Rural New Jersey teens are now connecting with peer mentors through a new digital front door for adolescent behavioral health, available in the hours when emotional distress most often escalates.

TRENTON, N.J., Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The New Jersey Department of Health has partnered with Somethings, a technology-enabled youth mental health company, under the state's Rural Health Transformation Program. The partnership has launched a text-based peer support program now serving youth ages 13–26 across eligible rural counties in New Jersey, with a specific focus on uninsured and underinsured young people who face the greatest barriers to timely mental health support.

Through this initiative, New Jersey has established a new digital front door for youth mental health, one that meets adolescents where they are, in the format they already use, at the hours when emotional distress most often escalates.

"Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth and young adults ages 10 to 24 in New Jersey, and youth in rural communities are often the last to receive support," said Patrick Gilligan, Founder and CEO at Somethings. "This partnership means a teen in rural New Jersey who is struggling at 8 p.m. no longer has to wait weeks for an appointment or drive hours to find care. They can connect with someone who understands them, right then."

A Model Built for Rural Realities

Somethings delivers clinically supervised peer support through a HIPAA-compliant mobile application designed to function in low-bandwidth environments, a critical consideration for rural communities where high-speed internet access is inconsistent. Youth are matched the same day they enroll with a Certified Peer Specialist mentor with lived experience and can engage through secure messaging and video during after-school and evening hours.

Licensed clinical supervisors are integrated directly into the platform, enabling real-time escalation when a youth presents with elevated risk. This stepped-care model ensures safety while keeping peer support at the center of the experience, reducing reliance on emergency departments and enabling licensed clinicians to practice at the top of their licensure.

Addressing an Urgent Statewide Need

New Jersey's rural communities face compounding barriers to youth mental health care: provider shortages, long waitlists, limited transportation, and an absence of after-hours services. In some rural counties, the mental health provider-to-population ratio reaches 1,082 residents per provider, more than three times the state average. Depression-related emergency department visits among New Jersey teens increased by approximately 38 percent between 2019 and 2021.

Now live, the Somethings program is on track to serve approximately 1,200 rural youth during the grant period, with more than 600 expected to enter the program experiencing active suicidal ideation. Beyond direct services, the initiative is projected to generate over $3.2 million in avoided healthcare costs by connecting youth with the right care at the right time, reducing non-emergent emergency department visits while ensuring appropriate use of preventive and outpatient services.

Building a Rural Behavioral Health Workforce

A central component of the initiative is workforce development. Somethings is recruiting and employing 40 rural New Jersey young adults as Certified Peer Specialists, creating paid pathways into behavioral health careers for residents of the communities the program serves. More than half of program costs are reinvested directly into New Jersey through payments to locally based mentors.

Services went live within two weeks of the contract being awarded, and within one month of launch, Somethings was serving youth across all 11 rural NJ counties. To date, the company has supported more than 300 youth in these rural counties and continues to expand.

About Somethings

Somethings (Fond of You Inc. d/b/a Somethings) is a youth mental health company delivering clinically supervised, text-based peer mentoring through a proprietary mobile platform. The company partners with state health agencies, managed care organizations, schools, and community health systems to reach adolescents and young adults who face the greatest barriers to traditional care. Learn more at www.somethings.com.

This publication is funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $147,250,805.85, with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CMS/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

Media Contact: 

Somethings

Drew Englander, Chief of Staff

[email protected]

203-858-4346

SOURCE Somethings

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