Meet the Team

I'm James, and SupportPrep is a two person operation. Founder and CEO are the titles on paper, but in practice that means I wrote the code, designed every scenario, and built the AI personas. Maica Monti, our UI Designer, tests each conversation before it goes live and helps shape how the whole thing feels to use.

I'm a student at Loyola High School, class of 2027, and a listener at Teen Line. Training to sit with someone in crisis and respond well takes real practice, and that practice is usually only available to the small number of people who happen to join a crisis line. I didn't think it should stay that limited.

The idea for SupportPrep came directly out of that training. At Teen Line, our roleplays happen in person, back to back with another trainee, texting or talking it out while sitting right next to them. That works, but it's hard to really sink into the role when the person across from you is a friend you're completely comfortable with. It can turn into something closer to joking around than real practice. I wanted a version with actual structure, a scenario you can't shortcut just because you know the person playing it.

SupportPrep uses Claude, an AI model built by Anthropic, to play the role of someone reaching out for support. It responds the way a real person might, adapts to what you say, and then grades your response against the same kind of rubric crisis lines use to train their own volunteers. The goal is to give anyone, not just crisis line volunteers, a safe place to practice these conversations before they matter most.

I watched people close to me struggle with their mental health, and I remember how hard it was to know what to say. SupportPrep is my attempt to make sure fewer people are stuck with that same uncertainty.