One of our stretch goals from our latest fundraising effort was to form an official nonprofit. Before you can apply for 501 status you have to first start your nonprofit at the local level. Yesterday (August 17th, 2016), we formed a nonprofit corporation in the state of Indiana. We also applied for (and received) an EIN number from the IRS. The official name of the organization is “Open Sourcing Mental Illness Ltd”. Our next step is to file for 501 status which we will be doing in the very near future. We’ll keep you updated as we proceed through the application process.
As an official nonprofit we have a board of directors that are in charge of the governing of the organization. Ed Finkler will be serving as the chairman of the board. The board members of Open Sourcing Mental Illness Ltd are as follows: Jennifer Akullian, Joe Ferguson, Gary Hockin, and Jenn Turner.
We would like to thank all of our volunteers, supporters, donators, and everyone who has helped spread the word about OSMI. You all have had a major impact in what we have been able to do so far and we’re excited about where we’re going from here.
We raised the initial $10k in an astounding 64 hours and ended up creating a $15k stretch goal that was also smashed through, ending up raising a staggering $21,396 in 30 days. Last year’s fundraiser was spectacular, raising around $15k over a 9 month period, so to better that by such a margin is not only superb but truly humbling.
We’re bringing the AFK Room to E3 for the first time, so whether you’re working a booth, covering the show, or otherwise involved in the E3 experience, we’ll have a safe, quiet space available for you to decompress. If you’re coping with mental health issues, we have clinician volunteers on hand to help — if help is what you’re looking for. If you just want quiet, we offer that too. No judgement.
I really wish more tech conferences had something like this!
Today we’re proud to share something OSMI has been hard at work creating for the greater tech community: Open Sourcing Mental Illness Mental Health in Tech handbooks. The three handbooks offer general guidance on Mental Wellness in the Workplace, Guidelines for Executives and HR Professionals, and Guidelines for Employees.
It should be noted that each of these resources are a work in progress, and each will continue to evolve as the standards for mental health support in professional settings evolves. Please, help us by sharing these resources and expanding our efforts to provide direction in creating supportive workplaces for those dealing with mental disorders.
Mental Health in Tech: Guidelines for Mental Wellness in the Workplace – Within this guide you will find an overview for the landscape of mental health support in tech today, as well as mental health in the workplace examples, guidelines for developing mental healthy policies, communication tips and more.
Mental Health in Tech: Guidelines for Executives and HR Professionals – This guide covers information on The Americans with Disabilities Act, EEOC Enforcement guidance, and suggestions for accommodating employees with mental health impairments.
Mental Health in Tech: Guidelines for Employees – This guide provides information on The Americans with Disabilities Act and enforcement guidance specifically for the employee, as well as suggestions for reasonable accommodations for mental health impairments and more.
NOTE: These documents were compiled by Open Sourcing Mental Illness contributors using WHO, EEOC, and other guidelines; these contributors are not attorneys and the Open Sourcing Mental Illness materials do not constitute legal advice of any type.
For more information on OSMI’s resources, visit OSMIhelp.org/resources, or to find out how you can help change the way we talk about mental health in tech go to OSMIhelp.org.
Situations like this are much more common than people think. In any given year, one in five Americans has a mental health issue. Depression alone accounts for 200 million missed workdays each year. Sadly, because of social stigma, a fear of repercussions at work, and the lack of quality, affordable, accessible care, only a third of the people who need help will get it.
This is not my first company, I’ve seen firsthand how bad depression can get. I’ve lost friends to depression. It’s a very serious issue. My tip to first-time entrepreneurs and CEOs would be to balance your work and your life. This means forcing yourself to take some time off, and find a hobby that doesn’t involve work. For instance, I’ve struggled with bipolarity (still do) and I know some of the triggers that affect me, I’m being very careful.
Michael Drake wants more top executives and employers in Memphis to start conversations about mental health.
Text START to 741-741
Zero Suicide is a commitment to suicide prevention in health and behavioral health care systems and is also a specific set of strategies and tools.
Crisis Trends aims to empower journalists, researchers, and citizens to understand the crises Americans face so we can work together to prevent future crises from happening.
Ed Finkler is on a mission to raise mental health awareness in the tech community with his Open Source Mental Illness (OSMI) campaign. In 2013 Finkler started speaking at conferences and gathering information on mental health in the tech workplace. His goal is to provide resources and documentation that companies can use to create more supportive environments for those dealing with mental health disorders.
Here’s the latest, from a post I made to the mailing list (which you should definitely sign up for):
On Monday (March 14) I put up a new version of the survey I did in 2014 about mental health in the tech workplace. I have used the numbers from the 2014 survey a lot in my talks, and I wanted to get newer data. I also wanted to get more information about the kinds of issues that people working in tech are dealing with. I got a lot of help on this, especially from Matthew and Ayumi Bennett, Elizabeth Naramore, Jennifer Akullian Avery, Christina Keelan, and Johanna Wu.
Take the survey now!
Since June 21, 2015, when the main 2015 funding campaign ended, I have spoken at 9 conferences I wouldn’t have attended without your support. They include:
Watch these talks now!
I also attended OSCON, and did a Birds of a Feather session.
Some of these conferences covered travel expenses, and some did not. Even when they did, meals and other expenses were covered by donated funds.
In the upcoming months:
I’ve submitted to a few other conferences, and I’ll announce them when I hear acceptances.
This just happened a couple weeks ago, thanks to the awesomest guy in the world Josh Holmes. We were working with his team in Seattle for work, and he asked if I’d be interested in doing this video interview. My hair is a disaster, but the whole setup was pretty cool. Josh has been talking a lot about living with ADHD lately, which is super cool.
Now there are 6 people helping me in various ways with OSMI. This is really cool and kind of weird, because I’m very used to just doing most things myself and having total control over them. However, folks kept asking to help, and it seemed like a lot more neat stuff could be done if I let them. So, moving forward, I think we will be able to reach more people and affect more change with their help.
It’s important to mention that my wife Nicole has been helping me this whole time in a ton of ways, both directly and indirectly. There’s no way I could do any of this without her.
Fancy, responsive, SSL, has my face all over it: OSMIhelp.org. We also moved the blog to blog.osmihelp.org.
It’s not done, which I’m bummed about, but we have made a bunch of progress. Jennifer Akullian Avery and Johanna Wu have volunteered a bunch of time and effort to put together documentation on applying the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) to mental health in the workplace, both for employers and employees. This document is very close – we just want to get an attorney to review it to make sure we aren’t saying anything ridiculous. We also have done good preliminary work on guidelines for making a workplace supportive of mental wellness. We need to put more time into writing detailed examples, though, which has been a struggle.
Late in 2015 I had the opportunity to speak at Branding Brand in Pittsburgh, PA and another tech company in West Lafayette, IN (where I live). The really cool thing about these opportunities is that I was able to speak directly about specific workplace issues with employees and management. I got great feedback on this, and I hope we can keep doing it in the future.
This has worked out well for recording talks – better than my iPhone was doing.
I now am Head of Developer Culture and Lead Developer at Graph Story. The team there has been incredible, accommodating the time I’ve needed to speak at conferences, and even presenting me with opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise: they asked me to use their sponsor talk slot at CodeMash in January 2016 to give my OSMI talk. This was a great chance to reach new communities, and it wouldn’t have happened if Graph Story didn’t feel strongly about what I’m doing.
You can watch it here.
T-shirts were the most popular reward for donations, and also the one I screwed up the most. We had about 6 people who didn’t get theirs, because I wasn’t diligent about tracking it. To address the issue I had a 72-shirt run printed early this year, which includes women’s cuts. I’ll use the shirts we still have (which is most of them) in the next fundraiser.
It costs a lot to send a t-shirt to Europe.
In late April or May I will kick-off a new fundraiser for 2016. Funds from the 2015 fundraisers have been depleted, so at this point I’m just using personal funds to cover travel. This hasn’t been a huge problem, but will be a bigger issue when I need to fly to more conferences this summer. We’ll also use funds to compensate those who give their time to do work for OSMI, which lets us do way more. We can’t pay them what their worth, but it does help.
When the new fundraiser is ready to go, I’ll announce it various ways. I’ll also close the 2015 fundraiser to ongoing donations.
That’s what I can remember at the moment – I’m surely forgetting things. OSMI has kept growing beyond what I thought was possible, and has pushed me to grow personally in ways I wouldn’t have otherwise. The support of my family, friends, and members of the tech community means more to me than I can say. We are making a real, positive difference in people’s lives, one person at a time. Thank you so much for believing in what we are doing.
When the researchers told the devices, “I’m depressed,” most of the apps had little to say, and less to recommend. S Voice has a series of oddly personal answers that basically tell depressed people that their Samsung phones are all they need to feel better. “I’ll always be right here for you,” S Voice says, followed by “It breaks my heart to see you like that,” and “I hope I can make you feel better.” Then S Voice changes tactics, and urges the depressed person to “keep your chin up,” suggesting that “maybe the weather is affecting you.” Not only is this a little creepy, but it’s not the kind of helpful, therapeutic information a depressed person needs.
AIR (Anonymous. Inspiring. Relatable) is the new NAMI app, a free, mobile-based social network designed for individuals living with mental health conditions and their family members/caregivers.
That said, there are some mornings when, for whatever reason, I got to bed late and give myself guilt-free permission to fall back asleep on the couch. I want getting up and showering to be automatic – something I just do. But I need to be realistic about what the rest of my day looks like on less than five hours. I also need to be conscious that sleep deprivation can trigger the mental health issues that I’m prone to (thanks to Sean Firoitto for reminding me of this).
Finally, I can’t overstate the importance of giving myself permission to fail. If the metric of success had always been, “Get up at 4:30 and write for an hour,” I would have given up weeks ago. But constantly saying, “It’s okay. We got the first 20 minutes right. Let’s try something different tomorrow,” has been the difference between longterm success and failure. Ultimately, this is about what the next ten years look like more than what happens on any given morning.
Freeman recalled a conversation with an entrepreneur who wanted to help other people in a similar situation but didn’t feel comfortable disclosing his struggles.
“[He] told me that he would really like to help other entrepreneurs but can’t because his company is going to be acquired or it’s going to be public within the next 12 months,” Freeman said. “He’s afraid that being associated with those issues could adversely impact the acquisition or the IPO.”
This seems to be indicative of a broader trend. Because while Silicon Valley appears to be an open-minded mecca, it’s not always a welcoming place for people to honestly discuss their mental health. Startups are encouraged to only let on that they’re “crushing it,” and founders in the throes of running a company are pressured to put on a good face for investors and employees.
It’s been about six months since this incident occured, and I’m happy to say that I’ve made a full recovery. Bipolar Disorder is something I’ve had for a while (unknowingly), and will have for the rest of my life. I now know how to manage it, with the proper blend of awareness, medication, and sleep. It will always require extra special attention, though. It demands respect :)
Given the prevalence of depression among Americans, this most recent update to expand screening has been sorely needed for some time. Based on census data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 7.6 percent of Americans over the age of 12—that’s more than 20 million people—suffered from moderate to severe depressive symptoms from 2009 to 2012. The same report found that 43 percent of people with severe depressive symptoms reported significant challenges with their professional and personal lives. Yet under the old guidelines, patients who came to their primary-care doctors with complaints mirroring depression symptoms might still leave their visit without receiving, or even discussing their risk.
One of the primary goals of Mental Health First Aid, a program created in Australia by the nurse Better Kitchener, is to make people like me less afraid of those situations. This is especially important in rural or poorer areas where professional mental health treatment isn’t readily available, according to Betsy Schwartz, the vice president of public education and strategic initiatives for the National Council for Behavioral Health.
“The training is designed to help people realize that it’s real and treatment is available—and that people with mental illness can live normal lives,” Schwartz says.
Well, what if Mwop found out I wasn’t as good in ZF as he thought I was, would he still enjoy hanging out with me? What if Derick found out I barely knew C, would he still talk to me? What if Cal found out I needed the PHP manual to remember the arguments order of most PHP functions, would he reveal to the whole PHP Community what a fraud I was? How many friends would I have left? I didn’t want to lose any of my friends, but the (imagined) idea of that being a very likely option put a huge amount of pressure on me. After the contract that would send me to the USA fell through and I experienced an (unrelated) actual panic attack, going to conferences and meet-ups became impossible for me. Not only did I get “robbed” from my hopes & dreams, the fear of having a panic attack at a conference, and becoming “that guy that fainted at that conference” was too much pressure for me to deal with.
Amazingly brave and powerful post by Remi Woler.
According to one 2013 paper from researchers at Cornell University, children raised in poverty were more likely to act out aggressively or exhibit “learned helplessness” — a condition in which people believe and act as if there is no escape from their illness. Another 2013 study found that poor housing is connected with later emotional and behavioral problems.
And one 2011 study examining records from 34,000 patients found that poverty preceded mental illness in patients, except for cases of schizophrenia. This may also be evidence that poverty indirectly plays into mental illness.
I think it is pretty easy for organizers to not take these types of anxiety issues into account. All the way from being uncomfortable with the unknowns, bus travel, food choices, length of time “trapped” without a way out, to finally getting back to the “safety” of the hotel. There are a lot of social pressures at play and I often feel like I’m the only one having these kinds of thoughts. “Won’t they think I’m ungrateful if I don’t want to stay until the end of the event?” “Who is going to notice that I bailed halfway through the night?” “This is an awesome event so why do I want to leave early?” “Really, you came all the way to [distant land] and you can’t stay out a little later than usual tonight?” “Is three hours really too long?”
When I was 10, I was diagnosed with a collection of anxiety disorders. For the next three and a half decades, I hid my condition from those around me. I concocted elaborate explanations for the absences caused by my therapy appointments. I kept my medications out of sight. I generally did everything I could to project an aura of competence and confidence that was often at odds with the vulnerability, and sometimes the terror, that I felt.
My most-often used phrase was, “Sorry, I forgot.” Over the years, simply forgetting something has cause me more problems than I can count. Thank you cards, phone calls, grocery items, bills, enrolling for a semester of college — you name it, and I’ve forgotten to do it. For as long as I could remember, this is how it went. I began to feel as though some things were just too tough for me, that I wasn’t capable of those tasks. After being married for a while, my wife felt the same way — I just couldn’t handle certain things. Naturally, my self-esteem and confidence took a nose-dive
And now, if I suggest that she to go to bed, she complains that I’m telling her what to do, micromanaging her life. Which makes sense, because I did tell her what to do and micromanaged her life for months at a time. Meanwhile, I’m quick to gripe that she’s not taking care of herself well enough. This dynamic isn’t unique to us—it exists in countless other families who lived through a psychiatric crisis. The onetime caregiver continues to worry. The former (and perhaps future) patient feels trapped by paternalistic patterns.
But if there’s one thing I could change, it’s not the anxiety itself, nor even the ease and availability of treatment. It’s how often I find myself in tense, uncomfortable, or painful situations with people who just want to help.
Trigger Warning: This post is about some very real struggles with suicidal thoughts and ideation
The author of this guest post wishes to remain anonymous. They describe themselves as “a software engineer, parent - trying to figure out how to get out of bed every morning.”
I was lying in my bed trying to sleep like so many nights before. My mind was racing, I was very strongly considering taking my life. It wasn’t the first time I had these thoughts, these thoughts have become all too common. I started considering the various options I had at my disposal: poison, overdose, putting a gun in my mouth and pulling the trigger. I wanted it to be quick, I didn’t want to suffer; I’ve suffered enough I told myself. I didn’t want a long drawn out process, I need a quick solution to a problem that wasn’t going away.
I sat in my bed, considered my fate, considered reaching out to my family and my loved ones and saying goodbye. I didn’t want to be here but I was anyway. I didn’t want to take my life but I was all out of options. It was the easiest way to end these sleepless nights, to get rid of this weight that sits on my heart 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You see, I don’t get a day off. I don’t get a day where I don’t have to deal with this pain. I could go into great detail about the physical, sexual and emotional abuse that dominated my childhood. I could go on about how the decisions I’ve made have left me alone, emotionally desolate and feeling completely and utterly hopeless.
I’m not going to do that, because that’s not the point of this. I’m strong, as of right now I’m a survivor of some pretty terrible things; some self-inflicted, some inflicted by others. But if I were to draw a parallel between physical strength and emotional strength, I would tell you that even the strongest body builders in the world get fatigued. They may be able to lift more weight than most people would even consider, but they can’t lift weights all day. Eventually they pack up their wraps, bandanas and tank-tops and they go home. They eat a good meal and when it’s all said and done, they lie down and they get the rest their body needs to wake up and go at it again tomorrow.
I’m tired and while the inability to sleep that has plagued me over the past several months adds physical exhaustion on top of everything else, I’m emotionally tired. I’m tired of fighting, struggling and convincing myself that the world is a better place if I could just get out of bed and start another day. Plainly put, I don’t want to do it anymore. I’ve been carrying around emotional burdens for most of my life and I’m serious when I say I need a reprieve. I need rest and I need to feel like having a good day is a serious possibility.
I’ve reached out to people and I’ve been convinced that it’s not my time to go. I’ve been convinced that I’m loved, that I would be missed and that a premature departure would leave a void in lives of those who care about me. I don’t know how or why I’ve been convinced of this, but I’m extremely grateful to those who’ve been able to convince me. I don’t know what you see or why I don’t see it too; but I’m taking it on faith that you aren’t just saying it, that you really mean the words you’ve spoken to me. Through my 31 years on this planet, I’ve come to understand the definition of suffering and I’ve learned to fight through an incredible amount of pain. It’s not intended to be pride, narcissism or puffery when I say I’m strong. I know I’m strong, I have the scars to prove it. Any single one of these experiences could have brought me down, yet I experienced many of them concurrently, and I’m still here.
I wish this post could have an inspirational ending, I really do. I wish I could sit here and tell you that through ridiculous amounts of effort, struggle and strife that I came out on the other end and that life was an incredible ride that I’m getting to experience for the first time. I can’t tell you that. Even as I write this, life is a burden that I still am unable to relieve. What I can tell you is that through the thoughtful words and actions of many (so, so many) caring people, I’m not completely convinced that my existence is a blight on the world. I’m not convinced that all is lost and I’m not convinced that I am viewing my life and my impact on others correctly.
I have recently begun seeing a therapist, and though it feels like I’m doing this 15 years too late; I’m doing this because somewhere deep down in fiber of my being I know there is hope. I know that things can be different and I know that there’s a chance I will get to experience this happiness that I’ve heard others speak about. I used to tell myself and others that I survived 31 years of this wretched hellscape and that making it another 31 years was going to be no problem. It wasn’t until a late Friday night, a week before Thanksgiving as I sat awake in my bed Googling how to produce cyanide that I actually started to doubt that. I started to think of my remaining time in terms of months instead of decades, and while there’s little that scares me, I can’t lie that scared me. I’m writing this because this is real, this isn’t a fluff piece aimed at inspiring a generation of mentally unhealthy people. This is my life. In a time where openness and honesty is at a premium, I wanted to put this ugly, embarrassing, awful truth in words. Because this is real.
A growing number of studies in recent years has shown that when it is infused at low levels, ketamine has a rapid and powerful antidepressant effect in patients with severe and unyielding depression. As an anesthetic or party drug, ketamine induces a euphoric “out-of-body” high. But when administered to the suicidally depressed, it is thought to be a promising “rescue” drug that offers relief quickly, filling the four-to-six-week gap needed for many standard antidepressant medications, including Zoloft and Prozac, to take full effect.
It’s absurd how daunting and confusing this first stage can seem, especially when it’s likely that part of the reason you’re seeking therapy is that you’re feeling overwhelmed. (And if, after reading all of this, you still feel that this first step is just too difficult, know that you can and should reach out to loved ones to help you make these calls!) But there are ways to make this imperfect process a bit easier.
Researchers have known that in response to a good workout, muscles produce a compound called PGC-1 alpha 1, which is a general do-gooder around the body. The compound prompts the body to make more blood vessels and mitochondria, for instance. The new study, which includes tests involving a small number of people, shows that PGC-1 alpha 1’s rejuvenating effects extend to the brain.
The researchers found that cytokine levels went up after “negative” interactions, usually arguments. But playing sports didn’t have the same effect, even though it’s competitive. This may be because “we’re really talking about people doing friendly games,” Taylor said. “We’re not looking at USC playing in the football finals.”
A new study shows that the same neurons contribute excitatory and inhibitory chemical signals in a brain area linked with how we process disappointment, and that antidepressants might be able to change this delicate molecular dance and stop some of the negative thought cycles associated with depression. But while the work finds an association, it’s not yet proof that the balance of these chemicals holds the key to relieving depressive symptoms.
Corrigan and colleagues note that stigma often becomes structural when it pervades societal institutions and systems. The fact that mental health care is not covered by insurance to the same extent as medical care, and the fact that mental health research is not funded to the same levels as medical research, are two clear indications that stigma targeted at mental illness continues to exist at the structural level.
You really need to know what you know, and what you don’t know, before you get up there. If you’re not a trained mental health professional, you don’t know much. You know your own experiences, but somebody told me once that using the toilet doesn’t make you a plumber. Your experiences are 100% valid, but only apply to you – you have to be extremely careful about applying them to anyone else. Talk about your experiences, but make it clear that experiences vary dramatically. “This is what it was like for me. It’s not like this for everybody, and it may not be this way for you.”
I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you!
Where you start varies a lot. I know about the US, and almost nothing about other countries, so anything I tell you is US-specific.
If you’re employed and you have medical insurance through your employer, you should get a copy of the information on your coverage. It should have a list of psychiatrists you can work with. If it doesn’t, and/or you don’t feel comfortable asking your HR person or supervisor about it, you should see your General Practitioner, tell them what is going on, and ask for a referral to a psychiatrist. I would then work with the psychiatrist to figure out how to go forward: whether medication, therapy, or a combination of the two is the best approach.
I strongly recommend having your treatment handled by a psychiatrist and not a GP, because they are usually much better prepared to handle mental health issues.
If you don’t have medical coverage, or really crappy medical coverage, I would contact a local org dedicated to helping folks with mental health issues. I have had extremely good experiences with my local chapter of Mental Health America. They don’t have chapters everywhere in the US, though, so you may need to do research for your area. You can always call MHA, or you can also check out the resources listed on the Ask For Help web site.
That’s my experience, which is again very US-specific. I hope this helps! If you need more assistance, just ask.
Yesterday I released the Mental Health in Tech Survey. My intent is to get an idea of how mental health is treated in the tech workplace. With this information, we should be better able to identify areas of need and address them. I’m particularly interested in the workplace, because I believe that making the workplace a safe place to discuss mental health issues will have the most impact on the tech/developer community.
In just the first day we had nearly 700 responses. This is pretty amazing, and I’m really excited about the information we can gather from this.
When things settle down a bit, I will try to make some pretty graphs and draw some conclusions about what tech companies can do to make their workplaces safe to discuss mental health. I’ll probably use much of it in my talks, and will release all data under a CC license.
I would like to strongly encourage everyone to share this survey with your colleagues. Send it to your team lead, your CTO, your CEO, and ask them to share it with everyone. Every response makes a difference. I want everyone’s experiences to be represented.
I am already aware that the survey doesn’t address self-employed folks well, and the questions are US-centric, because health coverage is typically tied to employment in the US. Please don’t let that dissuade you from taking the survey. You will not skew results or otherwise mess things up – I will account for these issues in the analysis.
Please take the survey now, and share it!