One focused question
Ask Stephen
$99 standard · $199 priority
You can state the decision in a sentence or two. You need the relevant history and evidence examined, not years of family history rebuilt.
See Ask StephenWhen the history is too much for one conversation
Turn years of crises into a record your family can use to make the next decision.
If every new emergency restarts the argument, family members remember the past differently, or another major sacrifice is on the table, another conversation by itself is usually not enough.
Family Reconstruction puts the rescue history back together, separates promises from evidence, shows who carried the costs, and gives you a clear written record for choosing Help, Boundary, or Exit.
Choose by the problem
How much of the history has to be rebuilt?
The full history matters
Family Reconstruction
$2,500 founding rate
Today’s request cannot be understood without the rescue history. The family needs one shared record before it can decide what is reasonable to risk next.
Apply · $2,500Not ready for paid work? Start with the free Check. Ask Stephen is not a prerequisite for Family Reconstruction.
What the paid work is designed to change
From repeated argument to a decision you can explain and revisit.
The flagship engagement
Salvage Math Family Reconstruction
This is structured decision analysis for the family member, spouse, or friend. It is not addiction treatment, therapy, intervention work, or ongoing crisis management.
The full history matters
Family Reconstruction
See the whole pattern, set a clear standard for evidence, and decide what you will and will not sacrifice next.
$2,500
founding rate
Best when: the family has helped repeatedly, the current request cannot be understood without the past, or reasonable family members now disagree about what should happen next. If the history proves unusually long or complex, the same engagement can be scoped as Extended Reconstruction.
See fictional examples of what you receive
What you leave with
Start with the free Check instead
You leave with a history that is harder for crisis and memory to rewrite, a clearer view of what has and has not changed, and clear options, conditions, and tradeoffs your family can return to when pressure rises again.
Application first, payment second. I read every application personally and reply to each one, including the ones I decline. If the fit is right, we agree in writing on the work, price, and schedule before any work or payment begins.
When the standard Reconstruction is not enough
Extended Reconstruction
Extended Reconstruction is not a separate program. It is the same Family Reconstruction process with more room for analysis when a long or unusually complex history cannot be handled well within the standard engagement.
Expanded Family Reconstruction
Extended Reconstruction
More room for the history, different family perspectives, and comparison of future paths without turning the work into open-ended hourly consulting.
$4,500 to $5,000
typical founding total
Best when: the underlying family history is meaningfully more complicated than the standard Reconstruction can capture accurately within its normal scope.
How the upgrade is decided
You do not need to choose Extended Reconstruction before I understand the case. If the intake shows that the standard Reconstruction is enough, that is what I will recommend. If the history clearly requires more history work or modeling, I will define the additional work and total price before it begins.
What Extended is not
It is not unlimited access, ongoing coaching, or a block of hours to use however you want. Every additional hour must add useful history, organize evidence, compare options, or strengthen the final decision record.
Start with the Family Reconstruction application. Extended Reconstruction is considered only if the history requires it.
The process
Reconstruct first. Decide second.
Structured intake
You identify the current decision, the major rescue episodes, the people affected, and the history that seems most relevant. You may provide selected records or documents if they help establish the timeline.
Tell the history
Private recorded history sessions give you room to explain what happened in sequence, including the details that rarely fit into a short consultation.
Reconstruct the record
I organize rescues, promises, outcomes, sacrifices, evidence of change, important uncertainties, and the effects on the family into one clear case record.
Model the paths
We examine reasonable Help, Boundary, or Exit paths, including conditions, limits, what the other person will contribute, the likely risk to the family, and the tradeoffs each choice creates.
Review for accuracy
You review the rebuilt timeline and key facts so corrections and real uncertainty are captured before the final decision record is completed.
Final decision session
We walk through the completed Family Decision Map together, identify what still cannot be known, and clarify the conditions and limits you want to carry forward.
What the work actually looks like
Not more conversation. A record your family can see.
Family Reconstruction turns a complicated history into clear working documents. The examples below are fictional and simplified, but they show the kind of structure the engagement is designed to produce.
Put the major times your family stepped in all in one place.
| Period | What happened | Family response | What was promised | What followed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2022 | Lost apartment after missed rent. | Family paid deposit and 2 months of rent. | "I only need time to stabilize." | Employment improved briefly. Rent problems returned within 5 months. |
| Winter 2023 | Vehicle at risk of repossession. | Family paid arrears and insurance. | "Keeping the car will let me keep working." | Job ended 7 weeks later. Family continued insurance for 4 more months. |
| Summer 2025 | Asked to move home "for 30 days." | Bedroom, meals, transportation, household expenses. | "I have a concrete exit plan." | Stayed 8 months. Exit conditions were repeatedly renegotiated. |
The point is not to condemn prior help. It is to make the sequence visible enough to ask what happened after each major sacrifice.
Compare what was expected with what actually happened.
2022
PromiseTemporary rent support will stabilize housing.
OutcomeHousing stabilized briefly, then failed again.
2023
PromiseCar rescue preserves employment.
OutcomeEmployment ended despite the intervention.
2025
Promise30-day return home.
OutcomeStay extended to 8 months.
See who else carried the consequences.
Money
High
Housing
High
Marriage
Rising
Work / time
Material
These labels are not clinical scores. They summarize what the family reports and help keep the costs to everyone else visible in the decision.
Compare choices before making them.
Conditional Help
- Limited financial risk
- Specific contribution required from the other person
- Written date and stop condition
- Highest family risk of the three paths
Relationship Without Rescue
- Maintain contact and emotional support
- No housing or recurring money
- Family impact drops meaningfully
- May increase short-term conflict or pressure
No Further Investment
- No additional financial or practical rescue
- Protect household finances and stability
- Clear consequences remain in place
- Highest emotional difficulty for some families
Salvage Math does not choose the scenario for you. The goal is to make the costs, conditions, risks, and unknowns of each option clear.
Bring the rebuilt history into one durable decision record.
Current decision
Whether to provide housing and transportation support after another employment and housing crisis.
What appears meaningfully different
- Three months of documented employment.
- Regular attendance in a chosen support program.
- Partial repayment of prior debt.
What remains unresolved
- No sustained independent housing period yet.
- Current plan still assumes major family support.
- Spouses disagree about acceptable financial risk.
Possible family standard
Any renewed financial or practical help must be limited, shared, documented, and tied to specific dates and responsibilities you can observe.
Decision questions
- What are we willing to risk?
- What must the other person contribute?
- What would cause the help to stop?
- Who absorbs the consequence if the plan fails?
Private by default
Your family's history stays private by default.
Paid Family Reconstruction is private client work. Public Salvage Math stories, teaching examples, and Rescue Math demonstrations are separate from your private case.
Your role in the process
This works best when the family is willing to build an accurate record.
Give me enough history and context to understand the current decision and see where the record needs more detail.
The goal is not a polished story. Dates can be approximate when they truly are. Contradictions and uncertainty should be noted rather than smoothed over.
If a text, receipt, court record, treatment record, calendar, housing history, or other document is important to your own decision, we can include it when appropriate. You are not expected to prove every memory.
You will have a chance to separate confirmed facts, memories, disputed points, and unanswered questions before the final map is completed.
Who this is for
A strong fit when the next decision has real consequences.
Family Reconstruction is more than a conversation by design. The value comes from creating a shared, durable record and using it to examine the next decision.
Likely a strong fit
The history keeps entering today's decision.
- Your family has stepped in repeatedly.
- Money, housing, vehicles, work, retirement, or family stability are at risk.
- Family members remember the history differently or disagree about what counts as help.
- The current promise sounds familiar, but you cannot easily compare it with prior outcomes.
- You want to examine several possible paths rather than be told what to do.
Probably not the right fit
You need a different kind of service.
- You are seeking addiction treatment for the person using substances.
- You need psychotherapy, diagnosis, medical care, or legal advice.
- You want treatment placement or an intervention service.
- You need emergency or crisis response.
- You want unlimited messaging or an on-call private adviser.
If the whole history does not need rebuilding
Ask Stephen: One Situation. One Decision.
If you can state the decision cleanly in one sentence, the smaller service may be enough. You do not need to buy Ask Stephen before Family Reconstruction.
One focused question
Ask Stephen
Get one focused decision reviewed against the relevant history, evidence, options, and tradeoffs.
$99
standard
$199 priority
Best when: you have one defined situation and do not need years of history reconstructed.
Standard, $99. Your question enters the normal queue. Priority, $199. Your question moves to the front of the queue when the decision will not wait.
- What facts matter most before I decide?
- What am I missing?
- What prior history should I compare with this request?
- What would count as meaningful evidence that something has changed?
What you get
A focused private written review of the relevant facts, missing facts, history, evidence, reasonable options, and tradeoffs. You receive a concise private response. It is not an ongoing coaching relationship or a live call by default.
Send your question first. I review each one personally and send a payment link only if Ask Stephen is the right fit.
Common questions
Before you choose.
Do I have to start with Ask Stephen?
No. If the history already makes a full reconstruction the obvious need, you can go directly to Family Reconstruction.
Will you tell me whether to help, set a boundary, or leave?
No. Salvage Math helps make the history, evidence, costs, choices, conditions, uncertainty, and tradeoffs easier to see clearly. The final decision remains yours.
What if different family members disagree about what happened?
That disagreement is useful information. The goal is not to force agreement. The process separates confirmed facts, individual memories, disputed points, and unanswered questions so the family can see where the disagreement actually is.
What if our history is unusually long or complicated?
That is what Extended Reconstruction is for. It is the same Family Reconstruction process with more room for the history, different family perspectives, and deeper comparison of future paths. The typical founding total is $4,500 to $5,000, and I define any added work only after the intake shows it is truly needed.
Is this addiction treatment or therapy?
No. Salvage Math is for the family member, spouse, or friend deciding what they will continue to provide, tolerate, risk, or stop providing.
What if this is an emergency?
Salvage Math is not emergency care or crisis response. If there is immediate danger, use the emergency services available where you are.
Private by default.Your paid family work is separate from public stories and teaching. Public use is never assumed.
Not clinical care.Salvage Math does not diagnose, treat addiction, provide therapy, or assess whether another person is safe or likely to recover.
You remain the decision-maker.The process organizes the history, evidence, uncertainty, costs, and options. It does not make the decision for you.
When the full history matters
Make the record visible before the next major decision.
If today’s decision cannot be understood without everything that came before, Family Reconstruction is the right paid path. If you are not ready for paid work, use the free Check first.