Personal support, scaled with AI
Sonny provides on-demand, tailored support that evolves with each student. Guided by real trained humans, Wellbeing Companions, and scaled with AI, Sonny learns from ongoing chats to deliver personalized and supportive responses that help students feel truly seen and heard.
Our Human-In-The-Loop model allows us to support more students and school districts at a fraction of a cost of traditional mental health support tools.
What can Sonny chat about?
Whether students are stressing over a test, stuck in friendship drama, or just need to let it all out, Sonny is there—no judgment, no pressure, just real support. Conversations feel natural, like chatting with a friend who actually listens (and gives pretty solid advice).
Here are just a few things students open up about with Sonny:
Proactive care, built for privacy
Sonny doesn’t just wait for students to reach out—they check in when it matters most. Powered by Sonar’s advanced AI and human oversight, Sonny can recognize early signs of emotional distress based on student interactions, including text-based conversations and social media insights (always with full consent). This proactive approach helps students get support before challenges escalate, ensuring they feel seen, supported, and never alone.
We continually hear from our school partners that supporting an increasing number of students' mental health challenges can be extremely challenging because of staffing and capacity constraints, budget, issues arising outside of school or online, lack of training, etc. Sonar helps solve these challenges through:
- 24/7 support that meets students where they are
- Crisis escalation that avoids schools from having to handle student crisis outside school hours
- Seamless coordination with support teams to equip schools with valuable data and insights
- An easy place to refer students when wait times to see a counselor may be getting extended
- Allowing you to reach WAY more of your students at a fraction of the cost of hiring additional staff or external therapy provider
We can do all this while improving students outcomes, such as improved wellbeing, reduced chronic absenteeism, reduced student disciplinary rates and improved grades.
Wellbeing Companions are trained and certified supporters (not licensed mental health professionals) in their early to mid 20s. They receive support and oversight from Sonar’s Clinical Team, a group of licensed mental health professionals. We use Wellbeing Companions because they are closer in age to the students we support and share similar backgrounds (an intentional part of our hiring practices) in order for them to better empathize and connect with the students. Another added benefit is it allows us to deliver Sonar at a more affordable cost.
🔗Learn more about Sonar’s Wellbeing Companions and our Clinical Team
Sonar recognizes the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to address the cost, access, and stigma challenges in youth mental health. However, AI alone is not yet advanced enough to provide the level of care students deserve.
That’s why our human-in-the-loop (HIL) system remains a core pillar of the platform. Every message to and from Sonny is read and written by a Wellbeing Companion, and AI is used to streamline and scale their workflows— much like an operational assistant.
The impact of combining AI’s scalability with the power of human connection is clear:
- Students feel more seen through personalized, trustworthy support.
- Schools reach more students without straining resources.
- Families gain confidence in AI-driven solutions that prioritize safety, transparency, and effectiveness.
By integrating AI with human expertise, Sonar ensures that mental health support is both accessible and responsible—building a future where students receive the care they deserve when they need it most.
Students can chat with Sonny, their personal Wellbeing Companion, about anything on their mind—from everyday stress to more serious challenges.
Common topics include:
- Academic stress
- Social conflicts, dating, or breakups
- Bullying & peer pressure
- Anxiety, depression, & grief
Sonny provides a safe, judgment-free space where students can express themselves openly. Every conversation is guided by our Wellbeing Companions, ensuring thoughtful supportive responses and early intervention when needed.
Sonar follows a clinically informed escalation protocol to ensure student safety while prioritizing privacy and autonomy. In a crisis situation, we:
- Engage with the student. Provide immediate support and suggest crisis resources like 988.
- Contact emergency support. Notify the student’s designated emergency contact with detailed information to facilitate immediate support.
- Should the student stop responding, we can’t reach their emergency contact, and we believe there is imminent risk of harm to self or others, we will escalate to emergency services.
Sonar and its Wellbeing Companions do not provide medical advice, provide medical supervision, practice medicine, engage in clinical social work, or practice mental healthcare in any way. Please contact a licensed professional to receive such services or, in an emergency, call 911.
We recommend doing an in-person implementation where we travel to your school to do in-person presentations to your parents, staff and students. We require no technical integrations, which means once you want to implement Sonar, we can be up and running in 1-2 weeks. Quick & easy!
After implementation, we periodically coordinate with your school-based support staff, sharing data and insights to empower you to be more effective. We also encourage you to continue to highlight Sonar to students, so they know we are available.
🔗For further information or to discuss your school's specific needs, get in touch with us. (link: https://www.sonarmentalhealth.com/demo-form)
