on this first day of Mental Health Awareness Month a new bill moving through Trenton aims to reach some of our youngest children showing signs of mental distress the legislation proposes lowering the age teens in New Jersey can get mental health services without parental consent to 13 years old the existing law caps the age at 16 but Bill sponsor assemblyman Raj Mukherjee says more students need access to care given the current crisis according to a national study from the University of Virginia kids experiencing suicidal thoughts or attempts Rose more than 30 percent from 2019 to 2021 just staggering numbers the issue compelled one Rutgers University Professor to develop a free app it's designed to help people of all ages with mental stresses our mental health writer Bobby Breyer joins me to share the details Bobby you know if I were to go onto my phone there's like thousands honestly of perhaps that claim anyway to be able to help with mental health issues what's different about this one from this Rutgers Professor yeah Brianna this app specifically is based on Dr Edward Selby's own psychological research over years studying emotions and emotional regulation and his own findings coming from that and really what he looked into was the way in which emotional regulation uh once people find that they're using their emotions or or looking at their emotions in a particular way how those could impact them down the road so this especially looks at those findings and based upon that we'll be able to spot some of that problematic behavior that folks may see earlier on so who's someone who might benefit from this and is it any age group this would really be geared towards any age group and and right now anybody could could really benefit from this if they've noticed that their emotions are are kind of getting ahead of them are maybe as Dr Edward Selby had noted maybe out of control in certain instances specifically emotions such as uh problematic eating uh or eating disorders lashing out at others or family members if they've noticed a pattern or behavior like that using an app like this day after day can maybe help to regulate those emotions yeah I'm thinking too that having the App Maker be someone who works in this space probably makes a big difference as to just how much it'll access these different techniques and strategies for folks absolutely and it will actually maybe prevent them from from having to uh go to a therapist or actually work in tandem with therapy as Dr Selby had mentioned to me during our interview that this is something that could go hand in hand that would benefit them not just now but but down the road as they continue to work on their own mental health in light of the struggles from the pandemic and so what what called and what did you all talk about as far as what sort of compelled him to make this sure so he named the app Stormbreaker and uh Stormbreaker is really after after folks managing their own emotions or their own emotional storms um you know day to day he really came to this conclusion uh to to look into this after his his own uh research found that people were struggling managing uh their own emotion their own emotional Behavior Uh and he thought that an app like this not focused on making money but one really based on his own research uh could lead to something that would be transformational for people yeah okay last question does this app actually refer people to other Mental Health Providers I'm not doubting that there's a lot of good information in there but there's only so much an app can do you know right now it does not refer people to Mental Health Providers but it does provide a number of clinical resources um including emergency crisis lines uh and and potential resources uh you know such as different associations and Mental Health Care organizations that could provide more information so right now there's no direct referrals but can work in tandem if somebody's seeking their own therapy our mental health writer Bobby Breyer really interesting conversation that you had there on our website Bobby thanks so much thank you Brianna [Music] [Music]