As schools face challenges in providing mental health support to their students, a new startup named Sonar Mental Health has created a helpful tool called Sonny, which acts like a “wellbeing companion.”
Sonny is essentially a chatbot, which means it’s a program that can have conversations with students through text messages. The way it works is a bit unique: when students send their questions or concerns to Sonny, the chatbot first comes up with a suggested response using artificial intelligence (AI). However, before any message is sent back to the students, it is reviewed and finalized by real human staff members. This means that while the chatbot does a lot of the initial work, there are trained people involved to ensure that the responses are appropriate and helpful.
Sonar Mental Health began its journey by partnering with its first school in January 2024. Since then, they have expanded their services and are now available to over 4,500 middle and high school students across nine school districts. To ensure the quality and safety of the conversations, a team of six professionals who have experience in psychology, social work, and crisis support is monitoring the chats.
Drew Bavir, the CEO of Sonar, has made it clear to both students and schools that Sonny is not a substitute for a therapist. Instead, the staff at Sonar are committed to working with schools and parents to help students find a qualified therapist if they need one. This is particularly important because many schools are currently facing a shortage of counselors. According to the Education Department, about 17% of high schools do not have a counselor available at all, which makes tools like Sonny especially valuable for supporting students’ mental health.
