PostgreSQL	Type-safe ORM and relational database
Socket.io	WebSocket server for real-time chat
Passport.js	Authentication strategies
Argon2	Password hashing
Zod	Runtime validation on all endpoints
Pino	Structured logging

DevOps

Yarn Workspaces monorepo with apps/frontend and apps/backend under one roof. Docker Compose for local PostgreSQL. Deployed on Railway.

Security

This platform handles sensitive mental health data, so security was designed in from the start:

Argon2 password hashing
JWT with refresh token rotation — sessions tracked in the database with IP and user agent
Encrypted messages at rest
Rate limiting at three tiers: 3 req/s, 20 req/10s, 100 req/15min
Helmet for HTTP security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, CORS)
Input validation via Zod schemas on every endpoint
Content moderation with profanity filters and post reporting

Internationalization

Full support for three languages with dedicated translation files and proper RTL layout for Arabic:

Language	Code	Direction
English	`en`	LTR
French	`fr`	LTR
Arabic	`ar`	RTL

Architecture

nidal-alrouh/
├── apps/
│   ├── frontend/          Next.js 15, i18n, real-time UI
│   └── backend/           NestJS, Prisma, Socket.io, auth
├── docker-compose.yml     Local PostgreSQL + pgAdmin
└── package.json           Yarn workspaces root

The backend is organized into feature modules: auth, users, helpers, sessions, chat, journal, resources, and community. Each module owns its own routes, service layer, and Prisma queries.