My name is Dmitriy Gutkovich, and I've spent the last 15 years learning to overcome mental health adversities. Along the way, I've built a company that aims to make this journey easier for others. It's called Usorum, and it's a digital space designed to foster peer support and bottom-up conversations. People with lived experience can share their strategies, techniques, and insights with each other -- and with the wider community. We're also informing nonprofit organizations on how real people beat challenges, connecting communities, and building generational knowledge from their victories.
The Journey to Usorum
The journey to Usorum started with nonprofit work in the "hearing voices" space. I remember a period when I felt real sadness at what I perceived to be society's apathy toward my cause. As I worked further, however, it became clear that few people were truly apathetic; instead, they were simply busy. Many people who turned us away had their own social causes they were championing; others were raising families or struggling to get by. I maintained my idealism -- that people have good hearts -- and gave them the benefit of the doubt. I realized that they were just overwhelmed with causes and requests for money.
Organizations like PIFster are great, and giving can be an easy habit. Transparency on the outcome of funds definitely helps, too. For my part, I looked at society and decided that I would ask people to contribute something other than money to make the world a better place -- something that each person could give that absolutely no one else could: their experience. My thinking is that each person is unique. Their individual creativity has been honed by the vantage point of the life they have lived and the challenges they have overcome. This uniqueness, in turn, is invaluable for solving problems. I ask you: What is your creative solution for navigating depression, poverty, voice, addiction, and so on? We all have something to contribute, and our ideas can be just as valuable as our money.
Why I Created Usorum
This is why I created Usorum. Like PIFster crowdsources funds to give to worthy charities, we crowdsource ideas, techniques, and stories. We partner with many excellent nonprofits across the nation and use brainstorms to inform their strategy for projects, policy proposals, and content. There is gold living in the wisdom of society, especially amongst those who have overcome hardship. Whereas before this wisdom was lost, Usorum aims to collect it and from it build generational knowledge. We want to help people facing hardship stand on the shoulders of those who came before them. Simply by creating a digital space that prioritizes peer support and bottom-up communication, we hope to change the paradigm of how lived experience guides the improvement of our communities.
The Future of Usorum
One of the greatest challenges we face in creating an exciting platform is getting enough engagement to get off the ground. We are currently building an alliance of nonprofits and are starting in the mental health space. We will link all the communities from these nonprofits into one large digital forum, where together we will work toward a better quality of life for those struggling with mental health. If you know any mental health nonprofits that would like to participate in this mission, or if you would like to get involved as a brainstormer improving the world, please reach out to Dmitriy.Gutkovich@gmail.com. If you know of any nonprofits outside the mental health space, please also reach out, as we are looking to expand soon.
More Information:
Email: Dmitriy.Gutkovich@gmail.com
Visit Usorum at: usorum.com
