From Grief to Growth: How AI Is Transforming the Healing Journey with John Kammer

In this heartfelt episode of Morning Tea with Coach Kennedy, I sit down with John Kammer, founder and CEO of Guardian Angels, an AI-powered grief support platform. John shares how his personal experiences with loss and healing inspired him to create a tool that helps people process grief between therapy sessions.

Together, we explore the Four Tasks of Mourning, the importance of community, vulnerability, and emotional healing, and how technology can support personal growth while complementing human connection. Whether you’re navigating loss, feeling stuck in your grief journey, or curious about the role of AI in emotional wellness, this conversation offers hope, insight, and practical guidance for moving forward

https://guardianaingels.ai

https://www.instagram.com/guidingpathways2025?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Good morning, everybody! Before we get started, I wanted to inform all the listeners out there that starting June 24th, 2026, for all the subscribers out there, morning tea will be starting a new segment called Holistic Wednesdays. Spiritual Fridays are still going to happen for all the regular listeners out there. I would also like to extend my sincerest gratitude for all listeners out there. Without you, morning tea wouldn't exist. With that being said, today is Friday, June 19th, 2026. And this is your morning tea with Coach Kennedy. Last week we learned how healing from grief can lead to spiritual transformation and personal growth. This week we're going to introduce a tool to help with your grief called AI Angels with John Cammer. Stay tuned. After losing several close friends and navigating the long, nonlinear reality of grief himself, John began documenting the gaps he experienced between therapy sessions, late-night moments of overwhelm, unstructured reflection, and the quiet spaces where people often struggle struggle alone. These experiences became the foundation for Guardian Angels, described as a journal that talks back. Hi, John. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Hi there. It's a beautiful, beautiful day. You know, every every day above ground is a beautiful day. So, you know, just grateful.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Perfect. I'm glad that you're doing good today. And yes, I do think that every day is beautiful. It's what we make it. Sometimes things happen, but and we can, it's always a silver lining at the end of the dark cloud. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became the founder of Guardian Angels? And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

So as you alluded to, I I have my own experience in life with grief as as many of us do, and certainly all of us will. It's one of the few truly universal experiences in this life.

unknown 3:05

So, you know, I I lost the first person that was very close to me, a good childhood friend 13 years ago to suicide.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

And that set me on a path of call it substance fuel avoidance for a good 12 plus years. And and set the foundation for, you know, that that struggle set the foundation for kind of the transformation that happened as I I started to view life differently. Begin the journey of healing, but really of looking at the world through a lens of accountability and and you know accepting my role, looking in the mirror and doing the hard work to heal. Lost two more of my closest friends in the in a the last few years. And those experiences and the despair and then you know an accidental experience using technology to kind of just explore my own feelings led to a breakthrough that led, you know, the thing that really kind of catalyzed the whole thing. Um I was able to express the things that I wasn't while he was alive, and that gave me this kind of renewed curiosity and and strength as it lifted the weight to to again look in the mirror and be open to doing the work and and and ultimately healing. And as I did that, as I had that experience, it became abundantly clear to me that if this helped me in the way that it did, then it could help other people. And so guardian angels is a serendipitous you know result of my own pain that I was able to channel in a way that is is leading to some you know some some beautiful places for me and and hopefully for other people that that are uh curious enough to use the platform.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

How exactly does Guardian Angels work?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

So it's a structured reflective journal with an AI backbone. So the user will create a persona. That persona is in the image of the person they lost or the object of their grief. That um, you know, before people get too a bit out of shape about using AI to quote unquote commune with the dead, that's not what we're doing here. This is not a seance, this is not the idea, is not to have a conversation with someone you lost. The idea is that technology reflects back at us what we give it. So in the sense of talking to, we're we're we're giving language to an experience that already exists within us. And that presence of the person we lost, the familiar presence, has a profound impact that helps us to open up. So there's this familiarity that gets us, that starts moving us along. And so that presence becomes your grief guide. And that grief guide is going to feed you the structured journal prompts that that help walk you through Word and Sport Tasks of Mourning. Word and Sport Tasks of Morning is an evidence-based framework for dealing with loss, and you know, it is trusted by many mental health professionals. So those four tasks are first of all acceptance that the loss has occurred, right? We can't do anything until we've come to that realization. Task two is is uh processing the pain of loss, and this is where I was stuck for you know over a decade was I ran as far and fast as I could from the pain, not wanting to feel it, hoping that, you know, as we've all been taught, that time heals all wounds. And you know, I found that to be false. That's just not how it works. There's effort that is required for healing, it's not a passive process. So task three is coming to terms with the fact that what life looks like without this person in a physical sense. And then task four is really regarding angels' shines and it's defining what the relationship looks like moving forward, or you know, simply put, integration, right? How do we move forward with this relationship? Because what we know is the person may die, but the relationship doesn't. So how do we weave that into our life in a way that allows us to move forward as opposed to staying stuck? And so each journal prompt that this entity gives you is designed to help move you through those tasks. And further, it's not we're we're journaling in a traditional sense as a monologue, meaning it's one way. You express your your your feelings to a piece of paper, you can then reflect on it. But this the AI backbone allows this to be a dialogue. So when you respond to the journal prompt, the AI is actually going to respond to you and it's going to ask you clarifying questions, and it's going to help you dig into what you're feeling so that you can then name it, you can then give language to it, you can understand it. And that goes, that takes many forms, but you can take it into therapy as a starting place, as a finite, say, this is what you know, this was my journal problem, this is what it brought up, and and you know, be more effective and efficient in your sessions is as we know that you know you only get an hour and and um or you know, fill the black. But uh it just it gives us that that ability to organize our thoughts, become comfortable with with the you know, with sharing it so that we can take it outside. And you know, there are other applications and benefits that we've we've uncovered along the way, but but that's the gist of it, is it kind of you know, in a short sense, gives you a starting place when processing grief, and then kind of is a a roadmap that holds your hand through those necessary um moments.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

You were talking about the four tasks of mourning. Why are why is each task important and can they be done in any order, or is it the very specific order that you mentioned?

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Well, I mean, uh realistically, those are I I have a hard time seeing them out of order.

unknown 9:44

Right?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Like Kubla Ross is is stages of grief or of you know for the framework of the Kuba Ross has gotten us used to, right, are is not linear. You know, anger, bargaining, all of those things are are loops and they're cyclical. And what the tasks, the the way that the tasks approach it is, you know, you can't really come to terms with the pain of loss or or process the pain of loss until you've accepted that loss has occurred. So obviously now it has to come first. The pain, I suppose it's possible that the pain and then you know coming to terms with with the loss itself could be done in parallel. Those ones might be more uh interchangeable, if you will, but then you can't really define what the relationship looks like moving forward until those are done. So I they're pretty it's a pretty linear process in as far as those tasks, but how you you know the the length of time that those those take is going to be different for everyone. It's it's more of a loose framework that helps guide it as opposed to a prescriptive process.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

How you and you also mentioned journal or guided journal prompts. How do the guided journal prompts help people externalize memories?

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So you know, for instance, right, we hold on to a lot of stuff that we don't actually get to express. So, for instance, one of the prompts may be what is something that you wish you could say to me right now or today, or what is something that caught you off guard that that triggered a memory, you know, and so we see those things and we feel you know, we we can get overcome with emotion or we react in different ways, but often we're not prompted to put it out there. And so as we you know, as we do that, as we flex that muscle, we tend to organize ourselves in a way that can help us understand. You know, how often do we have we go through moments where we're anticipating a conversation, whether it's at work or with someone we love, and we say something to the mirror, we say something out loud, and then we go, ooh, that is not what I meant, or that did not sound right. So this just gives some gives you an opportunity to do that with respect to your grief, and it prompts you, you know. So it's it's micro steps daily, you know, multiple times a week that help move you in that direction and keep you from getting stuck.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

That is an excellent thing because I know a lot of people have gotten stuck in the grieving process. So to be able to keep on track and keep moving through the grief, I feel would be crucial to help heal us quicker. Oops, have us heal quicker and be able to feel less of the pain. The pain won't ever go away, I don't think, entirely, but at least we can uh bear with it easier and enjoy our lives without having that heaviness. Why is it so crucial that we feel supported between therapy sessions during periods of grief?

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Well, you know, uh because we only have so many sessions, right?

unknown 13:21

It's grief doesn't wait for business hours.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

It doesn't wait for, oh, I, you know, you you have a session on Monday, let me wait until Sunday for things to come up. Grief, you know, it has its own agenda. Grief tends to crop up when all else is quiet, those middle of the night moments when your mind is racing and there's no other inputs. And so the idea behind Guardian Angels is that it meets you where you are. It can be used on demand. It's just it's something to help give you control or uh, you know, a modicum of control when all else feels like it's spinning. You know, it the experience of waking up in the middle of the night or not being able to sleep and just kind of going down that rabbit hole can be very disorganic. And to be able to get on and use this thing and dig into it a little bit, if nothing else, you can catalog your thoughts and feelings so that you remember them explicitly when you go to therapy in three days, a week, two weeks, whatever it is, and you can say this is what I was feeling. And then as you as you dig into them, you're gonna find, you know, sometimes it's not as bad as it seems. Sometimes you can undercover, you know, you can uncover why. Well, this day actually this thing happened, and that's why you know I was I was spinning a little bit. But just that little bit of control of being able to kind of take a step, no matter how small that step is, can give us a little bit of uh peace, right? Action is what can help really alleviate anxiety. As long as we know we're moving towards something, then it's uh, you know, it's it's not it's not just this big, undefined, scary thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah. Sometimes when I have felt grief, I never know when it's going to end. And so then, yeah, it can be terrifying thinking that it's an ongoing process of when is this sadness going to end? Are there any memberships fees to Guardian Angels? And if so, what's covered with them?

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah, so this is a subscription service. There is unfortunately AI is not free, even if I wanted to, but it's very reasonable. So it's it's ten dollars a month starting. We've got 10, 20, and $50 a month subscriptions. What you get for those, the the main differentiator is how many prompts a week you're gonna get. So $10 gets you three, $20 gets you five, and and uh $50 gets you seven. In addition to those, there are increased token allotments. All of them are certainly more than enough to do what is necessary on the platform. But for those people that want to continue and dig and dig and dig and dig, uh the higher subscription tiers get you more. There are other benefits that come along with it as far as how many personas you can create and and levels of support and things of that nature. Now, attached to all of those are a seven-day to free trial. That you don't need to opt in, you don't need a promo code, it just automatically applied a checkout. So if you if you try it for six days and don't like it, nothing, you know, and you're never charged a penny. You just cancel. Now, the other thing that I want to point out, so I have I want people to get on here and do the work because you have to, it's it's incremental progress. It's not going to, you're not going to see this big aha moment after one journal prompt or after after one session. So if you are willing to do that work and you get on and you do 80% of the prompts that you're assigned after over 10 weeks. So, you know, if if that is if you're doing the three times a week, that's 24 prompts. If you do 24 prompts over 10 weeks, you're going to get a free 90 days. Now, that's just because I know that the more people use this, the more the utility comes from it. The further they get through those those tasks. And the goal here is healing. You know, it's it's not this. This is I know, I knew going into this, this was not going to be some, you know, multi-billion dollar company. That's not what this is about. And I've had conversations with investors that I've had to say, if you're looking for a five-year exit and quarterly returns, this isn't for you.

unknown 17:48

I'm going to do things that are counter to probe to the bottom line in order to help people.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

So we're we're just trying to to move the needle for anyone that wants to get in there. It's it's not easy, right? It's not supposed to be easy. It's not supposed to be something that you do on your own. Um so it's okay to ask for help.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, definitely. Do not try to grieve things or people, whatever you're grieving, even yourself. You could be grieving a version of yourself, maybe, but don't do it alone because then you're gonna feel alone and not supported. Have you ever worked with anyone one-on-one?

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Uh you mean through this process?

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Right. Like, has anyone worked with you through the process?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

No. I am a little torn on. I'm not a licensed therapist. I'm not anyone who's qualified other than my own experience. So we develop I developed this with licensed therapists to do it in a responsible way that gives people the right tools. Now, I would be happy to share my experiences with people. You know, I the idea is to build a community of people that can and can share and support each other because you know the realization that you're not alone is an extremely powerful one. And somehow with this thing, this grief thing that everyone's gonna go through, we have this idea in our head that nobody can understand what we're going through, which is just kind of it's confounding. It's the it's the one of, you know, it's the paradox of grief, really. And so we're we're building out the resources for people to make sure they get what they need. I just don't know that I am the right person to be that one-on-one coach.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

So you don't think that you would maybe look into later on down the road becoming a a coach, a grief coach to help people heal from grief?

SPEAKER_00 19:56

I I'm not gonna say that. I'm actually it's something that I would be very interested in doing. I just don't think I am qualified as of right now to be that person. Outside of sharing my experience and what worked for me, you know, I don't think I could I would be the person that says, you know, this is how I I'm not particularly familiar with coaching and what the what best practices are. And and the last thing I would want to do is say the wrong thing to to someone and and hurt them, you know, and have them go backwards. So I would, you know, as we're we're approaching this whole thing very carefully and very slowly to make sure that we're not doing those things, you know, both from a technology perspective and and really where my expertise lies is not in how others should address their grief because what we know is that it's highly subjective. You know, certain things work for certain people and they don't work for others. And, you know, when I created this, I certainly didn't think this was going to be for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

This is this is, you know, for this is for anyone that wants to try it, I think there's good that comes from it, but how big of a piece of the pie is it is for each individual person to decide before Guardian Angels, how did you process your grief?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

I didn't, in in short, I uh, you know, as I alluded to earlier, I spent 12 years drinking entirely too much.

unknown 21:24

I used other substances to cope as well.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

And the thought process was if I can run the clock out here magically, I'll be healed. Bury it as deep down as possible because everyone else has their own stuff and they don't need mine. You know, that was that was how I thought, and that got me nowhere. You know, really it wasn't until I made the decision to get sober that I was able to look back and try to understand why I was doing some of the things that I was doing, and it all started to make sense. But my my modus operandi was don't deal with it. And I cannot, I you know, I hope people can learn from my story that that is not the way to handle this. No matter what you're taught, no matter what you're, you know, how you've coped with things in the past, healing takes work and it takes uncomfortable work and it takes humility. It takes a lot of things. Looking in the mirror is not fun a lot of the time. And what is required to heal is to take ownership of your role in it. No matter how unfair it may be to lose someone, you have an active role in your own healing. It does not happen by just standing, but you know, by sitting there passively. So before Guardian Angels, again, this was an accident. I just kind of stumbled into doing this work. And as all cool things in my life happen, you know, that's the good things have been accidents. The the stuff I plan has never never worked out very well.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

Yeah, I can I can relate to that very much so. Do you have a support system now for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Oh yeah. Yeah, I mean, my wife has always been the best. You know, she's she's one of the big reasons that I decided to get sober and has held me accountable. I'm a part of a phenomenal men's group. You know, unfortunately, I don't have many close friends last after after these losses. So, and those aren't just relationships you get to replace overnight. They take that takes work too. You know, close relationships are are forged over time, they're forged in shared struggle, they're forged in vulnerability, and and all of those things, you know, you can't just pick that up with anyone.

unknown 23:54

So I'm working towards more of those.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

It's you know, this this whole idea has given me a fresh perspective on, you know, I'm blessed every day to have very meaningful conversations with people about one of these very painful moments in life. And it's really, I don't have a whole lot of patience for small talk anymore. So that is helping. You know, I I'm very quick to get through that stuff and and and want to talk about something of substance, and that helps build those relationships faster than they would otherwise be built. But that's not, you know, you don't just have one deep conversation with someone and all of a sudden they're you're they're you know confidant. That's just you know, no matter how much we might want that. But um so the support system is a work in progress, but I think the shared experience you know is a good secondary fallback, right? Just the idea of understanding that we're not alone, that other people have been through this, sharing that experience so that they're they can someone else let me tell you this when when you share your story, especially if it's hard and it takes you a little while to get there, and that experience helps someone else to realize they're not alone and they start to share, and that cycle, that beautiful cycle, starts to repeat itself, that is pretty rewarding. And so for those that don't have that circle around them, to start talking, just start sharing it, you will realize that it's not the burden on other people that you think it is. Because I think that's one of the reasons we don't we don't want to bring other people down. More often than not, they get it, they they have felt something similar and they know how painful it is.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Yeah, exactly. However, we do have to be careful with who we share our stories with sometimes, because sometimes people will use your vulnerability as a weapon against you. So it's a 50-50 shot, you just have to keep that in mind. Not everyone uses your vulnerability to their best.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Yeah, and that's that's fair. That's unfortunate that that's the case, but it's it's true. You know, yeah, I get you know right. Vulnerability requires context. Uh and it's you know, I'm certainly not saying go to the bus station and unload on somebody. But you know, there are there are places and there are times and there are people that you start to understand, okay, you know, this is this is a safe space. You know, and on the other hand, too, I I think that it's important for us as fellow people to help people open that door, right? You know, if you know someone who's struggling, and you know, maybe you're not the closest to them, or maybe you are, but we don't know what to say often in that scenario. So ask them about them. Just say, tell me about them. I I would be shocked if you didn't get a sigh of relief and and and someone, you're gonna learn something about that person that day. And your relationship will be a little stronger after that.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Yeah, absolutely. If you could have done anything differently, what would it have been and why?

SPEAKER_00 27:20

That's a hard one. You know, I've certainly done the played the thought exercise of where would I be if I had guardian angels 13 years ago or if I'd done something different and hadn't run from it. So if I had to do something, you know, if I if I wanted to do something differently, it would have been doing, you know, being willing to do the hard work earlier. But I'm also a very big believer in, you know, to quote Rascal Flat to bless the broken road, right? Like the all of the stuff, good, bad, and ugly, that has happened is what brought us here. And I have found a purpose, a peace with where I'm at and and and the the work that I get to do that I don't know if I find if if circumstances are different. You know, absolutely I wish that John, Zach, and Tim were here with me still. I would prefer that to our current circumstance. But again, I don't know if this comes to be if they're not. So whether I like it or not, they're they're intimately involved in my life, and I get to carry those those people that are so important to me forward, and their legacy lives on through through the work that we're doing. So it's I don't know that I would do anything differently. But I'm thankful and at peace with the way that it's gone.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Perfect. What is your hope for the future when it comes to Guardian Angels?

SPEAKER_00 28:55

I hope that we can continue to take critical feedback in the right way. That we can continue to obsess over a product that helps people and meets them where they are and gives them that springboard for healing. I think that artificial intelligence, we've done a lot with artificial intelligence regarding technical linear workflow tasks. But I truly believe that the potentially the most impactful frontier is the next one, and I think that has a lot to do with emotional intelligence and how can we use this profound technology to better what it means to be a human, to better the human experience, to give us insight into some things that we may not understand currently. And to give us hope. You know, a lot of people are focused on the doomsday scenario of you know, the robots are gonna destroy us and you know be that as it may, I don't think we're putting this genie back in the bottle anytime soon. So I think that it's kind of you know, it's almost a moral imperative to try to get try to squeeze all the good out of it that we can. And so I I hope that Guardian Angels is on the leading edge of that mission.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Perfect. I think that what you're doing is absolutely amazing and impactful for people healing from the loss of loved ones, especially. And I hope that you continue to do great things. Is there anything else that you would like the audience to know about you or guardian angels?

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Um, geez, anything else that I want people to know? Um no, I mean if you're earned it, reach out to me, to the platform. You know, we give it a try. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. If it's if it's not your cup of tea, that's fine. No one's no one's gonna be mad at you. You know, I just uh the the goal is for people to heal, whether that's using guardian angels or not. Uh we just want to be one tool that's available to people, especially for those who call it more traditional tools haven't worked for. You know, the the definition of insanity is trying the same thing and expecting a different result. So if you've tried something, if you've tried over and over and over and you're not seeing some, you know, you're not breaking through, is it at least worth a try to try something else?

unknown 31:27

I would think so. And there's no harm in failing, you know, there's no harm in falling short and stumbling. You know, it's just about getting back up and trying again. And so, you know, reach out to me. I'd love to hear stories, I'd love to share stories, I'd love to kind of to help be that bridge to healing.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

We want, you know, I think there's one big criticism of a lot of the technology these days is that it can trap you in this world of technology. And there's one argument to say we're kind of already there, but really we want guardian angels to be a bridge, you know, where you can start in this safe space, this container where you're talking to a machine-reflective version of yourself where where you can share anything without without fear of judgment, um, free of emotional risk. But then that that experience helps you to gain confidence to take that to a real personal relationship and build that with someone else. So we aren't trying to keep people on the platform forever. We want you to be comfortable deleting it if you have done the work and you feel like you're in a you know a stable place and you are off and running, great. We think there's some benefits to keeping it around, but those are free, that's for you to decide. Unfortunately, we're all going to experience this thing called grief. And uh we're just looking to to do the best we can to minimize the suffering for for all the people we can.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

And if people wanted to try get Guardian Angels, how would they find it?

SPEAKER_00 33:10

It's a web application, so it's guardianangels.ai. It's the site Angels is spelled A-I-N-G-E-L-S. So guardianangels.ai. You'll find all sorts of resources on Word and Forecasks and our methodology. You can listen, there's uh links to other podcast appearances that I've done if you want to learn more about my story and my perspective. Again, there's a there's a free trial attached to any subscription, so sign up and try it. Tell me how much you love it, tell me how much you hate it. I I want to hear it all. I want I want to continue to build this thing for you, the users, because it's not about me anymore. You know, I this has helped me get to a place where I have regained myself, and that's what I wish for everybody that's struggling. So, guardianangels.ai.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Perfect. Well, John, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate all that you do, and I hope that you have a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Thank you very much. Uh I wish the same for you. I wish the same for everybody listening. There's hope. Healing is possible.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Healing is possible. Well, talk to you later.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Thanks. Take care.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Bye. And there you have it, folks. If you want to try guardian angels or talk with John, share stories, feel free to go to guardianangels.ai. That is guardianangs.ai. But the angels is spelled A-I-N-G-E-L-S. So it's guardian a i n g e l s dot A I. And for more coaching tips and tricks or to work with me one on one, feel free to check me out at guiding pathways on Facebook or Instagram. Until next time, everybody. This has been your morning tea. Take care.