As the school districts struggle to support the mental health of their students, he called a startup Mental Health of Sonar He has built a “welfare partner” called Sonny to help.
As Described in the Wall Street JournalSonny is a chatbot that is based on a combination of human personnel and AI. When students send their questions to Sonny to Sonny, the AI suggests an answer, but those responsible for the message are humans.
Sonar signed its first school association in January 2024 and says that it is now available for more than 4,500 high school and secondary students in nine districts. The company says that chats are being monitored by a team of six people with a history in psychology, social work and crisis line support.
The CEO Drew Bavir told the magazine that it makes clear students and schools that Sonny is not a therapist, and that sound employees will work with schools and parents to find therapists for students when appropriate.
A great reason why this approach could appeal to school districts is a current shortage in the directors: the Department of Education says that 17% of secondary schools do not have a secondary school at all.