International NGO Transcendence Lab has expanded its 'Creating for Healing & Growth' project, an approach designed to help imaginative creators share valuable work with wider audiences while making the process transformative for both creator and reader. Education Director John Toomey noted the initiative concentrates on Substack writers, who have demonstrated the most success with the protocol.
Unlike typical creator-growth advice focused primarily on tactics and hacks, Creating for Healing & Growth builds on a core premise that building a subscriber base can coincide with meaningful emotional and cognitive growth. The program addresses what the team describes as a modern shortfall—many people living lives less emotionally and cognitively evolutionary than possible—and offers practical, repeatable in-person and online experiences designed to help participants discover feeling-states that change this dynamic.
At the heart of the initiative are six core 'Portals'—gratitude, laughter, awe, group brainstorming, storytelling, and novelty—described by Transcendence Lab as gateways into expanded experience. The Lab's founders use the term 'Portals' to emphasize these involve more than emotions; they represent a complex blend of feelings and thoughts that can be intentionally cultivated in online groups with AI assistance. The Lab has developed and facilitated these experiences since 2016, with 'vast improvements' following widely available AI tools in 2022–2023.
A central question guiding the work examines whether human beings have something like a 'Recommended Daily Allowance' for beneficial emotional experiences that have supported mental health for centuries, and whether modern tools including AI, social platforms, video, and online group gatherings can help people access them more efficiently and consistently. Collaborations Coordinator Amy Chang explained, 'Most platforms help you broadcast. What we do helps you bond—and it succeeds because so many heart-centered, sensitive, forward-thinking creators are already on Substack, looking for a way to grow alongside others.'
Teams Director Soani Gunawan noted one portal-based practice—the 'mini-Hero's Journey'—expanded over time into what became the Hero Award, which ranks at the top of search rankings for that term despite more than 15 organizations offering a hero award. The initiative's impact is demonstrated through participant experiences, with one describing the cumulative effect of moving through portals with a congenial group—either live or via Zoom—as 'like graduation day from a school where you made many friends, learned a lot about others and yourself, and experienced many transformations… you fall in love with being human.'
For business and technology leaders, this development represents a significant shift in how creator platforms can be leveraged for both professional growth and personal development. The integration of AI tools with structured emotional experiences suggests new models for online community building that prioritize meaningful connection alongside audience expansion. The initiative's success with Substack writers indicates potential applications across other creator-focused platforms where sensitive, forward-thinking individuals seek growth alongside their audiences. The Hero Award's search dominance at https://theheroaward.substack.com/ demonstrates how emotional development protocols can translate into tangible recognition within creator ecosystems.
