Alongside is "an App to Catch Kids Who Are Slipping Through the Cracks"
Fredericksburg City Public Schools is using the mental health support app Alongside this year. It has an AI component, but is not an open-ended social companion bot.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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This school year, Fredericksburg City students in Grade 4 and above whose parents did not opt them out have been enrolled in Alongside, a mental health support app with an AI component.
Division leaders last week acknowledged, in response to concerns raised by parents, that the app was not adequately introduced to families—but they said it’s already resulted in “safety plans” being created for 10 students with significant mental health challenges.
“These are kids who were not on our radar for other issues,” said Matt Eberhardt, deputy superintendent. “This is an app to catch kids who are slipping through the cracks. It can catch kids when something bad is going through their heads.”
Eberhardt stressed that Alongside is “a skill-building platform and a resource, not a replacement for an adult.”
“Always, we want kids talking to a human, not a pamphlet or a program,” he said.
According to its website, Alongside is an AI wellness platform. The company’s head of product and clinical director is Elsa Friis, a Ph.D. and licensed psychologist who earned her degrees at Duke University. A licensed therapist, clinical counselor, and clinical psychologist make up the rest of Alongside’s clinical research and development team.
For students, Alongside features personalized coaching and skill-building activities where students can track their mood, write in a journal, set goals, and work on “superpowers” to help them deal with specific issues such as rebuilding friendships, meeting new people, making decisions, and practicing self-care.
The personalized coaching happens through a chat with Kiwi, Alongside’s llama mascot. This is where the AI component comes in—but the app’s website and Fredericksburg school division leaders stress the difference between chatting with Kiwi and chatting with an open-source AI companion bot.
“[Kiwi is] a chatbot with a scripted mental health response from a clinician’s point of view,” said Maris Wyatt, director of special education for City schools. “It’s not an AI open source platform where you can put in anything and get an answer. It won’t search for an answer for you.”
For example, a student can ask Kiwi for help managing test anxiety or what to do after fighting with a friend, and receive a response, tailored to their concerns, reading level, and language, with tips for working through the issue. But Kiwi won’t provide the answer to a math problem. It also won’t provide medical advice or a diagnosis.
“The horror stories you hear about [around AI chatbots] occur when you can go outside the system,” Wyatt said. “This is a closed loop. It will only recommend activities that have been vetted by the mental health professionals.”
Wyatt said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, “We have experienced a lot of mental health needs in a short period of time.” She said her team looked at several similar mental health support platforms and chose Alongside after learning about it from the developers at a mental health conference last year.
A pilot group of about 200 students—made up of two 4th grade classes and English language learners at Walker-Grant Middle School—used the app during the spring semester last year and “the feedback was very favorable,” Wyatt said.
The division purchased Alongside for $10,000, using funds from a five-year mental health grant received from the Virginia Department of Education. Fredericksburg was among eight divisions in Virginia chosen to receive a portion of the $15 million federal grant awarded to the VDOE in 2023.
So far this year, Wyatt said lack of sleep is the #1 issue that Fredericksburg students—and students across the country, according to Alongside—are asking for help with. After sleep, students in the City are asking for help dealing with some specific challenge, followed by help balancing school work and activities.
According to data the division has gathered so far, 40% of students using Alongside are accessing the chat, and 60% are accessing the other activities, such as journaling and superpower-building.
The app is loaded onto school laptops. The chat feature is accessible between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, Wyatt said, and students can log into the other features during free time in class or with instructor permission.
Alongside comes with screening that will activate an alert any time a student types a trigger word into the chat or into their journal. Nine people in each of the five division schools—a mix of Central Office staff, administrators, counselors, social workers, and psychologists—get the alert, Wyatt said, and someone will do an in-person check-in with the student.
The response time between receiving the alert and personally checking in with the student has been under 15 minutes, Wyatt said. So far, Alongside has activated 15 alerts and 10 of those have led to the development of a safety plan for the student involved.
Eberhardt said this feature is why the division felt it was important for families to have to opt-out of the app, rather than opt-in.
“Opting-out creates a safety net,” he said. “Everyone is in the pool and it catches as many issues as we can.”
Wyatt said that as of last week, 24 families have opted their children out of Alongside. She said families can opt out, or opt back in, at any time.
That messaging was not clear to many of the parents who raised concerns about Alongside at School Board meetings in September and October. Parents also said they were worried about the AI component and about student privacy and the potential sharing of sensitive mental health information. And they said information about the app from the division has been inconsistent.
“I think we could have done a better job rolling it out,” Eberhardt said. “We wanted teachers to get the information out to parents. We don’t believe that happened and that’s a problem. It should have been rolled out at the division level. We should have done a better job.”
Still, Eberhardt said Alongside is valuable as a Tier 1 mental health intervention—meaning it catches all students.
In addition to Alongside, the division is training all 7th grade students in the suicide prevention program SOS Signs of Suicide, and has now administered teen Mental Health First Aid training to all 10th grade students two years in a row.
Eberhardt said the division wants to empower kids to help each other, but, “We’re also not backing away from the message of ‘See something, say something.’”
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NOT one mention of HIPAA privacy and confidentiality rights of students and their parents. Were parents even sent an 'informed consent' document that had both options: opt in; opt out on the form?
Did the 'informed consent' form explain their rights and their children's rights under HIPAA?
Were parents who speak English as a Second Language given their rights in their preferred language?
Were the rights explained verbally in case parents have reduced literacy skills, limited readers in their preferred language, and/or have dyslexia?
Did FCPS ensure interpreters and translators are competent in both languages and have knowledge of any specialized terms?
Were these staff trained in the role and ethics of interpreting/translating, which goes beyond simply being bilingual? Thus, no translation by bilingual staff not trained (e.g., the bilingual classroom para) and definitely not using an older sibling to translate for the parents.
Since this is a pilot program/'experiment', were the parents given the 'Informed consent' form to conduct implementation of the pilot study?
Did the researchers obtain voluntary agreement in writing with signatures/date from parent participants to partake in a study after providing COMPREHENSIVE information about the study’s objectives, procedures, RISKS, benefits, and their rights?
Rights under HIPAA
Much of the responsibility for the law falls to medical and health care professionals, to PROTECT personal information. However, it is also important for parents with children enrolled in school systems who are in a 'pilot study' to UNDERSTAND THE LAW and what their rights are under the law.
When you understand your rights, you can advocate for yourself and your children. Here are some of the most important rights you have under HIPAA:
You have a right to access and get a copy of your electronic medical record. You put a request in writing. sign and date it, and wait 30 days or less.
You have the right to check and request that information on your record is changed if you believe it is incorrect or that something is missing.
Even if a medical institution disagrees with an error you found in your record, you have a right to have a notation made that indicates you believe there is a mistake.
You can send your electronic medical record to a third party, or have it sent for you.
There are valid and legal reasons for a doctor to share your health information, but you have a right to know when, how, and with whom it is shared.
You also have the right to indicate any specific information that you never want shared, even with other physicians or anonymously for public health records.
Family Educational Rights Privacy Act/FERPA and HIPAA are both federal laws that protect the privacy of sensitive information. However, they apply to different types of records and have different disclosure requirements. FERPA applies to student education records, while HIPAA applies to health information. Both laws have similar objectives of protecting privacy and confidentiality, but they have different rules regarding who can access the information and how it can be shared.
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) does not use the "Alongside" app for mental health. FCPS has partnered with Hazel Health for free, confidential teletherapy for HIGH -NOT MIDDLE -school students and uses other resources like its Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which offers a different mobile app-based program for staff.
High school students
Service: Free teletherapy through a partnership with Hazel Health.
Access: Students can receive therapy via live video sessions from home.
Privacy: The service is private and confidential and is compliant with HIPAA confidentiality and privacy standards.
Employees
Service: The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides a CCBT (Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) program.
Access: This program is accessible via mobile app, tablet, or desktop.
Content: It includes a library of evidence-based content to help with issues like stress, worry, and low self-esteem.
Other resources
School-based services: The Fairfax County Community Services Board (CSB) has mental health specialists in some FCPS schools to provide in-person appointments during the school day.
School counselors: Students and families can discuss eligibility for services like the CSB's School-Based Teams or the free Short-Term Behavioral Health (STBH) counseling service with their school's social worker, counselor, or psychologist.