Plain answers. No marketing. What we are. What we are not. What is out there already, and what is genuinely different.
If you have ever waited eight months for a referral, sat through a tick-box assessment, talked to a clinician who has read Freud but does not know the thing in front of you, you already know.
The Almanac is not built for the textbook case. It is built for the typical person whose whatever-it-is has taken over their life - and who has been waiting for something that actually helps in the meantime.
An honest map of the wellbeing landscape so you can see where we sit.
No. Most apps are built for the easy 80 percent who would benefit from a meditation, a habit tracker, or a mood emoji. The Almanac is built for the people the wellness industry forgot - PTSD, complex trauma, recovery, long-term conditions, neurodivergence, carers.
It is a tool, not a service. You put it in your toolbox alongside the GP, the therapist, the support group, the dog, the sister you ring at 3am - and you reach for it when you need it. It does not try to be everything. It tries to be one useful thing, on demand, that helps you process what is happening to you in the moment.
Six things, in plain English:
Processes what just happened. Bad call with the consultant, anniversary you forgot was coming, a flashback. You voice-note it, the bot reflects it back in the right tone for who you are.
Holds the dates. Photo of any letter or appointment slip, we extract the date, the place, the who, and remind you the day before and an hour before. You do not have to remember.
Translates. Hospital jargon into plain English. Your jumbled thoughts into a draft email to your GP. Your carer notes into a clean log.
Notices patterns over weeks. "Your mood drops every Sunday, three weeks running." "Pain rises after the new medication." Things you would not see day to day.
Holds the door at 3am. When the call you would normally make is the wrong one. The bot is there, in the right voice, no judgement.
Notices when you go quiet. If you go silent past your chosen threshold, we follow the escalation chain you set up at intake. Gently first. Always with consent.
No. We never ask you to retell anything. The intake form captures what you choose to tell us once. After that the bot speaks at the pace your nervous system can take, and you steer. Some users use it for daily check-ins and never go near the deeper stuff. Others go deep on day one. Both are fine.
Yes. UK-hosted, encrypted on the way in, encrypted at rest, ICO-registered. We never sell your data, we never share with insurers, employers, or advertisers. The only people outside the platform who can see your record are the emergency contacts you named on intake, and only after the silence threshold you set yourself.
The four-promise short version is at /confidential.html. The full UK GDPR-compliant privacy notice is at /privacy.html.
The Almanac is asynchronous - replies come in seconds usually but are not guaranteed instant. If you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or anyone else, please call:
Samaritans 116 123 (free, 24/7) · SHOUT text 85258 · 999 for emergency · NHS 111 for urgent mental health.
The Almanac sits alongside these. We do not replace them.
No, and we will not pretend it can. The Almanac is a wellbeing companion, not a clinician. It is the daily layer between your appointments. We can help you organise what to tell your GP, draft the letter to your specialist, log your symptoms over time, and remind you when you have a call coming. We cannot diagnose, prescribe, or run a course of therapy.
No. The bot is configured per persona to be non-judgemental and explicit about it. If you slip, relapse, miss a day, ghost it for a week, send it angry voice notes, or tell it the same story three times, it does not flinch. The pace and tone soften with the harder days, not harden.
No. The intake asks what you are carrying in your own words. You can tick "rather not say" on every diagnostic question and the platform still works. We are not a clinical service - you do not need a doctor's letter or a referral to use it.
Yes. There is no streak to maintain, no participation score, no guilt for ghosting it. The Almanac is there when you reach for it and quiet when you do not. The cadence watcher only kicks in if you go silent for longer than the threshold you set yourself - and even that is opt-out.
A journal is one-way. The Almanac talks back, in your persona's voice. It also remembers across days so it can spot patterns you have not noticed - the meds-flare correlation, the bad-Sunday cycle, the trigger that always shows up before a low week. And it can take action: drafting your GP email, prepping your tribunal bundle, reminding you of your sister's birthday. Journalling is private notes. This is a held record with someone who reads it back to you when it matters.
You can switch. Five British personas, each tuned for a different kind of weight. If Sonia feels too gentle, try Thomas. If Ryan is too punchy, try Maisie. The bot picks up where the previous voice left off - your record stays the same, only the voice signature changes.
The first 30 days are free, full access (Dawn). After that:
Noon · £5.99 a month · daily, ongoing access
Dusk · £9.99 a month · everything in Noon plus voice notes, claim-letter drafting, and priority human review.
Lite · free, permanent · 3 messages a day so nobody gets locked out for not paying.
Cancel any time. No charge after Dawn ends if you have not converted. No questions, no exit interview, no apology campaigns. Send "stop" in the bot, your subscription ends, your record stays available for 12 months in case you want to come back, then it is deleted.
If you want to stop AND delete everything immediately, send "delete me" instead. Within seven days nothing of yours remains.
No - unless you specifically asked us to share with them on intake. The default is private to you. If you do consent for family / carer access, you can revoke it in one message any time.
Yes, both ways. You can voice-note the bot and it transcribes, listens, and replies. You can also have the bot reply to you in voice (your chosen persona's voice signature). Useful for users who find writing hard, for dyslexia, for fatigue, or for the days when typing is too much.
It does not diagnose. It does not prescribe. It does not run therapy sessions. It does not promise a cure. It does not replace a crisis line. It does not gamify your recovery. It does not score your "wellness". It does not nudge you toward upsells. It does not have a streak counter. It does not punish you for stopping.
What it does is sit with you, every day, in your voice, and hold what you tell it - so the system you have to deal with on your worse days is at least one fewer thing.
Confidential promise (4 short bullets) · Full privacy notice · Medical disclaimer with crisis numbers · Terms of use · The five voices in detail.
Email Matt directly. He answers everything, usually within a day. Real human, not a support bot.
matt@thealmanac.co.uk