Ten Years of Saving Lives and Strengthening Youth Mental Health Across Utah.

Salt Lake City, UT — SafeUT founders, partners, and stakeholders today celebrated ten years of measurable success in strengthening youth mental health, preventing suicide, and improving school safety across Utah, marking a decade of impact built on early intervention, trusted partnerships, and lives saved. 

In 2014, Utah faced an unacceptably high youth suicide rate, then the leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to 24, alongside rising concerns about school safety. State Senator Daniel Thatcher and Attorney General Sean Reyes collaborated on legislation that established the School Safety Tip Line and created a statewide commission to oversee it, chaired by the Office of the Utah Attorney General. The commission brought together K–12 and higher education leaders, behavioral health professionals, law enforcement, elected officials, and community members. The commission worked for two years to develop the now well-known SafeUT app.

The SafeUT app was officially launched in 2016 and was redeveloped by the University of Utah to provide a confidential, accessible connection to licensed mental health counselors. All SafeUT counselors hold master’s level degrees and are employed by Huntsman Mental Health Institute at University of Utah Health. Today, SafeUT services are available via mobile app, Chromebooks, and other web-enabled devices through the secure website SafeUT.org, offering crisis counseling, school safety tip reporting, and access to critical mental health resources.

“I started SafeUT because Utahns in crisis didn’t know where to turn, and I was determined to build a tool that would connect them instantly with real help,” said former Senator Thatcher. “From the beginning, the goal was simple: when people get help, they live. SafeUT was designed to make that help accessible with the push of a button.”

“One of the benefits of SafeUT is that it allows us to get upstream with youth mental health, connecting students early to resources that can benefit them throughout their lifespan,” said Utah State Representative Steve Eliason. “We have seen tremendous improvements in youth suicide rates. Additionally, Utah has thus far been spared from horrific school shootings—both core objectives of SafeUT. It led our commission to add two critical program enhancements – SafeUT National Guard app (2019), and SafeUT Frontline app (2020).” 

Over ten years, SafeUT has become a national model. To date, the program has recorded more than 329,624 app downloads, facilitated 2,760 emergency interventions, supported 203,340 K–12 and higher education chats, and received 80,658 school safety tips; many of which have contributed directly to mitigating credible threats of school violence.

“SafeUT leads our nation as a lifeline for individuals in crisis while empowering students to help prevent school violence,” said former Attorney General Sean Reyes. “The thousands of lives saved represent a remarkable legacy of the people and organizations committed to this mission.”

SafeUT’s anniversary event, hosted by Attorney General Derek Brown and members of the SafeUT Commission, include reflections from Ric Cantrell, Chair of the SafeUT Commission; Attorney General Brown; David Eldredge, Chief Administrative Officer of Huntsman Mental Health Institute; and Shelby McDonald, a nurse who used SafeUT as a high school student to save her best friend’s life; underscoring the program’s real-world impact.

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