From idea to The Human Aspect

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After being inspired by “Human” the documentary and “Humans of NY,” I envisioned to collect and make available lived experience stories in a structured way that would do more than inspire. I wanted to create a place with a therapeutic effect, a place that could inspire action towards starting “change work” in people's lives.

Another advantage of ADHD is that you rarely shy away from trying new things, so I bought a camera and took to the streets of Oslo with a good friend named Kumi during the fall of 2016. After a few days, we had interviewed 20 strangers, and I asked them:

1. What has been your life’s toughest challenge?

2. How did you face and overcome your challenge?

3. What did you learn that you wish to share with others?

I sent a few interviews to friends with more expertise in fields such as journalism, psychology and storytelling to see if it was worth pursuing. One of them said that he had never experienced others opening up so quickly, before he gave us advice about what we could improve in terms of production quality. The idea took root, and the qualities and perspectives I was bullied into loneliness for in my adolescence were now my greatest strengths in bringing the vulnerability of others into the world. The next months were spent connecting with the expertise we needed to create a team, finding pro-bono support to build the library’s website and to create awareness around the idea. On December 22nd, 2016, the world’s first lived experience library was launched.

The next few years we pioneered “digitized lived experience” and what it entails by developing the interview procedure, production steps and approval methodology. The Life Experience Library now consists of 750+ in-depth video interviews (30-70 min long) of people from over 100+ countries, in over 20+ languages ​​(400+ in English) and with people from all walks of life. Bringing the power of Lived Experience to the world.

To ensure good ambassadors (Interviewees), we collaborate with user organizations and partners who have helped people through life's challenges. THA have had the pleasure of going on 15 interview tours around the world to partner with organizations such as Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe, SADAG in South Africa, Shamiri Health and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Kenya, SUFMA and Mental Health Coalition in Sierra Leone and many more. The tours are normally funded by a third-party making the tours possible, and THA is now planning trips to South America, Central Asia and South-East Asia once funders are in place. This procedure allows THA to reach a diverse pool of ambassadors, but also ensure that they have processed their challenges in a healthy way before being interviewed. THA have also developed what they call Ambassador care where they follow up the interviewees over time to provide support.

After the launch of the library and the overwhelmingly positive response, The Human Aspect (THA) was established as a foundation in 2017. Since then, the foundation has progressed through an enormous volunteer and pro-bono engagement (up to 25.000 hrs a year) where several hundred people have contributed on top of the 800+ who have shared their story. Financially, THA has received grants from private and public actors such as Gjensidige Foundation, The Norwegian Directorate of Health, The Inner Foundation, Kavli Trust, SMART Oslo, Ashoka, Grieg Foundation and others. Another financial pillar has been supportive pro-bono and CSR partners such as Accenture, Treschow-Fritzøe and Tripletex, in addition to THA providing company wellbeing services to company partners such as Accenture, Hydro, Generali, ABB and others.