Divorce isn't a straight line. Neither is the way through.
Switchbacks is a companion for the hard days and the 2am ones: someone to talk it through with, a guided path built around your situation, and the best books, talks and guides on grief, kids, money and starting over.
Get started nowSetup takes about ten minutes. Your sessions and notes are saved on your device, not in an account on our servers.
Some days you climb. Some days it feels like you're going backwards.
Grief after a marriage ends doesn't move in a line. A good week, then a Tuesday that flattens you. The handoffs, the money, the lawyers, the kids' questions, the quiet house. And the people who love you can't be there at 2am.
Switchbacks is there between those conversations. It helps you make sense of what you're feeling, teaches you the skills that actually help, and keeps pointing you to the next good step, at your pace.
How it works
Tell it where you are
A few questions about your situation, then a little writing in your own words. Skip anything you're not ready for.
Get a path built around you
A guided path through heart and grief, mind and skills, kids and co-parenting, legal and money, body and sleep, and spirit and meaning, shaped by your answers. Kids content only if you have kids.
Talk it through, any time
Open a session whenever you need one. It listens, helps you name what you feel, teaches one useful idea at a time, and points you to what fits.
What's inside
- Sessions
- A warm, plain-spoken guide you can talk to day or night. It remembers what you've shared, follows up on what you said you'd do, and never rushes you.
- The Path
- Short lessons, in-depth guides and practices in a suggested order. Each step you finish adds a stone to your cairn.
- For you
- Books, podcast episodes, talks and guides from respected grief, divorce and co-parenting experts, picked for where you are and cited so you can go deeper.
- Notes
- Private, dated notes for the record, the kind your attorney or mediator may ask for. Only you write them.
- Support
- When you need a person: crisis lines, how to find a therapist, a mediator or an attorney, and programs outside the app worth knowing about.
Why it's called Switchbacks
I built Switchbacks after my own divorce. I had a therapist, a mentor, family and close friends, and there were still nights I felt completely alone with it.
We're a hiking family, and the image stuck with me. A trail doesn't go straight up a mountain. It cuts back and forth, and on some stretches you're facing the way you came and it feels like you're going backwards. You're not. Every turn is a little higher than the last.
And on the rocky stretches, where the trail is hard to see, hikers stack small piles of stones called cairns to show the people behind them where to step. That's what I've tried to leave here for you.
Steven Seidman, founder
What it isn't
Switchbacks isn't therapy, and it isn't legal advice. It's support between the conversations you have with your therapist, your attorney and the people who love you. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (in the US). If you're in danger, call 911.
One membership, everything included
A simple monthly membership
Pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay or card. Cancel anytime from your profile.
Questions
Who is it for?
Anyone going through separation or divorce, at any stage: before anything is filed, in the thick of it, or years later. Whether it was your decision, theirs or mutual, and with or without kids.
Is it private?
Your sessions and notes are saved in your browser, on your device. To reply, the AI receives the recent conversation; our relay passes it through and doesn't keep a copy. Payments are handled by Stripe, so we never see your card. Read the privacy policy for the details.
Is it therapy?
No. It draws on evidence-based approaches and well-known experts, and it can help you get ready for a conversation with a therapist, but it isn't a therapist and doesn't diagnose or treat anything.
Can I use it on more than one device?
Your membership works anywhere. On a new device, choose "Already a member?" and we'll email you a sign-in link. What you've written stays on the device where you wrote it.
What if I change my mind?
Cancel anytime from your profile in the app. You keep access until the end of the period you've paid for.
I have a code
Go through setup, then choose "Have a code?" on the membership screen.