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Presence, not treatment
Listeners are there to hear, not to diagnose, advise or treat. The role is narrow on purpose.
For universities, employers & partners
Between silence and therapy, there’s a gap. We built for it.
Talking-Buddy gives people a real person to talk to, on demand and anonymously — for the moments that don’t need treatment, just someone who listens.
The problem
Most people who need to talk don’t need a clinician. They get sent to one anyway — or to nothing.
Counselling centres run waitlists. EAPs go unused because the first step feels too big. Friends and family are too close. So the people you are responsible for either wait, stay silent, or talk to a chatbot. None of those is the right answer for a bad week.
The category
A new category between silence, AI and clinical care
Talking-Buddy is built for a large, underserved in-between space: not emergency care, not formal therapy, and not text-based distraction. It offers structured human presence when emotional weight builds up and someone simply needs to talk now.
The model
Human listening, with a defined shape
The Structured Human Presence Model™ (SHPM™) is the framework behind Talking-Buddy. It defines what a listener does, what they never do, and where the conversation stops being theirs to hold. That structure is what makes human presence safe to offer at scale.
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Anonymous on both sides
No names, numbers or social accounts are exchanged. No off-platform contact, ever.
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Clear edges
Talking-Buddy is not a crisis service. Scope and escalation language is built into the product, the listener role and this page.
Read the paper on SSRN · Follow us on LinkedIn · SHPM™ on our blog
How we compare
Where Talking-Buddy sits
Therapy is for the long work, and it is worth it. Talking-Buddy is not a replacement for it — it covers the moments therapy was never designed to reach.
Talking-Buddy
Therapy Apps
In-office Therapy
Immediate support without scheduling
✓
Usually no
No
Real-time human voice conversation
✓
Limited / varies
✓
Anonymous by design
✓
No
No
No chat threads or message history
✓
Usually no
No
Pay only when you talk
✓
Usually subscription
Per session
Built for venting and being heard
✓
Partially
✓
Easy to switch who you talk to
✓
Sometimes
Usually no
Licensed clinical care
No
Often yes
Yes
Designed for crisis response
No
No
No
Who we work with
Who we want to hear from
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Universities
A low-barrier option for students between “I’m fine” and the counselling waitlist — especially late at night.
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Employers & benefits leads
Support people will actually use, because it’s anonymous and doesn’t start with an intake form.
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Wellness & EAP partners
A human layer that complements clinical services and routes nothing clinical your way that shouldn’t be.
📰
Investors & press
A defined category, a published model, and a live product in the US and Canada.
Trust & infrastructure
Built to be trusted with hard conversations
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Real humans, not bots
Every call is a live voice conversation with a person.
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KYC-verified listeners
Every listener is identity-verified before they take a call.
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Privacy by design
Minimal data, no identity exchange, no message history, no public call records.
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AWS infrastructure
The platform runs on AWS, with payments handled by Stripe.
19,800+ downloads and growing
250+ KYC-verified listeners
US & Canada available now
AHAN Apps · Talking-Buddy
We exist for the moments therapy can’t reach.
Mission
Bridge the gap between therapy and “right now”.
We deeply respect professional therapy — and we’re not trying to replace it. Talking-Buddy exists for the in-between moments: when you’re waiting for your first session, between appointments, or just need to offload today’s emotional load to someone who will simply listen.
Vision
A world where no one has to bottle it up alone.
We imagine a world where venting is as accessible as hailing a ride — a trusted companion in your pocket, available without judgment, without labels, and without the fear of your words being posted, forwarded, or used against you later.
Get in touch
Let’s talk about where this fits
Tell us a little about your organisation and what you’re looking for. We’ll reply by email.
Looking for support yourself? Talk to someone now · Want to become a listener? Become a Talking Buddy