Launchpad Company Storiboard Launches Peer Support App to Tackle Loneliness

DigitalHealth.London Launchpad company Storiboard announce the launch of their online Peer Support platform, which provides users with regular peer support sessions and one-to-one emotional recovery sessions via video chat with certified Experts by Experience (EbEs).

Every year, almost half of UK adults struggle with loneliness.

When life becomes challenging, it is easy to feel isolated or alone. Whether you’ve just received a cancer diagnosis and are struggling to tell your family or are battling with your mental health, modern society can feel lonelier than ever. Sometimes friends, loved ones, and even therapists are not enough; you want to talk to someone who relates to how you feel on a personal level and genuinely understands you as no one else can. 

In these situations, peer support is vital; when people with similar experiences come together to support each other on a one-to-one or group basis. Connecting with others who understand our unique challenges helps us share lessons learnt, feel supported, and ultimately heal.

StoriBoard was founded with two things in mind: a huge belief in the transformative power of peer support and a simple mission – to make it easy to find others going through the same life experiences. Over the past 12 weeks on Digital Health.London’s Launchpad programme, we have received invaluable support from a team of experts with firsthand NHS clinical and operational experience. It has been a truly incredible journey that has helped our solution to the loneliness epidemic flourish and grow. 

StoriBoard is a free, global app where users can join over 200 groups centred around uniting people who share similar experiences. These experiences include loneliness, neurodiversity, mental and physical health, relationships, and other facets of identity. Within these groups, users chat in forums and join regular peer support sessions for up to 12 people, forging friendships based on mutual understanding. 

Within the StoriBoard app, users can also pay for bespoke one-to-one emotional recovery sessions via video chat with certified Experts by Experience (EbEs).  Experts by Experience are individuals trained to deliver safe and effective peer support based on their own lived experience. We are developing an innovative AI tool which acts alongside the EbE as a virtual link-worker: listening into one-to-one sessions held on our app, and providing the EbE with real-time recommendations for resources and services local to their client. It is the perfect combination of genuine, shared human experience and location-bound practical help. 

I can now confidently utilise my lived experience to help empower others. I’m able to apply many of the skills I learnt across my life in general. This course is so rewarding!

Reuben Sam
Expert by Experience in Mental Health & Vitiligo

All Experts by Experience on the StoriBoard app have been trained in-house by the StoriBoard Academy. Our Level 3 Expert by Experience course is open to anyone looking to use their experiences to transform lives, irrespective of former qualifications. Therapists and teachers, counsellors and stay-at-home-parents have all taken our Level 3 Expert by Experience Course, certified by NCFE. StoriBoard ensures that all Experts by Experience who offer paid 1:1 sessions on the StoriBoard app have been vetted in a thorough safeguarding check – keeping the safety of our community a priority. 

For the same reason, our course includes core modules in safeguarding, diversity and inclusion, and recovery-focused strategies. In this way, learners develop the knowledge and practical skills to inspire and uplift others with similar life experiences through peer support – all whilst empowering themselves and earning an income from the one-to-one support sessions they lead. Training our Experts by Experience means the StoriBoard app offers safe, instant and affordable access to highly personalised support.

Training to become an Expert by Experience is incredibly rewarding – I’ve learnt so much! I feel empowered to transform my lived experience into a valuable asset, transforming lives in the process.

Michelle Leigh
Expert by Experience in Bereavement by Suicide

Picture this: you are grappling with grief, anxiety, moving to a new city, divorce, a child with behavioural problems… and you need support instantly. Instead of wading through the sea of online searches for help, or relying on well-meaning words from friends and family, StoriBoard offers you a direct line to those who have been in your shoes and have the answers. 

This isn’t just about quick fixes. It’s about meaningful relationships that can truly transform lives. It’s about holistic, individually-tailored help when you need it most, rooted in a belief in social prescribing: a groundbreaking approach that recognises health and wellbeing are not just about medicine, but also deeply intertwined with community connections and support networks. 

At StoriBoard, we believe that the right support can be life-changing, instilling the confidence needed to make decisions. Experts by Experience are a reminder that whatever you’re going through, you’re not alone – they’re there to tell you “We can get through this, together.”

Great course, highly recommend! It provided actionable advice and gave me the tools to support others professionally. I even put the training into practice informally with friends and family!

Keeley Hellyer
Expert by Experience in Heart Disease

In this way, StoriBoard’s commitment goes beyond just connection; our goal is empowerment. We equip everyday individuals with the tools and training to become Experts by Experience, whilst providing our app users with tailored and affordable peer support sessions that help them live life to the fullest. The StoriBoard app is more than just another social network: it’s a unique ecosystem where support is both given and received. It’s one of the many multifaceted, interlocking solutions to the loneliness crisis that persists around the world. 

Ultimately, we believe in StoriBoard’s pioneering work – bringing peer support into the mainstream and changing lives.

The DigitalHealth.London Launchpad programme is funded by the UK Government via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). It is delivered by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London in partnership with the Office of Life Sciences, CW+, Medicity, NHS England, the Mayor of London and the Levelling Up Fund.

For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-
shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus.