How Cyberbullying and A Teen Suicide Spawned Mission-Driven Innovative Safety and Wellness Company

To those we’ve not yet had the privilege of working with, we thank you for engaging with our content throughout the year and taking the time to learn more about the solutions and services we provide. We hope to one day call you partners as well.

For those who don’t know our story, please indulge me for a few moments and allow me to share our WHY.

On Oct 10, 2012, our founder heard the story of Amanda Todd, which changed his life forever. Amanda was a victim of cyber-bullying and cruel taunting by peers and strangers. Coerced by a man posing as a friend, Amanda shared an intimate photo via webcam. The man subsequently shared the picture and even made a social media page using the photo as his profile picture. After years of relentless bullying and even a physical attack, without anyone else to talk to, Amanda shared her story on YouTube. She then took her life at age 15.

“I believed the key to helping people like Amanda was to empower them to use the same technology that was inflicting hurt to ask for help,” he said.

“At that moment, STOPit was born.”

While that initial vision of our founding group still lies at the core of who we are and what we do, we have evolved into a broader Safety & Wellness Solutions & Services Provider with a robust portfolio focused on creating safer, healthier, and better-connected schools and communities.

Now that you know who we are, I’d like to share some information that might be helpful to you as you continue to evaluate safety & wellness solutions as part of your budget planning for the 2023-2024 school year and beyond.

Our portfolio focuses on three core components, enhanced by a suite of complementary solutions & services and supported by our team of passionate professionals whose mission is to be an extension of your team, assisting in keeping your students, staff, and school communities safe.

First, our Flagship School Safety Platform, STOPit’s Anonymous Reporting System (ARS):

Schools across the country are facing tons of challenges. Students everywhere see and hear about potentially dangerous incidents but choose not to say anything. The most predominant reasons are that they don’t want to be labeled a snitch, and some say they aren’t sure who to talk to. Just listen to these numbers…85% of student incidents are witnessed by their peers, 70% of people who take their own lives give advance warning signs, and only 20-30% of students report incidents to adults.

Statistics also show that students are less reluctant to come forward if they can remain anonymous.

Our Anonymous Reporting System allows students to report safety, misconduct, or personal concerns to help others or themselves through a simple-to-use mobile app, website (including iPad and Chromebook), or telephone hotline.

Our ARS gives you a solution to the challenges your school faces. We offer a way to deter behavior, mitigate risk, prevent violence, and save lives. STOPit’s Anonymous Reporting System teaches students, parents, and staff how to recognize and report the signs of at-risk behaviors to admins. Admins are then able to assess, manage and resolve incidents.

Aside from the benefits of being Anonymous discussed earlier, students mostly engage our platform on an interface they are very comfortable with – a mobile app with text-like functionality. Reporting is simple, fast, and powerful, and our engagement team promotes best practices that elicit actionable information for administrators that can be used to avert a tragedy. We take the guesswork out of reporting at-risk behaviors and ultimately creating safer, healthier, and better-connected learning environments.

Next up, our HELPme Platform

Students are struggling. Acts of school violence and suicide rates continue to rise. Millions of students take that walk, Monday through Friday, through the front doors of their schools. Backpacks are filled with physical items such as books, pencils, notebooks, pens, and perhaps lunch or a snack. What we can’t see are the things weighing them down emotionally, with hurt, trauma, loss, and anger.

HELPme is designed to meet the school community's needs by providing access and linkages to resources for basic needs, mental health, and family resilience while ensuring the privacy and dignity all people deserve.

Delivered on our highly configurable mobile platform, HELPme provides support and resources to students, families, and staff through a healing-centered interface. The HELPme app by STOPit Solutions trains all school users on the importance of asking for help, the recognition of asking for help as a critical life skill, and a safe way to practice asking for and receiving help from one’s first interaction with the school.

HELPme provides access to HELP in 3 ways based on the user’s comfort level.

It’s hard to ask for help, but it is an important life skill to learn. HELPme builds engagement by increasing the agency and efficacy of users while reducing frustration and avoiding shame. Two-way anonymous chat means you keep the person without the personality, and the ability to select how you want help ensures that help looks the way you expect it to and there are no surprises.

Whether asking for your student to be handled with care for private reasons or seeking to be linked with needed resources, everyone deserves to have their basic needs met. Meet the needs of your school community, build Family Engagement and student safety.

Finally, our 911-Direct Panic Alert System:

We know that in emergency situations, panic and fear are usually the first emotions individuals feel. In those moments, we may find ourselves frantically trying to get help. When we’re afraid, often we aren’t as effective as we’d be under normal circumstances.

Our 911-Direct Panic Alert System is designed to be an all-in-one reporting, mass communication, emergency management, and incident resolution system for designated admins and staff, all in the palm of your hands.

The system allows you to instantly alert, inform and request help from staff. In the case of a life-threatening situation or other emergencies, your nearest 911 center enables faster responses, more effective actions, and better outcomes.

When help is needed, whether life or non-life-threatening, Panic lets assigned users instantly request assistance from colleagues and/or 911 with a simple push of a button, significantly improving internal and emergency response time. Ultimately helping you reach safety quicker.

Before I sign off and wish you a wonderful rest of your Holiday Season, I’d like to share with you the key component of what makes STOPit different.

Our 24/7/365 Crisis Center:

Our Crisis Center is our difference maker and the most important component of our solutions. A team of passionate and special people, they are always on and always have your back!

During the school day, In the middle of the night, on the weekends, and during all school breaks. This standard support feature includes 24/7/365 emergency monitoring of all reports and help requests by highly trained and certified STOPit in-house team members who will notify predefined account administrators and or 911 as needed of any life-threatening situation or imminent threat.

Our Crisis Center Team is trained in psychological first aid and mental health, including suicide and depression, de-escalation, and crisis management.

I once again, thank you for your time and wish you a Safe, Happy, and Healthy Holiday Season. We hope that if you like what you’ve read, and you will allow our team to be part of your extended team.