I’m Viaano, founder at Huddleverse, a mental health startup.
I am thrilled to introduce to all of you Huddleverse, a social networking app designed for mental health. I have been working on this project since 2017, so it’s been about a good 6 years now.
Huddleverse was initially named Huddlehumans, which was a passion project I was working on by myself from 2017 to 2019. I first did it alone because of the incredible stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health. More importantly, Huddlehumans started during a time when I was battling severe anxiety issues during my teenage years, exacerbated by my neurological disorder, essential tremor.
I finally mustered up all my courage to seek help from a doctor regarding my anxiety but was eventually turned away because I came alone without my parents, and the doctor just simply did not take my condition seriously. I left the clinic receiving zero help and worse off than when I entered. And it was exactly then when I asked myself, “How many others are out there in the world going through even more serious mental health conditions than me and are continually being turned away or rejected by those that are supposed to help us?”.
And so, during those years from 2017 – 2019 while I was serving my military conscription, I created the first version of Huddlehumans, a web forum message board where people could share their mental health experiences and find free support from others going through similar struggles.
As time went on, Huddlehumans grew in popularity, as users were drawn to our community’s supportive and empathetic culture. During the years 2020 – 2022, when COVID-19 hit, I realized I needed to pivot to platforms such as Discord and Telegram to reach even more people globally. This was so I could provide a virtual space where isolated people could come together and find free peer and communal support with their mental health experiences. As a result, we quickly became one of the largest mental health communities in both Discord and Telegram, with over 50,000 members worldwide. In 2021, I made the decision to drop out of university where I was on the path of becoming a clinical psychologist for the same reason of following my passion in helping people in the mental health space. I wanted to double down and focus everything into Huddlehumans. I realized I have always wanted to drive social change on a global scale through a startup route and felt I would be severely limited in a role as a clinical psychologist that focuses solely on the traditional psychological (and biomedical) models – something I always felt was flawed in relation to the mental health space.
What started with me being alone, evolved into an amazing team of people from all over the world working towards a shared goal – to reach a world where mental health conversations are normalized. We did not want anyone to feel scared of reaching out for help or to feel alone in their thoughts ever again.
Despite the success of utilizing the platforms Discord and Telegram, I have always dreamt of creating a social platform dedicated to mental health from the very beginning - a safe haven that the huddle community could call their own. That’s why I poured my heart and soul into developing the Huddleverse app - a wholesome universe that provides people with a non-judgmental space to connect with others, seek support, and share their mental health experiences anonymously.
Now, after 6 years, I am finally realizing that dream. It has been a long time filled with ups and down, but I never once gave up. I know the road ahead will be as difficult, if not more than what I have already trodden. But with the passion and the community behind me, I know everything will be alright. At the end of the day, I have always told myself that if Huddleverse can even save one life, it would have been all worth starting it.
I do hope that the HN community will be able to support the Huddleverse app which has just been released on the app store and provide insightful feedback so that we can keep improving ourselves for the entire Huddleverse community.
- Viaano