Cincinnati Schools Roll Out Tech to Identify Teens Likely to Attempt Suicide

At 10 public schools in Cincinnati, middle and high school students will have a new app looking out for them this year. When a student from those schools goes to the health clinic for a talk with the staff psychologist, an iPhone app will listen to the conversation and flag those students it considers likely to attempt suicide. There's a dire need for tech that can detect young people who need help. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 24, surpassed only by accidents. The tech, which has been tested in the Cincinnati schools during the past two years, comes from John Pestian, director of the computational medicine lab at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.