In a recent interview, senior Jamie Spelling elaborated on her innovative new application, therAPPeutic, which provides free counseling to teenagers. This application is estimated to be available to the general public in March or April.

What was your inspiration for this app?

At age 14, I created a Tumblr blog along with a bunch of my friends; mine was a humor blog. With it, I hoped to generate some laughs and maybe even gain a couple of followers. Soon, I began receiving messages from users in need of advice. As more messages came in, I realized these teenagers weren’t coming to my blog for a quick laugh; they were looking for a distraction from other problems going on in their lives. With no one else in their world to listen to them, these teens came to me because I was easily accessible. My following grew to 60,000 and my inbox filled with 20,000 messages, all of which I still have today. The teenagers that have no one to turn to except a now 17-year-old girl are my inspiration. For them, I am creating therAPPeutic.

How did you attract so many people to your Tumblr?

As I began answering advice questions, others saw that there was someone out there validating problems that society has deemed as unimportant. This validation was contagious. I genuinely believe that teenagers have a craving to be heard and I was listening… this is the factor that I believe truly attracted so many people to my blog.

How did you decide on a color scheme for your app?

Thinking back to this process makes me cringe. I probably asked every friend, family member, and teacher to vote on the different color schemes because I could not decide myself. It was so difficult because I needed to pick a soothing color that wasn’t too dark, was gender neutral, and was recognized in the technological world as being business-friendly. As a perfectionist, this choice was the least bit easy. For development purposes, I ultimately decided on a color scheme consisting of a lavender-grey, a rich blue, and a deep purple. However, I regret to inform you that we will, in fact, be changing this color scheme prior to formal launch.

How will this app influence your future career choice?

I think my experiences with therAPPeutic will drive my career more toward business than I had originally assumed.

Can you give me a run-though of your app?

therAPPeutic aims to provide teenagers with a safe-haven and a platform to communicate with counselors. When users log in, they are given 10 free messages with which they can speak to a counselor regarding any issue they may be having. They can also buy packages of 10, 25 or 50 messages to use for this purpose, all at very affordable prices to coincide with our goal of making counseling accessible for teens. therAPPeutic also features a page filled with inspirational quotes and a password-protected journal in which they can let their thoughts free.

When will your app become available to the general public?

The exact date is unknown, as it depends on the events of the beta testing process that is set to begin around December. We are shooting to have it available to the general public around March or April.