For the past two years, our team has been listening, testing, and iterating toward a simple idea with a profound impact: a vibrant, powerful, engaged community is the foundation for survivors’ healing journeys. As CTO of Our Wave, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside survivors, clinicians, designers, engineers, and advocates to shape that vision into reality. Today, I’m proud to share that Our Wave Community 2.0 is live at community.ourwave.org.
Why this release, and why now? Because building safe digital spaces for survivors of sexual harm, domestic violence, and child abuse requires more than a content library or a forum. It asks for a place where education, personalized resources, and human connection come together—securely, respectfully, and at each survivor’s pace. Our Wave 2.0 is a significant step toward that all‑encompassing experience.
What We’ve Achieved Together
The numbers reflect the momentum of this movement:
- 1,000,000+ views across stories, questions, and community content
- 30,891 resource referrals to trusted services
- 10+ international partnerships to expand survivor‑centered technology and tools
Behind each metric is a person finding language for their experience, a supporter learning how to help, or a clinician connecting someone to care. That impact is our north star.
Stories Remain the Heart
Stories are the foundation of healing. They build understanding, cultivate empathy, and create lasting change across communities and organizations.
In 2.0, story sharing is still core. Survivors can publish narratives or artwork in a secure, moderated space designed to protect privacy and encourage reflection. Whether a story centers on struggle, strength, growth, or hope—all are welcomed, all matter.
Our community’s contributions—1,750+ stories from 71 countries—continue to demonstrate how storytelling nurtures individual recovery and reshapes how communities respond to trauma. With 2.0, we’ve also enhanced moderation tools to support constructive, judgment‑free conversations and to keep safety our top priority for survivors, allies, and supporters.
New Ways to Connect: Comments & Messages of Support
In Our Wave 2.0, the community can respond more meaningfully:
- For survivors: Thoughtful comments and replies to stories encourage reflection, validation, and deeper connection.
- For allies: Messages of Support now appear alongside survivor‑authored Messages of Hope and Messages of Healing, giving supporters a clear, guided way to show care.
Every interaction is carefully trauma‑informed and moderated, helping ensure that conversations remain empathetic and true to each person’s unique healing path. The result is a space where validation is authentic and wide‑ranging, and where people can engage without sacrificing safety.
Survivor Q&A, Elevated
Our Survivor Q&A has connected community members with trauma‑informed specialists for years. In 2.0, we took that foundation and built upward:
- Upvotes help the most helpful answers rise to the top, so practical insights are easy to find.
- Discussions enable follow‑up questions and peer exchange—all within moderated threads that honor boundaries and lived experience.
Together with our partners, volunteers, and clinicians, this evolving Q&A becomes a collective knowledge base—a living library of wisdom that supports healing at every stage.
A Reimagined Resources Hub—Now in 20 Countries
Access matters as much as advice. Our Resources Hub has been re-designed and expanded to connect survivors with culturally relevant, locally available support across 20+ countries. From crisis lines and counseling to legal rights and housing, our curated listings help people find the right help, in the right place, at the right time.
This global perspective reflects the diversity of our community and our commitment to accessibility. Every survivor deserves support that understands their language, culture, and circumstances.
Built for Safety, Speed, and Belonging
A great experience requires resilient infrastructure. As we rebuilt, we focused on:
- Privacy & Security: We’ve fine‑tuned our product architecture and moderation tooling to uphold the privacy Our Wave is known for. Safety is by design, not by add‑on.
- Performance: Front‑to‑back optimizations improve page speed and reduce friction, especially on slower connections and older devices.
- Accessibility: Improved semantics, keyboard navigation, and screen‑reader support help more people participate fully.
- Internationalization: 2.0 lays the groundwork for multilingual experiences, making our community more welcoming to survivors and allies around the world.
Why These Features? From a CTO’s Lens
Good question. Technology serves people best when it amplifies human connection. Comments, messages of support, and Q&A upvotes are not merely features—they are signals that tell us what information soothes, what words resonate, and where clarity is needed. With those signals, our team can keep improving: elevating content that helps, refining moderation guardrails, and guiding supporters toward helpful, non‑intrusive participation.
Most importantly, these features reduce isolation. They create gentle pathways for engagement—reading a story, leaving a note of support, asking a question, finding a resource—so survivors can calibrate their participation without pressure. In other words, 2.0 is engineered to meet people where they are.
How You Can Participate
- Survivors: Explore stories, add a comment when you’re ready, ask a question, or save resources for later. Your pace is the right pace.
- Allies & Supporters: Share a Message of Support or follow discussions to learn how to show up with care.
- Clinicians & Partners: Collaborate with us on resources, education, and outreach—especially in regions where access is limited.
Final Thoughts
Our Wave 2.0 is more than a version number. It’s a commitment to community as healing, to privacy that protects dignity, and to an experience that scales care, not just code. We will keep listening, iterating, and building alongside you.
If you or someone you love could benefit from a safer digital space to read, share, learn, and connect, we invite you to join us at community.ourwave.org. Together—with empathy, evidence, and careful design—we can build a world where every survivor is met with understanding, resources, and a community walking the path together. 🩵