DENTON (UNT), Texas -- The University of North Texas Mental Health Taskforce is partnering with eReadia LLC to bring the "Just in Case" smartphone application – a handheld suicide prevention and mental health outreach platform – to UNT students. The app facilitates a connection between emergency response agencies and students who are experiencing a mental health crisis. It has been customized for the UNT campus and provides information and intervention tools to students.

"We want to eliminate the stigma often associated with mental illness and increase help-seeking behaviors," said Teresa McKinney, chair of the Mental Health Taskforce. "We launched the 'Speak Out UNT' campaign in 2015 to assist us with this goal, and we hope that the addition of the 'Just in Case' app will improve lives and increase utilization of our mental health resources."

According to the National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education, more than 50 percent of students have suicidal thoughts at some point during their college career. The UNT Mental Health Taskforce is providing access to the "Just in Case" app in hopes of aiding that demographic through suicide prevention and mental health education.

The app's easy-to-use interface guides students who feel they cannot cope, or who are reaching out for a friend in crisis, to support, guidance and resources that can save lives. "Just in Case" operates on all smartphone platforms and can be downloaded from the Android Google Play store and the Apple App Store.

For more information on the new app or additional mental health resources, visit https://speakout.unt.edu/content/mental-health-resources.