A statewide online service that was meant to curb violence in schools is revealing another troubling trend in high schools.
We spoke with Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who said a majority of the reported cases to the Safe 2 Say Something app are dealing with mental health issues in students.
“We have seen of the 80,000 tips that have come in over the three years that the program has been in existent, 73 percent of those tips have nothing to do with school violence, but instead deal with mental health issues,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro says these issues range from suicide, self-harm, cyberbulling, and bullying. He says it’s now time to act because this is real-world data.
“Really what we have now, is a significant amount of data from young people in our schools who are crying out for mental health care help,” Shapiro said. “I think it’s on all of us to meet their call and help those students out.” Shapiro is calling for more mental health funding in schools and asks community members to be compassionate to students.
The Safe 2 Say Something app can be downloaded wherever you get your apps.