Anonymous Helpline To Report School Concerns Launches Statewide

ILLINOIS — A safety helpline for Illinois students to report bullying and campus violence and get help with mental health expanded statewide last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday.

Safe2Help Illinois is a safe way for students to report issues happening in their school, state officials said. The service is entirely confidential.

"By encouraging kids to seek help before harm, we're making it so school officials, mental health professionals, and area law enforcement are better equipped to help prevent suicides, bullying, school violence or other threats to school and student safety," Pritzker said in a statement.

Safe2Help Illinois is now available to all schools for no additional cost. The hotline is available 24/7 and can be accessed through an app, text message or phone call. A "trusted adult" will be on the receiving end of requests for help, but Pritzker's office did not answer questions on what qualifications hotline workers will have.

Officials did address concerns from parents and staff that the service would be a way for students to purposefully get their peers in trouble.

"This program is not intended to suspend, expel or punish students; rather, the goal is to encourage students to 'Seek Help Before Harm,'" officials said.

During the past school year, 19 Illinois public schools helped pilot the new program and reported an increase of reporting on cases of suicidal ideation, bullying, self-harm and sexual assault. As of October, officials said 31 Illinois schools had registered with the hotline intervention service.

Pritzker said the program is voluntary for schools to opt into, but that doesn't mean students from districts who choose to forego Safe2Help can't contact the help line. In cases where a student in a district not enrolled in the service makes a call for assistance, officials said local law enforcement, school officials or mental health professionals will still be notified and forwarded the student's information.

"In almost every case involving a mass school shooting there was someone, usually a fellow student, who had some advance warning or reason to believe that violence was possible," Illinois Emergency Management Agency director Alicia Tate-Nadeau said in a statement.

Tate-Nadeau said the hotline will field calls from kindergarten through 12th grade students.

While the program advertises a way to get ahead of violence, some school officials have commented on the ability to put a student in touch with a mental health professional as cases of anxiety and depression permeate classrooms.

In a statement, officials said the hotline may be preferable for students too shy or scared to approach a school guidance counselor or their guardian.

"As rates of anxiety, depression and other mental disorders in children continue to increase across the country, it is important we give young people the resources they need to reach emotional wellness," Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said in a statement.

State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala echoed the state's concern for mental health, which has become a priority for social and emotional learning amidst loss and isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

Students and parents can learn more about the program at Safe2HelpIL.com.