MySwerve is a web-based reflection tool for naming what is bothering you, considering a manageable response, and keeping track of what happens. You can check in with how you feel, identify a stressor, look at possible approaches, and record something you want to try.
I’m asking you to test the early personal app. Open it, choose one manageable concern or make up an example, and work through a check-in and a possible next step. See whether you can understand the instructions, find your way around, and get back to what you saved.
A lot of work has gone into making the app easier to navigate and the instructions plain. Now I need people to use it and tell me where it breaks down. Please report bugs, confusing questions, and places where you get stuck. More importantly, does it help you think through anything? I need to know whether this is actually useful, not just whether it looks good.
The Swerve began for me not long after my brother’s death. I was dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, loneliness, and the effects of his death and my cancer diagnosis. I needed to make my life more sustainable. Hoping for one radical change felt less approachable than finding one thing I could actually work on.
That is what I mean by a swerve: an approachable change, followed by paying attention. What happened? Did it help? What might I try next? A small change may make a bigger one possible. Sometimes it simply makes today more bearable.
The soldier in Metallica’s “One” video has stayed with me as an image of profound isolation. My own example is a hypothetical, not a scene from the video: for someone confined to a bed, finding the right pillow could make an enormous difference. It would not undo their condition or everything they face. Sometimes I need to keep it as small as the pillow.
Or take a fictional married couple caught in a loop: one pushes for a response, the other withdraws, and both become more reactive. If chores are part of the tension, one experiment could be agreeing together on who does what and what “done” means. They could choose a simple way to track it and check in with each other, not police each other. Then they could ask whether anything changed and adjust. It might help; it might reveal that something else needs attention.
I’m a first-year graduate student in Converse’s marriage and family therapy program. Learning systems language is deepening this idea for me. I’m drawing on ideas that have been around a long time and finding a way to make them understandable and usable. This is a developing way of thinking, not a new, proven therapy. I’m still learning, and I’m not a licensed therapist.
I’m sharing MySwerve now because I need to learn whether people can use it. My goal is to keep it free and easy to access. People get stuck, and seeing a possible path can help them consider options. The larger community project would let adults voluntarily share what they tried and what happened, with human review and names kept out of public reports, not a promise of untraceability. Submissions are closed; there are no community outcome reports yet. Those future accounts would be experiences, not proof.
Some problems require resources, support, or collective change. Some losses cannot be undone. I want to create a life, not just consume one, without pretending that every problem is individually solvable.
This is an early reflection tool, not clinical care. Expect bugs. Entries stay in your browser, without automatic device sync or community upload. Back up anything you want to keep; clearing browser data can erase it. Keep feedback focused on the app, and protect other people’s private information.