A new resource to help keep First State students safe in and out of school is rolling out.
SAFE DE replaces the STOPit app used in most Delaware schools to offer students a way to report bullying and other mental health concerns.
The new app expands on that, giving students access to a variety of resources to address mental health, safety concerns, food insecurity, housing, and more.
It’s separated into 3 sections. Two, ASK FOR HELP and CRISIS TEXT LINE allow students to immediately and anonymously speak with local school contacts and non-local trained crisis counselors. The third, GET RESOURCES, is one Middletown High School senior Alex Opiya says will be helpful to many students.
“It also talks about resources to deal with anxiety and stress. It provides websites so we don't always have to just reach out to someone, we can just kind of read on our own what to do.”
Parkhill Mays is the CEO of STOPit solutions, creator of the SAFE DE app. He says while the resources are localized to school districts, any community member can use it.
“We built the solution so that it's configurable right down to the campus level,” said Mays. “There's some state level resources which are packaged in, but every district can upload their own brand, their own logo, if they choose. And they can certainly put in local resources directly on the home screen of the mobile app.”
This includes things like local food pantries, and suicide prevention resources.
The other two sections, ASK FOR HELP and CRISIS TEXT LINE, allow students to immediately and anonymously speak with local school contacts and non-local trained crisis counselors.
Middletown High junior Jake Alexander says he’s confident this app will be widely used.
“I think since it's on all the district devices that people will be more comfortable using it knowing it's completely anonymous, that they can just submit something anytime and not have to worry about it, you know, someone seeing what they're saying outside of that conversation.”
The Appoquinimink School District is one of the first districts to transfer from STOPit to SAFE DE.
“Right now we are either live or will be live in about 82% of all districts. We're working to make it 100%,” said Mays. “That's a big effort, and there are other programs in place. Our advice is if you have other programs, and they work for you, keep them. Where they're not working perfectly, we have a wonderful brand, that's branded in the state’s image. A lot of local affinity from doing it that way.”
They aim to go from 82% to 100% district use over the next 6 months.
