This mental health chatbot aims to fill the counseling gap at understaffed schools

While school districts have difficulty supporting the mental health of their students, a startup is called Sonar mental health has built a “welfare companion” called Sonny to help.

When described in the Wall Street JournalSonny is a chatbot that depends on a combination of human staff and AI. When students ask for Sonny SMSs, the AI ​​suggests a reaction, but they are people who are ultimately responsible for the message.

Sonar signed his first school partnership in January 2024 and says it is now available for more than 4,500 secondary and secondary students in nine districts. The company says that the chats are currently being monitored by a team of six people with backgrounds in psychology, social work and crisis line support.

CEO Drew Bavir told the journal that he makes it clear to students and schools that Sonny is not a therapist, and that Sonar -employees with schools and parents will collaborate to find therapists for students where necessary.

A big reason why this approach can rely on school districts is a current shortage of counselors – the educational department says that 17% of high schools have no counselor at all.