diff --git a/bootstrap/helpers.php b/bootstrap/helpers.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ffdc56f9b53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bootstrap/helpers.php
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+<?php
+
+use App\Models\User;
+
+/**
+ * Get the currently authenticated user model.
+ */
+function user(): User
+{
+    $currentUser = auth()->user();
+
+    if ($currentUser === null) {
+        throw new Exception('The current user is not authenticated.');
+    }
+
+    if (! $currentUser instanceof User) {
+        throw new Exception('The currently authenticated user is not an instance of '.User::class);
+    }
+
+    return $currentUser;
+}
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 9c446ae87e7..a00d96fdfab 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@
             "App\\": "app/",
             "Database\\Factories\\": "database/factories/",
             "Database\\Seeders\\": "database/seeders/"
-        }
+        },
+        "files": ["bootstrap/helpers.php"]
     },
     "autoload-dev": {
         "psr-4": {