UnGather

RE-CONNECTION

Have you ever found yourself at an event that is bound to leave you with a multitude of new impressions and connections, only to walk out the door at the end and feel instantaneously disconnected from the warmth and inspiration that you had just spent days in? The hard threshold of going back to ‘life as usual’ after an impactful event can be jarring: the tether that connected you to the other people seems to instantaneously and irreparably snap as soon as the event is finished.

Purpose

In 2023, the Bloom Collective, whose members include GEMH Lab’s Isabela Granic and frequent GEMH collaborators Bryan Kam and Catherine Woodiwiss, created the UnGather Bot to address this specific feeling after they had all attended the Realisation Festival together.

The UnGather Bot served as an audio repository for fellow participants to share moments of connection at the festival, after the festival had ended, thereby maintaining that tether connecting people together in a shared experience.

The Experience in a Nutshell

The UngatherBot experience begins with a prompt inviting participants to share their reflections. After submitting their recording, participants then receive messages shared by others, creating further, albeit digital, connection.

This back and forth of submitting impressions and listening to other people’s impressions can last from a week to a month, and is therefore flexible in length.

Example prompt:

We’d love to savour the small moments we shared during the past event for just a little while longer, as we enter back into our “real” lives. Savouring is like the opposite of ruminating, which often has us focusing more on negative thoughts that amplify hard feelings. With savouring, we can notice or remember a small memory that we found moving or sweet and by sharing it, make it last a little while longer.

So, tell us, what’s a moment during the event when you felt connected, to yourself, to nature, or to someone else? It can be the smallest little moment or something bigger that made you feel good in some way.

Your reflection will be shared with the group. Once you’ve recorded your message, you’ll receive a reflection back from a fellow event participant at random and you will be able to listen to more reflections from others.