Closegap and Koko announce partnership offering mental health interventions in K-12 schools
The new partnership will bring Koko’s peer-reviewed support tools into Closegap’s daily check-ins, allowing schools to respond immediately when a student needs an intervention.
"Young people are asking for help in two main places: in school and online," says Rachel Miller, Founder and CEO at Closegap. "Closegap exists to help schools capture and respond to those signals. Koko exists to help online platforms do the same. Integrating our systems helps educators close the loop by using real-time data to connect students with support that is fast, dignified, and backed by serious evidence."
Educators using the Closegap platform can now recommend single-session interventions from Koko, including targeted sessions on body neutrality, self-harm, and safety planning, as a direct response to specific concerns raised during a student’s daily check in.
The single session interventions take between five and ten minutes and are all designed to build a specific skill. Koko say its data shows that after topic-specific sessions, around 70 percent of users report increased hopefulness and 50 percent say share improved body impact.
"Counselors are drowning in need and starved for time," adds Jared B Fries, Director of Partnerships at Closegap. "A ten-minute, evidence-backed intervention that students actually finish is gold. It means a student can check in on Closegap, flag a struggle with body image, and immediately receive a brief, targeted tool that helps them regulate, without waiting days for a referral."
