A daily companion. Not a therapist. Something more honest.
Every person carries wounds from their history. John Claude helps you work them — daily, the way a physical therapist works scar tissue — until they stop limiting your life.
No credit card required · Cancel anytime · Built by someone who needed this
What this is
Most self-help tools try to build you a new self. John Claude does the opposite. It helps you remember the one you already were — before the wounds taught you to be someone else.
It shows up every morning with a question specific to you. It's there when you're stuck, avoiding, or spiraling. And in the evening it helps you understand what actually happened in your day. Daily, consistent, honest.
Restoration, not construction
You were someone before the wounds. That person didn't disappear — they went underground. The work is archaeological.
Daily, not weekly
Emotional wounds calcify if you don't work them. John Claude is there every day — morning, real-time, evening — not once a week if you remember to schedule.
Direct, not soft
John Claude pushes back. It disagrees. It says "that's not true and you know it" — with warmth, but it says it. Flattery is the enemy of growth.
Private, completely
What you say here belongs to you. It lives in a sealed room with your name on it. Nobody opens that door without your hand on the key.
The five wounds
John Claude learns which ones you carry — from the stories you tell, not a questionnaire — and works them with you every day.
01
The Abandonment Wound
Self-sabotage just before success. Waiting for permission that never comes. Stories that always end right before the finish line.
02
The Enmeshment Wound
Guilt as the default currency. Responsible for everyone's feelings. Can't tell your needs from theirs. Saying yes when your whole body says no.
03
The Scarcity Wound
Chaos as home. Decisions made from panic rather than clarity. Keeping yourself broke because financial anxiety is what familiar feels like.
04
The Shame Wound
Never finishing. Never shipping. Never entering the marketplace. Hiding real talent behind wit, irony, and perpetual preparation.
05
The Death & Rebirth Wound
Having touched the end and come back. Ambivalence about being fully alive. Extraordinary capacity for transformation — paired with resistance to sustaining it.
The origin
"I built this because I needed it and couldn't find it anywhere."
Michael Downs died at fifty-one. Spent six days in a coma. Got sober, lost sixty pounds, rebuilt his marriage, and discovered that the most powerful therapeutic tool he'd ever encountered was one he had to build himself — out of desperation, out of necessity.
John Claude is named after Dr. John Sealy, a pediatric psychiatrist who saw Michael clearly at fifteen and told him the truth. This product is built to give that experience to anyone who needs it — every day, not just once.
— Michael Downs, Founder
Early voices
He asked me one question and somehow got to the thing I've been carrying for twenty years. I didn't expect that.
Beta user, 34
It's not soft. It pushed back on a story I've been telling myself for years and it was right. That's rare.
Beta user, 41
I've tried every wellness app. This is the first one that felt like it actually saw me — not a symptom profile, me.
Beta user, 28
The promise
Not a perfect life. Not the elimination of pain. The chance to be genuinely witnessed — without judgment, without the clock running — and through that, to find your way back.
No credit card · $19.99/month after · Cancel anytime