In southern Utah, one company has looked to one of the biggest ways teens communicate text messaging.
Aydia Mellow, a SchoolPulse positive intervention team member, left, and her father, SchoolPulse psychologist Iuri Mellow, work with students via text in St. George on Thursday, April 8, 2021. SchoolPulse contracts with junior and high schools to offer counseling and mental health resources delivered by text. More than 20 schools are using it with thousands of students.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
About four years ago, several suicides happened in area high schools, said Iuri Melo, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist in St. George. His friend, a principal, reached out to him for ideas to deal with the “tremendous pressure” he faced trying to respond to tragedy in his school.