The inspiration for Kinnected began forming in 2007. In response to the rise of Facebook, and as an urgent question: how could the emerging power of social media be redirected toward social health and service to others, and what might a dynamic, community-centered system look like if it were designed to support social, emotional, and physical wellbeing?

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Early in the emergence of platforms like Facebook, it became clear that new forms of digital connection were reshaping not only communication, but people’s emotional and relational wellbeing. 
 

At its core, Kinnected focused on the conditions that support self and peer supported health in its most organic sense: belonging, narrative, mutual support, and the lived experience of health journeys and events to be passed on to others.

Over time, this expanded into sustained conversations with clinicians, health systems, funders, and policymakers about what it might look like to build more “anchored” forms of community support alongside, or in complement to, hospitals, clinics, and insurance systems.

The act of joining became part of the inquiry itself. Rather than encouraging self-presentation through photographs, the platform invited people to create profiles  through carefully chosen works of art and three important questions: "What is your story, what can you offer, and what do you need help with." 

Kinnected now exists as a deconstructed system - a starting point for future exploration, whether through new forms of community practice, nonprofit development, or other paths we may choose to engage with and extend the work.