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Suicide Prevention

Combine the power of advanced AI technology with Lightspeed Safety Specialists to help prevent student suicide and self-harm.

Spot the warning signs to prevent suicide and self-harm

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people aged 10-14. With students spending so much time online, many warning signs of suicide or depression can be found in their online activity—searches, posts, notes, comments, visits, and views.   

Lightspeed Systems® can help aid in K-12 suicide prevention efforts. Lightspeed Alert™ uses advanced AI and machine learning to assist in student suicide prevention by monitoring student online activity across all sites, analyzing intent, and sending real-time alerts to designated personnel when a student is at risk. That way, safety personnel can intervene before a tragedy occurs.  

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With Lightspeed Alert, our patented device-level agents help safety personnel monitor student activity for signs of suicide, self-harm, and violence anywhere students interact online. Similar to the way your district’s web filter will scan for and block harmful online content, Lightspeed Alert’s AI scans for and flags signs of suicidal intent and ideation by surveying: 

  • What students search 
  • Images students view or share 
  • What students type in online docs 
  • What students post on social media 
  • What students discuss in chat applications

Whether students are on- or off-campus, our advanced machine learning technology analyzes all online activity to identify students at risk of self-harm or suicide (and to differentiate them from students researching subjects that can trigger alerts, such as an essay about To Kill a Mockingbird). Real-time alerts on at-risk students provide all the details and screenshots districts need to understand the level of risk and to intervene with appropriate support.

Human review

We understand a major challenge for schools and districts is continuously monitoring their alert systems. Lightspeed Alert can help, thanks to 24/7/365 human review performed by Lightspeed Safety Specialists.  

Lightspeed Safety Specialists are a global, in-house team trained in CSAM, threat assessment, and suicide prevention. When threats are identified, our human review team immediately contacts school and/or district officials and, when appropriate, law enforcement for intervention.

“I can’t emphasize enough, and how seriously, that Lightspeed Alert saves lives,” said Judy Burgess, Director of Equity and Student Services at Visalia Unified School District in California. “We have instances where we have gotten the alert, called law enforcement, and literally stopped a student from hurting themself. This was for a student we never even expected to have an issue.”

87% of Lightspeed Alert flags within Visalia Unified School District were issued for students who were not otherwise on the district’s radar.

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Understand the risk

Understanding the mindset of an individual student cannot be achieved with the alert alone—context is required. That’s why Lightspeed Alert provides not only an alert but also screenshots of the flagged behavior and a detailed view of activity before and after the alert to help personnel determine the intent and mindset of students potentially at risk. This ensures safety personnel have the proper context to aid students in need.

More than 3,700 students attempt suicide each day in the U.S. alone.

Build a community focused on safety

Student safety and suicide prevention are school-wide efforts. With Lightspeed Alert, schools can designate district administrators, counselors, teachers, and principals to receive alerts for their schools or groups to get the right information in the right hands at the right time.

87% of Lightspeed Alert flags within Visalia Unified School District were issued for students who were not otherwise on the district’s radar.

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Visibility for safety across the web

The more student activity districts can monitor for warning signs, the stronger the suicide prevention efforts will be. Lightspeed Alert works on any site—from search engines to social media, YouTube to Google docs. 

When an alert came through from a student’s Google doc, Lightspeed Safety Specialist Jason Veselka was quick to act: the student had written, “I won’t kill myself yet.” Jason immediately escalated the incident to the district safety personnel, who were able to get the student help. 

Lightspeed Alert vs. the Competition

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