Level Up

Level Up is a private AI-powered coaching and motivation app that helps high-risk teens build a better future through small daily wins, future-self motivation, and trusted mentors — without feeling like a program.

Level Up – Concept Overview

What the App Would Do (4–5 bullets)

  • Private AI Coach: Teens talk privately with an AI that uses motivational interviewing and coaching, not lectures or counseling.
  • Micro-Wins & Streaks: Teens complete small daily wins (stay out of trouble, apply for a job, work out, attend school) and build streaks and status levels.
  • Future Self Builder: Teens create and interact with their future self to build motivation and long-term thinking.
  • Near-Peer Mentors (Optional): Anonymous messaging with slightly older mentors who have turned things around.
  • Opportunity Pathways: Shows jobs, apprenticeships, gyms, clubs, and programs only after trust and engagement are built.

 

Science the App Is Based Upon

  • Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan) — motivation increases with autonomy, competence, and belonging.
  • Motivational Interviewing — proven effective for addiction, justice-involved youth, and behavior change.
  • Future Self Continuity Research (Hershfield) — connecting with future self improves long-term decision making.
  • Behavioral Activation & Habit Formation — small repeated wins change behavior over time.
  • Trauma-Informed Care — safety, control, and trust must come before behavior change.
  • Credible Messenger / Near-Peer Mentoring — youth respond better to people who were once like them.

 

What a Pilot Program Would Look Like

Small, controlled pilot (20–40 teens):

  • Partner with Boys & Girls Club, probation program, school alternative program, or diversion program.
  • Provide phones or install app privately.
  • Teens use app for 3–6 months.
  • Measure:
    • App engagement
    • School attendance
    • Job applications
    • Arrests / incidents
    • Mentor contacts
    • Future outlook / hope surveys
  • One program coordinator oversees mentors and safety.
  • Goal: Determine if the app reaches kids who normally avoid programs.

 

Most Difficult Challenges of This Experiment

  • Trust: Teens must believe the app is private and not connected to police, probation, or school.
  • Engagement: The app must feel cool and useful or they will delete it immediately.
  • Mentor Quality: Finding the right near-peer mentors is critical and difficult.
  • Safety & Ethics: Must handle suicide risk, violence threats, abuse disclosures properly.
  • Reaching the Right Kids: The hardest kids are also the hardest to recruit and keep engaged.