LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GoGuardian, a leading education technology SaaS provider, today announced that it is looking to meaningfully address the U.S.’s public health suicide crisis, which has become the second-leading cause of death for those aged 10-24, according to the CDC. Students spend one-third of their time in schools, and to help schools address this issue in the way that best suits their needs, GoGuardian has developed three new variations of its suicide and self-harm alert service, Beacon, including a no-cost version. By doing this, GoGuardian is able to help support each school community in its efforts to address student suicide and self-harm, regardless of size, location or resource constraints.
“Student depression and suicidal ideation are serious issues, and schools are trying to use a variety of resources to identify students in need as early as possible so they can effectively intervene and help. As students spend so much of their time online, schools understand the importance of software services that can complement their counseling programs,” said Ellen Yan, general manager and student wellness advocate at GoGuardian. “This is why we’ve integrated Beacon’s capabilities with GoGuardian Admin at no cost so that every school, regardless of its resources, can extend a hand to its students when they need it most. We recognize that some schools want more support, so we have expanded Beacon’s capabilities to include a team of experts who can assess and escalate any acute issues as needed.”
Designed in collaboration with K-12 school districts and leading mental health experts, including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), Beacon identifies students’ online behaviors that could be indicative of suicide or self-harm so that school staff can quickly get at-risk students the assistance they need. Schools are able to tailor Beacon to support their existing suicide prevention protocol, notifying and empowering the right people at their schools with the information to get students help as quickly as possible.
Beacon will be available in three ways:
Beacon 24/7: Is the newest version of Beacon that provides a dedicated team of psychology, trust and safety, community and mental health experts who review and escalate suicide or self-harm active planning alerts. With Beacon 24/7, schools receive alerts that provide context and human review of information—indicating when immediate escalation is necessary. The alerts and their corresponding escalations can be customized for a school or district based on its unique environment and suicide and self-harm prevention policies.
Beacon Core: Provides actionable insights, including identified stages of suicide and self-harm intent, such as research, ideation and active planning. Beacon Core also provides more contextual information that can help the school’s counselor initiate a more productive conversation with the student and conduct early interventions for those in need.
Beacon Starter: Is a complimentary service integrated into GoGuardian Admin so that schools can review suicide active planning alerts from students where intervention may be necessary.
GoGuardian’s Beacon is a service used on school-issued devices, such as Chromebooks and Windows devices, or school-managed accounts. Beacon analyzes the content that students are interacting, creating and consuming across the web, notifying those pre-determined school leaders when online behaviors may indicate that a student is at risk of suicide or self-harm. To learn more about Beacon 24/7, Beacon Core and Beacon Starter, visit: https://www.goguardian.com/beacon
About GoGuardian
GoGuardian, the fastest-growing education company in the U.S., helps thousands of K-12 schools maximize the learning potential of every student. Its products help educators identify learning patterns, protect students from harmful and distracting content, and support mental health. With GoGuardian, educators can seamlessly manage instruction, connect students with engaging resources, and receive actionable insights into students’ individual learning needs.
Learn more about GoGuardian’s industry-defining analytics, student engagement, and self-harm prevention products at www.goguardian.com.
