Short version: Proximity Coaching is a hybrid coaching platform I built with my partner and co-coach, Joree Rose, LMFT. It pairs a 24/7 AI coach — trained on thousands of hours of our actual frameworks, courses, and content — with live biweekly group coaching calls led by real humans (us). The AI handles the moments that don’t wait. The live calls make the work stick.
I want to explain what it actually is, because “AI coaching” has become a crowded, confusing category, and most of what’s out there isn’t coaching at all.
The problem Proximity was built to solve
I’ve spent 30 years coaching men — and more recently, couples alongside Joree. Here’s the pattern I kept running into: the real work almost never happens during a scheduled session.
It happens at 11pm on a Tuesday when your mind won’t shut off. It happens in the driveway before you walk inside, trying to decompress and failing. It happens in the ninety seconds before a hard conversation you’ve been avoiding for three days. By the time your next appointment rolls around, the moment has passed — and you’ve already reacted the way you swore you wouldn’t.
Information doesn’t fix that. You can read every book on attachment, regulation, and communication and still freeze in the moment that counts. What changes things is having the right support in the moment, plus the accountability of real humans over time. That’s the gap Proximity is built to close.
The three coaches
Proximity isn’t one product. It’s three coaches, each built for a different person and a different kind of work:
- Proxi He — a confidence coach for men, built on my 30 years of psychology and coaching. For stress and burnout, anger and reactivity, relationships and communication, and the identity questions that surface in midlife.
- Proxi She — a clarity coach for women, built on Joree’s two decades of work as a therapist, mindfulness teacher, and retreat leader. For the woman who has done the reading, been to therapy, knows her patterns — and still gets stuck.
- Proxi We — couples coaching that brings both of our perspectives, masculine and feminine, into every response. For the conversation that’s about to escalate, and the weeks between sessions when the pattern resurfaces.
What makes it actually coaching
A general-purpose chatbot will listen and reflect things back. That has value — but it isn’t coaching. Coaching has direction. Proxi works more like an actual coaching relationship:
- It starts with your goals — what you actually want, and the values underneath it.
- It has a real conversation with you, not a canned script or a sequence of prompts.
- It names the patterns running underneath — the operating strategies that keep producing the same outcome.
- It asks the questions that challenge you and surface the blind spots you can’t see on your own.
- It offers reframes — different ways to see what’s actually happening.
- It teaches science-backed tools to help you evolve toward your most deeply held goals and values.
That approach comes from how I actually coach, drawn from frameworks I’ve used for decades: the Inner Board Meeting model, CBT, Internal Family Systems, polyvagal theory, and attachment science. Joree’s side of the platform draws on mindfulness, self-compassion, and the relational frameworks she’s refined across thousands of hours with clients.
The part no AI can replace: the live calls
This is the piece that makes Proximity different from every other AI tool on the market. AI can meet you at 2am. It can’t watch your face, hear the pause before you answer, or hold you accountable the way another human being can.
So the biweekly live group coaching calls aren’t an add-on — they’re the architecture. Members bring the real situations they’ve been working through with the AI between sessions, get coached in real time, and hear other people navigate the same patterns they thought were theirs alone. The AI catches the moments between sessions. The live calls are where the work gets anchored.
Who built it — and why that matters
I hold a Ph.D. in psychology from UC Berkeley, served as an expert consultant on Pixar’s Inside Out, and have coached leaders at companies like Meta, Stanford, Airbnb, and Bank of America. My courses have reached more than 20,000 students. Joree Rose is a licensed marriage and family therapist, mindfulness teacher, and author whose work has been featured in Oprah Magazine, NBC News, and Business Insider.
I say that not to impress you, but to make a point: the Proxi coaches aren’t a generic language model with a wellness label slapped on top. They’re built on a specific, grounded point of view about what people actually need and how change actually happens.
What Proximity is not
Let me be straight, because this matters. Proximity is a coaching and personal-development tool. It is not therapy, counseling, medical care, or crisis support, and it is not a substitute for a licensed mental health professional. If you’re in serious pain or in crisis, that calls for a human clinician — and Proxi will tell you the same thing. Think of it as a tool for self-leadership, communication, and the everyday work of becoming a steadier version of yourself.
How to try it
Each coach comes with a free trial of 40 messages, no credit card required, plus founding-member pricing for the AI coach and an option to add the live biweekly calls. You can see current pricing and start your free trial on each coach’s page: Proxi He for men, Proxi She for women, and Proxi We for couples. There’s also a bundle that includes all three coaches and every group call.
If you’ve been white-knuckling your way through stress, reactivity, or a relationship that’s quietly drifting — this is the kind of support I wish every man had on the Tuesday night it actually matters. Come see what it feels like to have it: proximitycoaching.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Proximity Coaching?
Proximity Coaching is a hybrid coaching platform that pairs a 24/7 AI coach — built on the frameworks of Dr. John Schinnerer, PhD, and Joree Rose, LMFT — with live biweekly group coaching calls led by them. It offers three coaches: Proxi He for men, Proxi She for women, and Proxi We for couples.
Is Proximity Coaching the same as therapy?
No. Proximity is a coaching and personal-development tool for self-leadership, communication, and growth. It is not therapy, counseling, medical care, or crisis support, and it is not a substitute for a licensed mental health professional.
How is Proxi different from ChatGPT or other AI chatbots?
General-purpose chatbots are built to be agreeable and to reflect things back. Proxi is built to coach: it starts with your goals, names the patterns underneath, challenges your blind spots, and teaches science-backed tools to move you toward your values — and it’s backed by live human coaches, which no general chatbot offers.
How much does Proximity Coaching cost?
Each coach comes with a free trial of 40 messages, no credit card required. Paid plans use founding-member pricing for the AI coach, with an option to add live biweekly group calls. See current pricing on the Proxi He, Proxi She, and Proxi We pages.
Do I have to attend the live calls?
No. You can use the AI coach on its own. The live biweekly group calls are an optional upgrade for people who want real-time human coaching and accountability on a regular cadence.
Dr. John Schinnerer holds a Ph.D. in psychology from UC Berkeley and coaches men and couples at guidetoself.com. He co-hosts the Love Isn’t Enough podcast with Joree Rose, MA, LMFT, and together they lead Proximity Coaching at proximitycoaching.com. Proximity is a coaching and personal-development tool — not therapy, counseling, medical care, or a substitute for licensed mental health services.
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