We are Chayn.
Chayn is a global volunteer network with over 400 volunteers from 15 countries, including many survivors of abuse. We tackle gender-based abuse by creating intersectional resources on understanding and overcoming abusive relationships, legal rights, mental wellbeing and tips to stay safe online. Together, we hope to reach victims and survivors all over the world by giving them critical information they need to take control of their lives.
Founded in 2013, we’ve proven that by giving survivors the power to create solutions for others like them, we’re not only creating better resources but also giving them respect and confidence. We have also shown an easy way of designing accessible solutions for people who might not have the funds, bandwidth, privacy or time for bulky and expensive resources. Over the last 5 years, we’ve managed to reach more than 200,000 people in more than 12 countries and have dedicated sites for Italy, Pakistan and India. If you want to learn more about us, you can see our latest Impact Report or check us out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also read more about our work on our Medium page.
Soul Medicine
...is a multilingual digital service designed to deliver critical information in the form of easily bite-sized pieces through email (facebook messenger coming soon!). These notes of information are designed by and for women experiencing abuse, especially migrant and refugee women.
Our pathways are broken down into bite-sized lessons that you can access from even a basic smartphone with an internet connection. Currently, we cover topics ranging from legal information, financial advice to online safety, and even have tips to help you regain your confidence and how to deal with stress.
How we started.
Information is power.
In 2015, we wanted to design a project named “Happy Thoughts”. This project was going to deliver positive messages to people once in the morning and once before bed to uplift their spirits and to help them feel better. We even received funding from o2 Think Big and did an email trial. Guess what? Over 70% people thought these messages felt good.
As time went on, we tweaked our design a bit. Our research told that that many frontline organisations were suffering due to budget cuts, putting a lot of survivors at risk. Shelters were closing down, legal aid services were suffering and access to mental wellbeing resources were getting complicated. We realised if social organisations suffered, the information gap that we’re so worried about was only going to widen day by day.
And so, “Happy Thoughts” was reborn as Soul Medicine at the 2016 EmpowerHack hackathon! We wanted to build something that would help women make conscious decisions about their lives. How do we do this? Our collaboration in the Tech vs Abuse project told us that women were looking for information. And in all our learnings, one thing was clear - the right information could change lives.
That’s exactly what Soul Medicine is for. We’re here to give you important information bit by bit, day by day, that will help you understand the difficulties you are facing and help you tackle them - one day at a time.
This project is powered by everyone at Chayn. And to further develop Soul Medicine, we received a very important grant by Comic Relief and Big Lottery Fund that has made Soul Medicine into what it looks like today.
You can read more about all that helped us start on our research synthesis here.
Design Principles
Safe.
The first step was to make our platform ‘safe’ for our users. We’re designed for anonymity to be able to protect our users. Even our emails are disguised to shield you!
Accessible.
Our users are likely to have limited internet access and little to no privacy. Soul Medicine does not need high-tech devices. You can access our work from a basic smartphone, on your email (or Facebook Messenger) - simple and accessible even at low bandwidth.
Non-Judgemental.
People in situations of abuse are often ashamed and scared, and it is very important to offer help without judgement. And at Soul Medicine, we believe in the power of every woman.
Intersectional.
We worked with survivors of abuse, migrant and refugee women from all backgrounds so that our solutions can be intersectional and applicable in as many countries as possible.
Enabling.
Most importantly - we are designed to enable. We want to put you in the driver seat of your life, step by step. The end goal is to enable you to take small and meaningful actions that you can be proud of.
We know how difficult designing solutions like this can be. If you want to build something for survivors or want to learn more about our design principles, look no further. We wrote a detailed blog just for you!
Soul Medicine is delivering critical and relevant information to you via email (and Facebook Messenger). This is a digital service by Chayn - a global volunteer network that uses accessible technology to help women (Registered Company No: 11834461).
Join us
If you like what you see and you want to join our team of volunteers, send us an email at team at soulmedicine.io