Teen support service kellimni.com launches mobile app

Kellimni.com has launched a new mobile app to further extend the reach of its service with young internet users.

The app is currently available for free on Google Play Store and on the App Store, and it can be accessed through mobile phones and tablets alike. Web designer Mario Scerri explained that the app was developed purposely to be as user friendly and responsive to different devices as possible, wthout needing a SIM card and retaining the service’s focus on anonymity.

The app can be used to send emails or to chat directly, as well as to access information about the service, bullying itself as well as associated services.   

Kellimni.com is a joint effort between SOS Malta, Salesians of Don Bosco, Agenzija Zghazagh and Agenzija Appogg, and it offers assistance to teens and young internet users on an anonymous basis, either through its e-mail, online chat or app service. Last year, the service had received a total of 3,156 interventions.

SOS Malta CEO Claudia Taylor East said that the service offered by kellimni.com, launched exactly five years ago, had brought together a number of organizations from different sectors  including Agenzija Appogg and Agenzija zaghzagh, SOS Malta and Vodafone Malta among others.

“We wanted to give an interactive experience to youth,” she said, explaining that the website had also been improved in recent months.  

She further urged the government to think of ways that technology  could be used to access more parts of society, in as cost effective  a manner as possible.

“We need to see how we can sustain this particular service on a 24/7 basis,” she said, stressing that many young people had come to rely on the service, particularly due to its anonymity.

“Some of our youths find it difficult to make contact with services offered, but this innovative and technological approach is bound to be an attractive platform for youths precisely because it uses tools they are very familiar with,” youth parliamentary secretary Chris Agius said.

Family minister Michael Farrugia said that the government believed that public social partnerships were the way forward, and he added that it would be giving its support to the service and pushing for extending it to a 24-hour service.

He added that the government was also working on strengthening and extending its 179 to increase its reach in the coming months.

PN spokesperson for the family Robert Cutajar added that the app and website showed the positive and helpful side of the internet, and he encouraged governments and companies to further support the development and voice of future generations.

Vodafone Malta CEO Amanda Nelson said that the company, one of the sponsors of the app, had given back some € 3.5 million to Maltese society through projects like developing an online Maltese lexicon and Maltese language apps, and she explained that the company was committed to using technology for social developments.