Imagine that when you face a life challenge, you can find inspiration from someone who has explored the path ahead of you. Someone who now has gained lived experience from the challenge you are facing, available at your fingertips 24/7.
That is what you find at the core of the Life Experience Library, 750 digitized lived experience journeys from around the world, ready to be explored by you.
The Life Experience Library
Lived experience is a well-established concept in psychology and has occupied more space on a variety of levels in recent years.
- For mental health professionals, it has grown into the discussion about how therapists can utilize their own lived experience when facing another human being. Especially since we know that the relationship between the therapist and the person we are supporting is the foundation for any “change work.”
- Another level where we see the importance of lived experience is in shaping new services or tools, where lived experience representatives are involved in different steps along the way to ensure that the perspective of the user is integrated.
- Additionally, lived experience has taken up more space in terms of how it can be a tool to inspire and motivate the user on their path of change. Visible to all when peers in group settings or as “mentors” are used as part of an interdisciplinary team that supports a person working on major changes. It brings immense value.
The challenge of using people as a tool or component in someone else’s journey of change or therapy is that people are an unreliable resource. We get sick, we have an “off day” and we are subjective and reactively affected by those we interact with. You are simply limited by the stability, quality and accessibility of human resources, but what about the digital space? In the digital world, there has long been a variety (the later years too large, some might say) of articles, videos and podcasts where people talk about their journey, but it has been challenging to navigate the sea of lived experience. Both in terms of quality and credibility but also usability and structure, as it is often found in the open internet or in a small ensemble on a specific topic created by a user organization.
10 years ago, on the tail end of stumbling through my own life-altering challenge, I was unsuccessful in my search in the uncharted waters of the internet for someone who could give me answers along the way. I couldn’t help but ask the question: How can you digitize the unique power that lies in listening to another human being with lived experience and at the same time make it available to everyone in one place?
The journey from the beginning to the starting point
When we are faced with challenges or crises that “deprive” us of identities that we have created throughout our lives, we can feel lost in a labyrinth of meaninglessness. This is because these identities are often shaped by the life we have lived as much as they are part of our coping strategies, because they are the core of our lived experience.
Who are we if we cannot use one of the safe “masks” that are ready on the nightstand in the morning? Are we comfortable just being as we are when we stand in front of another human being?
expat challenge
My own life experiences
I was 28 years old, and after six years as a “shipping talent,” I was living the opportunity I had been working for – expat life in Singapore. I packed my whole life in 4 suitcases to start this adventure, and after 6 months, I had overcome the first phase of getting used to a new culture. I was ready to shine. Two days into my second term, after Christmas holiday at home in Norway, I was sitting in the hospital, staring at the white walls with a stack of papers in my hand from the search for what was causing the shooting pains from my back and out into my leg.
I had a “herniated disc” that was shattered and now disturbed my nerves, so I needed surgery. “You can’t play sports again,” said the chief surgeon, and I realized that my shipping career would also be at risk. The message was devastating.
Who am I if I’m not the “athlete” or the “shipping talent”?
Ever since I survived a suicidal week in the darkness of loneliness at the age of 13, I had used sports as my most important arena to fit in and feel valued.
In the sports field, I could control the rules of the game: If I performed and worked hard, I was chosen. Simple! That attitude turned my life upside down and took me from being the “strange one” in the village to a good student and promising football player with the world as my adventure to explore. The hunger to show those who had not recognized me that I was good enough drove me to fill the hole inside with achievements, both at school and on the sports field. This fueled the effort that led me to being hired by a leading shipping company at the age of 21, after only one year in school. With my ADHD batteries, I continued playing football and started coaching a youth team on top of part-time studies “to ensure” that free time would be something I could enjoy when I retired.
That’s the backdrop of why I was sitting there, 28 years old and without a clue about who I was, when my two performance-based masks were taken away with a “bang.” The experience can best be described as getting lost in “the labyrinth of independence,” which I had worked so hard to create in order to be successful in society’s turn towards “hyperindividualism.” When I tried to “open the door” to show a glimpse of vulnerability, I was met by my surroundings with the same motivational tone that I showed myself on a good day. “You can do this, you have been through so much, you are stronger than most people I know.” Just the thought of having to sacrifice another mask of being the one who overcame everything scared me back into silence. The paradox is that I have never had a greater need to be heard but at the same time, never been further away from opening up than in the moment when I sat alone in my apartment in Singapore.
The need for change and deep soul work
For the second time, my motivation for life disappeared, and I realized that I had to make changes (although the honest answer is that it took me months). The physical part of the recovery was clear-cut to me, regardless if it required 1-2 training sessions per day + 3-5 treatments a week for the first year. I was used to living like an athlete, but it was my inner drive that required change to be able to recover before I got completely lost in my labyrinth. I realized that I needed to search deeper inside to connect with what gave me value as a human being before my chase for performance took over again. I delved into my own history and followed advice to write down all my large life choices and note what other alternatives I had at that crossroad, in addition to exploring my values through a few surveys online. Analyzing my choices, I realized that at every intersection I had chosen the most “difficult” path, but why? Was it because I wanted my biological father and two grandfathers that had rejected me on different occasions during my life to recognize me? Was it to show my bullies or those that did not give me space that I was more valuable than they thought? Or was it to regain my mothers love after her illness and our falling-out in my teens? The answer to that wasn’t necessary; I realized that my need for being “good enough” in the eyes of others was just as much my superpower as it was my kryptonite. Because it drove me forward when I wanted to give up, but it also subconsciously controlled me at every life choice.
There is nothing wrong with wanting a challenge and choosing the most difficult path, but it should be your choice, and then, you can use it as a superpower when needed.
In that process, I realized that I had always been motivated by the more caring professions, but with focus on the larger picture. I needed a career that connected with my prosocial motivation. Shipping was replaced with 18 months of rehabilitation and completion of studies in leadership and rhetoric. The next step was Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and a mission to Afghanistan, to give my life needed meaning (or did I need new masks to cover my emotional wounds? Hard to say).
Challenging my narratives
Afghanistan was exactly the challenge I needed, both professionally, emotionally and on a human level. Subconscious narratives that were already at wobbly ground got shocked, such as “good vs evil” and “old-fashioned vs modern,” and I was able to expand my view of the world with a broader perspective. I had been privileged enough to see many corners of the world prior to Afghanistan, but I had never lived in the heart of global politics, experiencing human suffering that close. I was primed with colonial Hollywood and media narratives of this part of the world being filled with conservative and religiously bound beliefs limiting people’s freedom, but also that less “developed” populations drive the same conservatism and violence. I was facing what I see as the hardest part of the human experience, that our oppressing narratives are often constructed on some “truth”. I experienced both violent attacks and conservatism, just as much as I experienced deeply connected people, kindness, respect, beautiful landscapes, ancient knowledge, curiosity towards other ideas and the power of community, despite me representing the part of the world that many locals hold accountable for most of their “Mushkil” (problems in the Dari language). My experience was that I was more accepted and appreciated for my human attributes than at home.
What truly changed the course of my life was another life crisis during the bombing of our hospital in Kunduz, where we lost 43 people, resulting in MSF accusing the US of war crimes. In the wake of an extremely challenging and sorrowful time, we were visited by a crisis team of experienced psychologists and professionals. Despite the sorrow, I listened like an eager student, because I was finally going to learn more about how to process emotional challenges and get the tools I was missing. They reminded us of the importance of talking to each other, being vulnerable with each other, letting our feelings come and exploring them, in addition to teaching us more about PTSD. When the crisis team left, I sat there hopeful, believing that we would all make use of our new tools, but to my surprise, I experienced that “none” of us did. Instead, we all retreated into our part of “the labyrinth of independence.” I thought I was the only one that handled things this way, but I quickly realized that this is how most of us face challenges.
From idea to The Human Aspect
For the next few months, I couldn’t let go of the thought: Why don’t we look outwards when we’re faced with an emotional crisis? After delving deep in search of answers, it became clear to me that the gap between our life challenges and the support system is too wide, especially when we’re not used to talking about emotional or personal things. Then it hit me, what if we had a place with knowledge from others who were further along the path and had first-hand experience with the challenge we were facing?
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:
- What has been your life’s toughest challenge?
- How did you face and overcome your challenge?
- 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 increase the therapeutic effect of the interviews, we integrated reflection questions and added short documentaries 15+ (10-20 min), podcasts 15+ and infographics 200+. The effect we work to provide users of our digital lived experience resources is:
- Increased emotional vocabulary
- Reduced felt stigma and shame towards themselves and others
- Increased psychosocial understanding
- Increased help-seeking behavior and motivation
- Increased perspective and ability to reflect on one’s own and others’ situation
- Burst the bubble of being “alone” and increase belief in change
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.
Revolutionizing schools using DLE
In recent years, THA has focused on how the power of digital lived experience (DLE) can be used in different layers of society. Community, workplaces, the health care system and schools became the main focus areas.
The rising concern over young people’s mental health triggered a high school in Oslo to reach out to THA to pilot a program using DLE resources in their classrooms. This half-day pilot where 400 pupils delved into videos about bullying, identity, and self-image left both teachers and THA in awe. The teachers felt it was easy to use, and the pupils reported high engagement and benefit. Since then, THA have partnered with committed stakeholders to develop “The Life Mastery Platform” for high school and upper secondary level (13-16 & 16-19 year olds). The opportunity to create a national platform beyond the pilot arose when the Norwegian government in 2020 launched a new interdisciplinary topic, “life mastery”, where mental health was one of three themes. Each theme with underlying objectives that pupils must acquire during their three years. Teachers across Norway shared their frustrations over an already pressured curriculum and time schedule that couldn’t tackle more goals, even though they all agreed the topics were important. The government did not launch any tools to achieve the new ambition goals, and THA saw their unique position to provide a solution for all parties.
Now after 5 years of massive collaborative effort together with schools, volunteers, funders and other stakeholders, THA will launch the platforms in the fall of 2025. Giving schools across Norway free access to 100+ teaching programs in upper secondary school and 200+ at High School level. Since the teachers did not have more space to include social-emotional learning into the curriculum, the unique thing about the programs is that they are designed around the competence goals in the subjects. Meaning teachers find programs in all subjects; English, maths, social science, history, religion, athletics, artistry and beyond, and all the programs also meet one or more of the objectives under the interdisciplinary life mastery and public health goals.
This spring, THA collected preliminary data from a selection of the demonstration schools to explore the impact on the pupils after just 6 programs. The data will be analyzed this summer and released as part of the launch, while the project continues to gain traction and interest from stakeholders and politics in Norway and beyond.
See an example of the innovative program created for the English subject – here
DLE as a tool in preventive and proactive treatment
To assist companies, THA supports them to utilize DLE in workshops and awareness campaigns in addition to delivering direct talks and upskilling on how to nurture better mental health for their employees. THA collaborates with companies working to support people back to work, and here, THA resources are used in a structured way by the case workers to support the candidates on their path back into work or education.
The Supporter’s Platform
Mental health professionals have used THA as an important part of psychoeducation and as a tool for homework in therapy for years, but since the library is designed for the end user, the need for a professional platform grew. With Accenture and committed professionals joining heads, THA have been developing the professional platform for the last three years. This is a platform where professionals can tailor their own reflection pages to match their clients needs and therapeutic journey, on top of selected THA resources.
In the platform, therapists can choose DLE resources based on a professional overview that describes the resources, including coping strategies, professional descriptions of the challenge and suggestions for target groups and ways to use each DLE resource. The platform is now used by a selection of professional environments, while it is being further developed for national and international launch during the year. Especially focusing on enriching the user experience for the clients to make sure it increases their engagement in their own change work and therapy. Read more about the platform here
Expanding insight and data on the use of DLE in professional settings
In recent years, THA has worked with partners to increase data around the use of DLE.
- Qualitative study on university students’ experiences with THA videos
Together with Kristiania University College, this study explored college students’ experiences with THA videos incorporated into curriculum and exams – Poster
- “Sterkere Sammen” (stronger together) – Peer Support Groups
This is an observational study in which THA looked at the experiences of participants in peer support groups, where THA resources combined with reflection activities were an integrated part of 3 sessions for a 6-session program – Report link
- Feasibility and Acceptability of Integrating THA Videos into Problem-Solving Therapy
This is a study conducted in collaboration with Friendship Bench, which will be carried out over the next few months in Zimbabwe. See the DLE resource page developed in Zimbabwe with THA interviews from the interview tour – Link her
- Evaluation of DLE programs in upper secondary school pupils
This project, based on “mental health literacy principles,” builds on pilot studies from high school level. The study was conducted during spring 2025 to examine the impact of using THA-developed DLE programs in 6 sessions over a 6 week period. The data has been collected and will be analyzed in the summer of 2025.
Beyond traditional digitization
THA’s resources are not traditional digitization; it is the use of digital lived experience to deepen our conversations in everyday life, both between us and with our professional supporters. Conversations that can create space for increased vulnerability in everyday life, so that when life’s crises challenge our identities, we are better equipped to face them. Because THA works on the principle that upskilling on one or more of the six levels that THA resources seek to obtain increases our resilience. Life is a journey and the basic element of our work is that we humans are shaped just as much by our lived experience as by our heritage and environment, because as post-traumatic growth theory suggests, our greatest challenges can create the potential for deep human growth. Especially if we use it as motivation for deeper change work, as my own two encounters with meaninglessness did in my life. Without them and the other challenges I have faced, I would not have started The Human Aspect. My story is now one of 750 lived experience journeys that can inspire others to take steps in their paths of change. We believe that the power of lived experience helps us connect, both with each other, our helpers and ourselves, empowering our ability to work for change within ourselves and for the world.
Other insights and studies on the power of DLE:
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Ogbeiwi, O., Khan, W., Stott, K., Zaluczkowska, A., & Doyle, M. (2024). A systematic review of digital storytelling as psychotherapy for people with mental health needs. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 34(2), 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1037/int0000325
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Thomas, N., Farhall, J., Foley, F., Leitan, N. D., Villagonzalo, K. A., Ladd, E., Nunan, C., Farnan, S., Frankish, R., Smark, T., Rossell, S. L., Sterling, L., Murray, G., Castle, D. J., & Kyrios, M. (2016). Promoting Personal Recovery in People with Persisting Psychotic Disorders: Development and Pilot Study of a Novel Digital Intervention. Frontiers in psychiatry, 7, 196. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00196
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Farhall, J., Castle, D., Constantine, E., Foley, F., Kyrios, M., Rossell, S., Arnold, C., Leitan, N., Villagonzalo, K. A., Brophy, L., Fossey, E., Meyer, D., Mihalopoulos, C., Murray, G., Nunan, C., Sterling, L., & Thomas, N. (2023). Using a digital personal recovery resource in routine mental health practice: feasibility, acceptability and outcomes. Journal of mental health (Abingdon, England), 32(3), 567–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2022.2118688
