(NewsNation) — A new app is being used to help address students’ mental health and wellness.

School Responder streamlines communications between kids and staff with the goal of preventing suicide and bullying. Its mission is to save lives, and to impact lives long before a tragedy may occur.

Barbara Grimm and Nicole Amelio-Casper discussed the revolutionary approach during an appearance on “Morning in America”.

The app is proactive and “now’s the time we need to act,” Grimm said. Kids’ mental health is “in a very sorry, state. And it was getting that way even before COVID. I saw it developing. And that’s when I started developing the app.”

The School Responder app is completely confidential for a student who reports a potentially dangerous situation or informs counselors of a friend who is suffering. It also links family and friends in an intricate rapid response system to ensure all who need support will receive it without delay. 

“School Responder is really a game-changer,” Amelio-Casper said. “Where students and teachers and counselors, administrators can communicate internally and address mental health needs right away.”

And the response from young people and from schools?

“It’s been fantastic,” Grimm said. “The guidance counselors are telling us that they’re hearing from students that they normally would not have heard from, because they can do it through their fingers the way most children talk today, and they’re most comfortable.”

In the coming months, School Responder will be further tested in the Midwest and across the nation.

You can learn more at the School Responder website.

Watch the full interview in the video player at the top of the page.