We're not selling an AI. We're selling emotional proximity — closeness to yourself, to your partner, to clarity, and to the guidance of two people who have walked the exact road you're on. 24/7 AI emotional coaching rooted in real clinical frameworks, combined with live biweekly sessions with Dr. John Schinnerer, PhD and Joree Rose, LMFT. Two humans. Three coaches. One integrated ecosystem.
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Nearly half of U.S. adults regularly experience loneliness or emotional disconnection — while 30% have already turned to AI for emotional support.
People aren't turning to AI because they want less human connection. They're turning to it because it's immediate, available at 2 AM, and doesn't require courage to schedule an appointment. The problem isn't the impulse. The problem is that most AI tools were never built for emotional depth.
Sources: APA Stress in America 2025; Bipartisan Policy Center 2026; Cognitive FX 2026; Gottman Institute research on relationship intervention timing.
The hybrid model
Proximity was built around a simple truth: most people don't lack desire. They lack practical emotional tools, relational safety, and support in the exact moments life is happening. What do you do after a painful argument? How do you regulate yourself before reacting? How do you repair without defensiveness? Proximity gives you answers in real time — and real humans to go deeper with every two weeks.
Your Proxi coach is available at 2 AM after a hard conversation, mid-conflict when you need a pattern named before you say something you'll regret, before the conversation you've been avoiding, or on a Tuesday when anxiety just hits. Immediate. Private. Purpose-built.
Every two weeks, group members join a live Zoom coaching call — Dr. John leads Proxi He groups, Joree leads Proxi She groups, and both lead Proxi We couples groups together. Real human accountability, co-regulation, and the depth that technology, no matter how good, cannot replicate.
Research presented at the 2026 International Positive Psychology Association conference found that 52% of people want both human and AI coaching — not one or the other. Because each does something the other cannot. AI provides immediacy, reflection, pattern recognition, and access at any hour. Humans provide warmth, co-regulation, accountability, and the felt experience of being genuinely seen. Proximity was designed from the ground up to deliver both — in the same ecosystem, with live group calls led by the same two practitioners who built everything inside the AI.
Plans & pricing
Start with AI-only coaching available 24/7, or add biweekly live group coaching calls for deeper accountability and human connection. All plans are month-to-month — no contracts, cancel anytime.
All plans month-to-month. Cancel anytime — email john@proximitycoaching.com. Not sure? Try the AI coach free first.
The science behind it
BetterUp Labs research presented at the 2026 International Positive Psychology Association conference produced some of the most rigorous evidence yet on what AI coaching can — and cannot — do. The findings validate exactly why Proximity was built the way it was.
BetterUp Labs found that users of purpose-built AI coaching experienced 5.8× better deep reflection and 2.3× better emotional support compared to users of a generic AI tool (ChatGPT) — even asking about similar topics. The technology was comparable. The difference was the psychological framework embedded in the coaching design.
The research also found that AI coaching works through specific psychological mechanisms — not a generalized "coaching effect." Reflection is the primary lever. Well-being unfolds over time as that reflection compounds. This is exactly why Proximity is built around purpose-built frameworks developed by Dr. John and Joree over 30+ years — not generic AI responses wrapped in a different interface.
Why Proximity is different
Most emotional support tools fall into familiar categories: traditional therapy, coaching, self-help content, meditation apps, or generic AI chatbots. Proximity was intentionally designed to bridge the gap between all of them. What makes it different is not simply the technology. It is the deeply human foundation underneath it.
Every Proxi coach is trained on decades of Dr. John and Joree's original work: books, courses, podcast transcripts, clinical frameworks, mindfulness teachings, men's psychology, couples coaching methodologies, and lived relational experience together. The coaches respond the way John and Joree respond — because they were built that way, not prompted to pretend.
The platform integrates evidence-informed approaches including:
Group Coaching plans include biweekly live Zoom sessions with Dr. John, Joree, or both — because warmth, accountability, co-regulation, and being genuinely seen cannot be replicated by technology. We built it in from the start, not bolted on as an expensive add-on.
Dr. John and Joree are a real married couple who openly share their own struggles, repair processes, and self-reflection — because they believe authenticity creates safety. If they're asking others to do the work, they must model that same honesty themselves. Always.
In Proxi We, couples receive guidance shaped by both Dr. John and Joree's perspectives at once — masculine and feminine emotional processing, communication styles, accountability patterns, and approaches to repair. That dual dynamic reflects the complexity of actual relationships.
Proximity AI is not positioned as the expert. The technology is the vehicle. The goal is helping people feel more emotionally aware, less reactive, and more relationally capable — so their human relationships improve. AI is simply how we get there faster and more accessibly.
Before the hard conversation. After the argument. At 2 AM when shame or anxiety hits hardest. During the parenting moment that got away from you. Proximity is built for those exact windows — not just the 50-minute slot that arrives days later when the moment has passed.
Who built this
30+ years in psychology, neuroscience, men's emotional health, and executive coaching. Consultant on Pixar's Inside Out. Coach to leaders at Meta, Twilio, Okta, Stanford, Airbnb, and Bank of America. Host of The Evolved Caveman podcast and co-host of Love Isn't Enough. Featured in U.S. News & World Report, Fatherly, and Reader's Digest. Known for translating clinical science into tools men can actually use.
Author of A Year of Gratitude, Squirmy Learns to be Mindful, and Mindfulness, It's Elementary. Therapist, mindfulness and meditation teacher, retreat leader, and co-host of Love Isn't Enough. Her work has helped thousands of people build greater self-awareness, emotional resilience, and compassion. Featured in Oprah Magazine, NBC News, and Business Insider.
"Awareness alone does not heal relational patterns. People need support in the moments life is actually happening — not just in the 50-minute slot days later."
Dr. John and Joree did not set out to build an AI company. They set out to solve a growing human problem: people are overwhelmed, emotionally disconnected, reactive, anxious, and struggling in their relationships — and quality emotional support remains stubbornly difficult to access consistently.
After decades of combined work in psychology, therapy, coaching, mindfulness, men's emotional health, and couples education, they kept seeing the same painful pattern: most people are not lacking intelligence or desire. They are lacking practical emotional tools, relational safety, and support in the moments life is actually happening. What do you do after a painful argument? How do you regulate yourself before reacting? How do you communicate needs without escalating? How do you become emotionally aware if nobody ever taught you how?
The foundation of Proximity came not only from professional expertise, but from their own lived relational experience. Both were previously married to their high school sweethearts, and both experienced divorces that became pivotal turning points in their own healing. When they met in 2015 after matching on Tinder, love came easily. Emotional safety did not.
Despite years of personal growth and decades of professional training, they eventually found themselves repeating painful relational patterns rooted in attachment wounds, fear, reactivity, and nervous system conditioning. After an engagement and years together, they experienced a heartbreaking breakup that forced a deeper truth into focus: insight alone does not heal relational patterns.
That breakdown became the breakthrough. Together, they committed to doing the deeper work — not just intellectually, but through daily relational practice with each other. That lived experience became the heartbeat of Proximity Coaching.
They believe people don't need perfect experts pretending to have life figured out. They need grounded guides willing to practice the same tools they teach. Dr. John often tells clients: "May you have the courage to look at your own sh*t." Both believe that if they are asking others to courageously examine themselves, they must be willing to model that same honesty themselves. That integrity is foundational to everything Proximity is.
Questions
Start with AI-only coaching or add biweekly live group calls. All plans month-to-month. The support system most people have never had access to.
AI-only from $29/mo · AI + Group Coaching from $147/mo
Not sure yet? Try the AI coach free — 3 sessions, no credit card.
