In 2021, a group of experiencers from Ireland, the United States and Canada came together as a result of their personal contact experiences to transform a private subreddit into a space for experiencers to openly share their contact experiences. Given our understanding of the online environment and a strong desire to talk and share, it was evident there was a need for a space where experiencers could openly read, share and discuss their contact experiences. We understood how important it was for this public forum to be protected and moderated to avoid the common issues that often plague online spaces.

 

By the end of 2021, drawing on the knowledge and experience we had gained from running our private space, we officially launched the Experiencer subreddit as a public forum. At the time, there were no other public online collections of experiences for the world to read. Being public was not only a unique and much needed approach, but it also allowed more experiencers to find us, share their stories anonymously and engage in meaningful discussions. Additionally, it provided an opportunity for others to read and learn from these shared experiences. We knew this would also serve as potentially one of the world’s largest publicly accessible online archives of the experiencer phenomenon, moderated and protected by experiencers themselves.

 

In parallel, our team also embarked on other initiatives to support experiencers. This included direct support work and group work, in-person meetings, running multiple support communities as well as extensive research and exploration of the phenomenon itself, both directly and academically. In addition, we have been actively supporting other initiatives that recognise experiencers and the phenomenon in various other online spaces. By pooling together our individual strengths, we have formed a group that has helped and supported thousands of experiencers in the past few years.

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This website serves as a central hub for all our team's efforts in supporting experiencers. From day one, it was evident that a public but anonymous space was critical. Humanity is a social species - we process, integrate and overcome many of life’s challenges by talking and sharing with others - a luxury many experiencers do not have. A single conversation can be profoundly healing for someone. Even just reading a relatable experience from a fellow experiencer can be transformative.