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MMGuardian Advances Collaboration with Project Anchor to Combat Youth Suicide

Published 4 hours ago via Business Wire

NIH Grant Awarded to Project Anchor Supports Development of Digital Intervention to Empower Parents

MMGuardian, the award-winning parental control app powered by AI, today announced the next phase of its collaboration with Project Anchor, following a grant awarded to Project Anchor from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The NIH grant will fund the development of a digital intervention designed to help parents respond effectively to suicide risk alerts and reduce self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) in youth. MMGuardian is the sole partner in this project, providing its platform, expertise and access to its user base of over 2 million registered parents to support the initiative.

Youth suicide is a growing public health crisis, particularly among pre- and early adolescents. Digital monitoring apps like MMGuardian, which use artificial intelligence (AI) to detect suicide-related content in children’s messages and alert parents, play a critical role in early intervention. However, without proper guidance, parents may struggle to respond effectively to these alerts.

The NIH-funded project will develop and test a Single Session Intervention (SSI) paired with a Just-in-Time (JIT) digital tool. This intervention aims to equip parents with essential skills in emotion regulation, validation, and suicide-specific monitoring to better support at-risk youth.

Project Anchor Research Team (Drs. Taylor Burke, Kathryn Fox, & Alex Bettis):

“This NIH grant represents a significant step forward in empowering parents to respond effectively to suicide risk alerts and reducing youth suicide rates. We are grateful for the strong support from MMGuardian and their user base, which will be instrumental in advancing this critical work.”

James Zhou, CEO of Pervasive Group Inc.:

“We are proud to be the sole partner in Project Anchor’s new project. Helping parents protect their children is at the core of what we do, and this project aligns perfectly with that goal. Together, we can make a meaningful impact in addressing youth suicide.”

About MMGuardian

MMGuardian is a leading parental monitoring app that uses advanced AI to help parents safeguard their children in an increasingly digital world. The app runs continuously on a child’s smartphone, monitoring popular social media platforms, web browsing activity, and text messages. Parents receive real-time notifications through the MMGuardian app if it detects risks such as suicide, self-harm, bullying, child grooming, sextortion, drug abuse, or violence using its proprietary AI-powered algorithm.

As of the end of 2024, MMGuardian has scanned over 5 billion messages and delivered 14.5 million Safety Alerts, underscoring its critical role in protecting children online.

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