Bumble, the women-first dating and social networking app, have teamed up with Bloom in an industry-first partnership to launch complimentary online trauma support to members who report sexual assault or relationship abuse. The offering is now available in English and Spanish to Bumble’s global communities. Later this year, support will be expanded to French, Hindi, Portuguese, and Urdu.
Over the past few months, Bumble and Bloom have worked together to create a custom curriculum spearheaded by survivor-led insights and feedback. If someone within the Bumble community reports sexual assault or relationship abuse to either app’s feedback team, they will receive a code for free access to a version of Bloom’s support customized specifically for Bumble members, which includes three self-guided courses: Healing from Sexual Trauma; Society, Patriarchy, and Sexual Trauma; and Dating, Boundaries, and Relationships. In addition to this library of courses and resources, in some cases Bumble members will receive access to one-to-one chat support and up to six therapy sessions.
“The safety of our members has been central to our mission from day one. It is vital that we create a space for survivors within our community to be seen, heard, and believed,” said Kenya Fairley, Bumble’s Head of Member Safety Support. “Bumble’s partnership with Bloom has allowed us to bring top-of-the-line trauma support services to our community. We look forward to continuing to innovate our product and create valuable partnerships to support our members’ experience of safety and healing from trauma around the world.”
A global survey created by Bloom sent to Bumble’s community highlighted that emotional abuse was most commonly experienced by respondents. The findings also showed that abuse was happening almost equally online and in-person, though in-person abuse is reported less often. More than one in three respondents (35%) said they did not report because they didn’t think it would achieve anything, and 15% of respondents thought they wouldn’t be believed.
“Where there is trauma, there is room for healing. Feedback from our course participants shows that Bloom supports survivors to feel less alone and make progress along their healing journey in whatever way works for them,” said Hera Hussain, founder of Chayn. “We’re so happy to be pioneering this kind of service with Bumble. Through this partnership, we’ll be able to reach more survivors around the world and support them to heal and thrive.”
To guarantee privacy, every participant remains anonymous without missing out on a group setting. Bloom uses technology with end-to-end encryption that enables secure conversations, safely recreating in-person group therapy online for vulnerable people. After Bumble refers someone to Bloom, the dating app will not have access to any information the individual shares with the nonprofit.
Bloom is run by Chayn, a survivor-led nonprofit addressing gender-based violence by creating intersectional resources online. Chayn has championed a “design with, not for” approach – their services are made for survivors by survivors. Since 2020, Chayn has built a team of qualified and trauma-informed staff, in addition to their global volunteer network, and has supported over 1000 people from 50 countries.
