"Many of them were really young: 11- to 17-year-olds in very tumultuous times," she said.
"They would tell me their stories and many of them were very dark. As I began to care for them and to see myself in them, I felt I had to do something that would remind kids they're not alone."
Born This Way first sponsored a pop up resource centre called the Born Brave Bus Tour, drawing 150,000 visitors in two years.
More recently, the foundation shifted its focus to peer support and preventive initiatives, including research on youth and mental health in a partnership with Yale's Centre for Emotional Intelligence.
Gaga said depression and anxiety most commonly link the youngsters she meets and cites technology as a barrier to communication.
"There is something in the way that we are now, cell phones and people are not looking at each other and not being in the moment with each other, that kids feel isolated.
"They read all of this extremely hateful language on the Internet. The internet is a toilet. It is. It used to be a fantastic resource, but you have to sort through s**t to find the good stuff."
She went on to discuss her own mental health struggles: "I've suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life, I still suffer with it every single day.
"I just want these kids to know that that depth that they feel as human beings is normal. We were born that way. This modern thing, where everyone is feeling shallow and less connected? That's not human."
Her new track titled Til It Happens to You, also aligns with these missions.
It was released last month in conjunction with 2015 campus-rape documentary The Hunting Ground.
It is a devastatingly personal ballad which draws upon a sexual assault she suffered at the age of 19.
"We don't have to be victims," Gaga said. "If we share our stories and stick together, we're stronger."
- nzherald.co.nz
