SafeUT could expand nationwide after 10 years of successful student crisis prevention
Jan 20, 2026, 2:23 PM | Updated: 2:46 pm
(SafeUT)
(SafeUT)
SALT LAKE CITY — Tuesday marks the 10-year anniversary of SafeUT. The program has become so successful that Utah leaders are now looking to expand the program nationwide.
SafeUT is the app and program where students can report mental health or safety concerns. As of June last year, Safe UT’s website reports 329,624 people have downloaded the app. There have been 203,340 chat messages and 80,658 tips submitted on the app, which has led to 2,760 emergency interventions.
Representative Steve Eliason told KSL NewsRadio he has been working with Senator John Curtis on taking this technology national.
“They say states are the laboratories of democracy and we’ve had such great success with this program in Utah that we will soon be having this bill rolled out that will allow all states to be able to utilize it,” Eliason said.
Eliason said because of SafeUT, Utah has seen suicide rates go down and school shootings have been thwarted because of this early warning system.
“The name SafeUT has become synonymous with student safety,” said David Eldredge, Chief Administrative Officer at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. “Public, private, and charter schools have been onboarded and with every download it is reaching those people it’s designed to help.”
There are now three iterations of the app: one originally designed for students, one for frontline workers and one for national guard members.
Eldredge said during a celebration of the 10-year anniversary that the app does a good job of addressing the two biggest hurdles to addressing mental health concerns: stigma and access.
“It’s not just an app, it’s an entire system of care,” Eldredge said.
Eliason stated that the bill to expand nationwide is still in the works, so the details on what that looks like are not yet being disclosed. However, he is excited to share this successful program with other states that could benefit.
“We just felt it was incumbent upon us to share what we know and to make both the technology and the know-how available to any school or any state that wants to implement what we’ve done here in Utah,” Eliason said.
