About Tether

The science behind it.

Tether is built on Applied Behavioral Linguistics — an approach that decodes the function of language, not just the words. It was built from the inside out, by someone who needed it.

Methodology & privacy

How it works.

Applied Behavioral Linguistics

Tether analyzes tone, behavioral function, emotional manipulation, and risk across written messages. It identifies patterns including DARVO cycles, escalation clusters, boundary violation frequency, and manipulation tactic density.

Unlike tools that look for keywords, Tether looks at behavioral function — the purpose a message is serving, not just its content. "I just worry about you" can be care or surveillance. Context and pattern determine which.

Training data included real messages from known abuse cases, used with consent and including the creator's own experience. It was built from the inside out.

Data and privacy

Tether does not store, save, or transmit any messages. All analysis runs through Hugging Face's secure API. No identifying information is ever collected, stored, or shared.

Tether is a reflection tool, not a diagnostic service. It is not a substitute for professional support — but it can help you see what you're dealing with clearly enough to know what kind of support to seek.

Questions: usetetherai@gmail.com

Press & Research

For researchers & media.

Tether is built by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and forensic expert witness with direct experience in coercive control cases. It is grounded in behavioral science, not keyword matching.

Methodology
Applied Behavioral Linguistics
Tether analyzes the behavioral function of language — what a message is doing, not just what it says. Built on coercive control research, DARVO frameworks, and trained on real case data used with consent.
Validation
Ongoing Validation Study
An ongoing validation study uses the Pomerantz et al. (2021) coercive control linguistic codebook as ground truth. Tether's boundary violation classifier is currently under active refinement.
Creator
Samantha Parnham, BCBA, LBA
Forensic expert witness in family law and domestic violence cases. Published researcher in trauma and behavioral patterns. Available for interviews and research collaboration.
Applications
Professional & Legal Use
Tether has been used as a reflective tool in DV advocacy, family law contexts, and behavioral research. Tether Pro — a version for professionals with exportable reports — is in development.
Press inquiries, research collaboration, and expert comment
Samantha Parnham, BCBA, LBA  ·  Tether Insight LLC
Contact for press →