SoulSpark, a Mesa-based virtual clinic providing mental health services to young survivors of trauma, is the first health care organization to sign up for eMotive, Biometrica Systems Inc.’s next-generation, 24x7 criminal background checking software.

Biometrica is an Arizona- and Nevada-based technology company that tracks crime and criminals, according to a release.

SoulSpark “wanted to add an extra layer of protection to at-risk children and youth that had lived through too much pain,” Dr. Jania Davis, SoulSpark CEO, said in the release.

“Last year, a health care facility I was part of was rocked by the arrest of a longstanding staffer, charged with multiple counts of sexual conduct with a minor. It was tragic for the teenager, but also a devastating indictment of the system for everyone who worked there. We had one question: How did we miss it? We think eMotive holds the key to proactive protection, inasmuch as any system can,” she said.

eMotive gives an organization the ability to be notified in near real-time — through an encrypted alert to authorized personnel — that an employee has potentially been arrested or convicted. The notification happens within minutes of that event being updated in law enforcement databases, the release states.

“We can decide if an arrest is relevant to patient safety or not based on job function, conduct underlying the arrest and business necessity,” Dr. Davis said in the release. “If a provider is arrested for a bounced check, it isn’t relevant. But if they are arrested for child pornography or domestic violence, that is relevant, especially as they interact with vulnerable youth.”

Kadambari Wade, Biometrica’s CCO, said eMotive was built with at-risk children in mind.

“My daughter is 12, but about 3 developmentally. She is deaf and autistic. She cannot tell you if someone touches her inappropriately, nor know it is inappropriate. We thought the best way to protect children like her would be by ensuring people around them could be monitored on a continuous basis for the potential to do harm,” she said in the release.

Charlotte Spencer, eMotive’s lead UI/UX developer, said eMotive’s difference was in how it worked.

“Our algorithms run automated continuous monitoring of enrolled people, as opposed to traditional, manual, single point-in-time checks. We focus only on law-enforcement-sourced data. We don’t track credit scores, license plates, drug tests or social media — that isn’t our business. We’re interested in whether you were arrested or convicted, and why,” she said.

SoulSpark is a virtual outpatient mental health clinic for at-risk youth, specializing in trauma-informed care for sex-trafficking victims. For more information, go to soulspark.co, email Hello@soulspark.co or call 888-89-SPARK.

For more information on Biometrica, go to biometrica.com.