OMAHA -- A year after it launched, nearly 700 people have downloaded a Nebraska app designed to help young people cope with mental health issues and prevent youth suicide.
Now, the Nebraska State Suicide Prevention Coalition and its partners are seeking to spread the word about the My Companion app and get it into the hands — and the phones — of more young people.
The app has a variety of features and is divided into four main areas: reflections, connections, resources and emergency. With it, users can log daily reflections, input contacts who they can reach out to for help and support if they’re having a difficult time and tap into a variety of resources. They can click and directly access the .
A year after its launch, nearly 700 people have downloaded the My Companion app, which is designed to help young people cope with mental health issues and prevent youth suicide.
BRYAN HEALTH
“That’s the whole idea behind the app, is it provides connectedness,” said Dr. Dave Miers, the coalition’s founder and senior director of behavioral health services at Bryan Medical Center. “The research shows the more connected youth are, the less likely they are to hurt themselves or use substances.”
Miers said the idea for the app came from a police officer who had learned about a similar app in Utah released under the name SafeUT. Work on a Nebraska app, which is modeled on the Utah tool, began in summer 2018 and was created in collaboration with Don’t Panic Labs and Boys Town National Hotline. The Kim Foundation, a statewide organization focused on suicide prevention, provided an initial grant.
Once the software developers had created a skeleton app, the coalition held a youth suicide prevention summit. Some 40 youths from across the state tried the app and provided feedback.
“Overwhelmingly, we had great feedback that we were going in the right direction,” Miers said. The app was released last February.
Utah officials, he said, have reported that that state’s app and other interventions have resulted in a reduction in the number of youths who were expressing suicidal thoughts.
In Nebraska, suicide is the leading cause of death among people between ages 15 and 24. Overall, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the state.
Miers said the app is among the interventions outlined in , which will be implemented over the next three years.
The Kim Foundation created the 47-page document with the coalition and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to provide guidelines for individuals, businesses, schools, medical professionals, communities and other agencies to prevent suicide. It replaces another statewide strategic plan that was created in 2016.
Miers said the app is loaded with resources for the Omaha and Lincoln areas. But the coalition’s goal is to add resources for communities that want to localize it.
While the app is geared toward youths, who are used to connecting with others via technology, it can be used by people of any age.
“It’s encouraging them to communicate their feelings by reaching out to others through technology,” he said.
To download My Companion from the Apple App Store, visit .
To get it from Google Play, go to .
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