Skip to main content
These resources help parents and guardians understand how GoGuardian Beacon works, what to expect when a notification is received, and where to find additional support. Schools and districts can share this article directly with families or use it as the basis for their own parent communication materials.
If your child is in crisis or you are unsure about their safety, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. In an emergency, call 911. Do not contact GoGuardian directly — GoGuardian does not provide mental health or emergency services and cannot share notification details over the phone.

​
Review Beacon Basics

Students spend much of their time online on school-owned devices and accounts, and school staff often serve as first responders when a student’s mental health is suffering. Suicide is one of the most pressing issues facing youth, and schools are choosing to address this by incorporating tools like GoGuardian Beacon into their suicide prevention programs.GoGuardian Beacon was selected as one resource to help identify early warning signs of potential suicide and self-harm behavior among students. Neither GoGuardian Beacon nor any school or district can detect every sign of suicide or every instance when a student is suicidal. When staff identify a concern, they take measures to notify whoever is caring for the student at that moment. During school hours, counselors can locate and ensure the student is safe. Outside of school hours, that may be parents or guardians stepping in as the closest and most available caregiver.
GoGuardian Beacon is a suicide and self-harm prevention tool for schools, designed to help staff proactively identify students who may be at risk so they can quickly provide assistance. Specifically, Beacon identifies when a student accesses content or exhibits online behaviors that may be related to self-harm or suicide, and notifies the school officials assigned to the Beacon escalation list.It is important to know that neither the school or district nor GoGuardian Beacon can detect every sign of suicide or every instance when a student is suicidal.
Beacon allows schools to enable a feature that notifies parents and guardians via email after school hours. Each school determines its own notification settings. Contact your school or district directly for information about their parent notification configuration.
GoGuardian attempts to notify the person who is caring for a student at any given moment, especially when that student needs someone to talk to immediately. Outside of school hours, a student’s parent or guardian is often the closest and most available caregiver. An important part of this process is that parents learn how to support students in distress in a way that helps them feel safe and access professional help when needed.

​
Review Parent and Guardian Notifications

Before a school or district can send notifications to a parent or guardian, a functioning email address must be on file in the platform. Check your email regularly — including your spam folder — and ensure your inbox has enough storage to receive notifications. Contact your school administrator with questions about notifications.It is critical that you inform your school if your email address or phone number changes, or if there is a change in who holds your child’s educational rights. If your contact information is not current, you will not receive Beacon notifications.
Each school site determines whether parents and guardians receive alerts after school hours, on weekends, or both. Contact your school or district’s administrator for their specific notification settings. Depending on those settings, you could receive alerts overnight, before school starts each day, on weekends, and during winter or spring breaks.
Yes. If a parent, legal guardian, or eligible student wants additional information about the alert, contact the school directly for the appropriate contact information. Do not contact GoGuardian for details about Beacon notifications — only school representatives can provide that information.
Each school or district can customize the content of the notification message, so the message may vary. Contact your school or district for more information about what their notifications include.
Each school has recommendations from mental health professionals on how to respond to alerts. When you receive an alert, locate your child to ensure they are safe. Ensure all potential weapons or dangerous substances are securely stored. Additional steps may include seeking more information from your child and their school, consulting other trusted adults, or contacting their pediatrician.The information an alert provides should be considered in the context of your child’s current well-being to support them in the best way possible.For tips and advice, visit the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.It is important to know that you may receive notifications after hours, which means that neither your school nor GoGuardian will be able to call 911 for you. Schools may also not receive alerts when they are out of session, such as on weekends or during winter break. Next steps may include an urgent mental health evaluation through a mental health professional, pediatrician, urgent care, or an emergency department. When school is back in session, you can contact school officials for more information about the alert.If your child is in crisis or you are unsure about their safety, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. In an emergency, call 911.
Contact your school or district for their recommendations. For online videos, tips, and advice for parents, visit the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide.If you are in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

​
Review Privacy and Data

GoGuardian Beacon’s system analyzes the online content that a student interacted with or created to trigger an alert. Beacon does not analyze a student’s demographic information or any other sources of mental health information. Outside of the alert information itself, GoGuardian Beacon does not store other mental health information about your child — for example, Beacon does not have Individualized Education Program information, prior conversations with counselors, or notes from a school psychologist.
GoGuardian Beacon operates on each school or district’s managed Google accounts. When a student is logged into the Chrome browser with their school account and the GoGuardian extensions are present, it is possible that GoGuardian is reviewing activity.
GoGuardian collects certain personally identifiable information about each student to help them remain safe online. GoGuardian has consulted with privacy experts, participates in privacy organizations, is a proud signatory of the Student Privacy Pledge, and has been awarded certifications by iKeepSafe for complying with both the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and California student privacy laws.For more detailed information, visit GoGuardian’s website, Trust and Privacy Center, and Product Privacy Policy.Contact your school or district if you have specific questions about how your school uses GoGuardian and which products and settings they have selected.GoGuardian partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the American Association of Suicidology in developing GoGuardian Beacon. These suicide prevention experts helped GoGuardian understand best practices for student suicide prevention and substantially informed GoGuardian’s products and practices.

​
Resources

Letter Template for Parents and Guardians

Sample letter for schools to send home when adopting Beacon.

Communicating with Parents and Guardians

Steps and guidance for preparing your school’s communication plan.

About GoGuardian Beacon

Overview of Beacon and how schools use it.

How Beacon Works

Review the detection process and alert contents.
Last modified on July 7, 2026