6 ms·

Looking after your wellbeing at DjangoCon Europe

129 points by inglesp 12y ago

lclarkmichalek 12y ago
Hooray for mental health awareness! I wonder if any of the big tech companies (Goog, FB, Appl) do anything like this, or more generally, do anything to help with employee mental health wellness.
- tomaskazemekas 12y ago
  One example could be Google. It has initiated and developed mindfulness based Search Inside Yourself program. http://siyli.org/ http://siyli.org/
  - patrickmclaren 12y ago
    Thanks for linking that. Do you know any more about it? I see a component of their curriculum is "Emotional Resilience", curious to see how much of the program is focused on that aspect as opposed to what signals I choose to broadcast to others.
- vtbassmatt 12y ago
  Microsoft has a program for for employees as well as family members. It has a hotline (crisis or non-crisis) entry-point and can also plug into your standard health insurance for on-going issues. Can't remember the name, maybe something like "MS Cares".
- acdha 12y ago
  I think it's good to see this outside of an employer-managed context. It avoids the problem of someone being afraid to use a service because they assume their boss will get a report even if it's supposed to be anonymous.
piqufoh 12y ago
What a great idea, and how very well done (the anonymous post-it note booking system). Kudos to the organisers for their prescience and understanding of their attendees, more of this please!
dvfjsdhgfv 12y ago
correct the typo DjanoCon -> DjangoCon
sago 12y ago
Go Daniele, such a great guy and a passionate organizer.
- bshimmin 12y ago
  I only know Daniele from usenet a good few years ago now, but certainly "great" and "compassionate" are two words that would certainly be applicable to him. I had no idea he was involved with Django or its conferences, but it's no surprise to me that he's having a positive impact.
parennoob 12y ago
"To complicate matters, most of the people in the industry are young men, a cohort not good at acknowledging their own problems, or understanding other people’s." Does this not seem like oversimplification and rampant stereotyping? I am a "young man" (well, below 30 anyway, though in SV I'm probably a bit long in the tooth), and it hurts to be constantly and systematically belittled in this manner. I have problems, and other people in the industry do too. Singling out one particular gender and age group and making them the bad party doesn't help anyone. A great related article: (http://mainisusuallyafunction.blogspot.com/2014/06/on-depression-privilege-and-online.html http://mainisusuallyafunction.blogspot.com/2014/06/on-depres...)
- Dewie 12y ago
  I read the first two paragraphs and thought "finally, something about people having problems without bringing men up as a bogeyman (in the context of tech)". But oh well.
- hedwall 12y ago
  I read that sentence as 'there is a systemic problem in society that young men aren't allowed to be fragile, sad &c' and that with the overlap between men in tech and that problem, we have an opportunity to give you a nudge in the right direction, should you need it.
  - coroxout 12y ago
    I read it as that too, and I applaud that sentiment, but I agree that the "or understanding other people's" seems a bit harsh in context. I'd even agree that in my own early 20s I was quite bad at appreciating the perspectives and life experiences of people from different backgrounds, but it's not the best way to gain the trust of people who might benefit from the service! I suppose they mentioned it to suggest that you may not feel comfortable opening up to your colleagues and/or social group, especially if they are young men who are traditionally expected to put on a front of everything being fine and may not be open to emotional/personal discussions, which is a valid concern; but it's a shame it sounds like it's questioning the empathy of many of its readers. Forgot to say: this is a really nice idea, I hope it works well.
suhailpatel 12y ago
Such a fantastic idea. There really needs to be more awareness on Mental Health and this is a great step towards that.
collyw 12y ago
Burnout and exhaustion are a mental health issues? I though they were more of a problem with prioritizing things in your life. Edit: I have suffered from both of these things myself, and I never considered myself to have mental health problems. In my case it was (still is) a case of taking a step back and re-prioritizing things. Apparently I shouldn't tell myself that?
- fredley 12y ago
  These are exactly the kind of assumptions that I think this programme is taking aim at. Not to critisise you for thinking them - I think this is how most people, and society in general, view these issues. Telling someone whose burnt out that they just need to reprioritise their life is like telling a depressed person to just cheer up. It's more complicated than that, and there are often deeper things that need to be untangled before someone can get better.
- Dewie 12y ago
  It's unclear whether you're asking a genuine question, or just using a rhetorical one to dismiss the idea altogether. I guess the lack of question mark on the second line points to it being the latter. Consider that if you're already burned out - even if they "just" had to do with bad life prioritize - it's often not like you can just quit whatever you're doing and go on a retreat. You still have that 9-5 job, or whatever more heavy-weight responsibilities. Then it doesn't really matter what the original cause was - it's a mental health issue.
  - collyw 12y ago
    I would say it is a work life balance issue. I am not saying its not a problem, but I am struggling to see it as a mental health issue. The first hit I got on Google doesn't talk about exhaustion or burnout. It does mention depression, which I agree with. http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/an-introduction-to-mental-health/what-are-mental-health-problems/ http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/an-introduct...
    - 12y ago
fitshipit 12y ago
I would love to see this at hackathons and conferences everywhere. So many people need help but are so ashamed to ask for it (particularly in our field) that you literally need to make talking to someone as convenient as getting a McDonald's hamburger to get them to seek help.
- TTPrograms 12y ago
  I don't think it's so much an issue of shame always, but rather that often one of the symptoms of something like depression is lack of motivation to seek help. This is the ultimate challenge with mental health - as you said, it has to be exceedingly convenient for someone in that situation to get help. Otherwise it's a perpetual feedback loop.
secstate 12y ago
Kudos to the DjangCon Europe organizers for setting this up. I was recently listening to a sermon on Abraham Lincoln (the U.S. President in office during the civil war) who suffered from such crippling depression during his life that there's no way he'd be electable today. Such is the exposure to the details of a persons life in the 21st century, but I feel like that makes it even more important to publicly address mental health issues. Folks should not suffer alone, and should not be made to feel less capable or important because they struggle with mental health.
- cmdkeen 12y ago
  Winston Churchill suffered from depression he called his "black dog". He wrote to avoid it, and his prolific output, and indeed alcoholism, should be viewed through that prism.
- scrollaway 12y ago
  > Kudos to the DjangCon Europe organizers for setting this up. Yeah, kudos for setting it up... but at DjangoCon? I don't get it. DjangoCons never seemed focused in the first place...
tomjen3 12y ago
>Booking a slot will simply be a matter of taking a Post-It note with a time on it from the appointments board, anonymously and discreetly. It will take less than an hour before some ass removes all the post-it notes. Sorry, but that system has too much fate in humans.

129 points by inglesp 12y ago

Hooray for mental health awareness! I wonder if any of the big tech companies (Goog, FB, Appl) do anything like this, or more generally, do anything to help with employee mental health wellness.

tomaskazemekas 12y ago
One example could be Google. It has initiated and developed mindfulness based Search Inside Yourself program. http://siyli.org/ http://siyli.org/
- patrickmclaren 12y ago
  Thanks for linking that. Do you know any more about it? I see a component of their curriculum is "Emotional Resilience", curious to see how much of the program is focused on that aspect as opposed to what signals I choose to broadcast to others.
vtbassmatt 12y ago
Microsoft has a program for for employees as well as family members. It has a hotline (crisis or non-crisis) entry-point and can also plug into your standard health insurance for on-going issues. Can't remember the name, maybe something like "MS Cares".
acdha 12y ago
I think it's good to see this outside of an employer-managed context. It avoids the problem of someone being afraid to use a service because they assume their boss will get a report even if it's supposed to be anonymous.

piqufoh 12y ago

What a great idea, and how very well done (the anonymous post-it note booking system). Kudos to the organisers for their prescience and understanding of their attendees, more of this please!

dvfjsdhgfv 12y ago

correct the typo DjanoCon -> DjangoCon

sago 12y ago

Go Daniele, such a great guy and a passionate organizer.

bshimmin 12y ago
I only know Daniele from usenet a good few years ago now, but certainly "great" and "compassionate" are two words that would certainly be applicable to him. I had no idea he was involved with Django or its conferences, but it's no surprise to me that he's having a positive impact.

parennoob 12y ago

"To complicate matters, most of the people in the industry are young men, a cohort not good at acknowledging their own problems, or understanding other people’s." Does this not seem like oversimplification and rampant stereotyping? I am a "young man" (well, below 30 anyway, though in SV I'm probably a bit long in the tooth), and it hurts to be constantly and systematically belittled in this manner. I have problems, and other people in the industry do too. Singling out one particular gender and age group and making them the bad party doesn't help anyone. A great related article: (http://mainisusuallyafunction.blogspot.com/2014/06/on-depression-privilege-and-online.html http://mainisusuallyafunction.blogspot.com/2014/06/on-depres...)

Dewie 12y ago
I read the first two paragraphs and thought "finally, something about people having problems without bringing men up as a bogeyman (in the context of tech)". But oh well.
hedwall 12y ago
I read that sentence as 'there is a systemic problem in society that young men aren't allowed to be fragile, sad &c' and that with the overlap between men in tech and that problem, we have an opportunity to give you a nudge in the right direction, should you need it.
- coroxout 12y ago
  I read it as that too, and I applaud that sentiment, but I agree that the "or understanding other people's" seems a bit harsh in context. I'd even agree that in my own early 20s I was quite bad at appreciating the perspectives and life experiences of people from different backgrounds, but it's not the best way to gain the trust of people who might benefit from the service! I suppose they mentioned it to suggest that you may not feel comfortable opening up to your colleagues and/or social group, especially if they are young men who are traditionally expected to put on a front of everything being fine and may not be open to emotional/personal discussions, which is a valid concern; but it's a shame it sounds like it's questioning the empathy of many of its readers. Forgot to say: this is a really nice idea, I hope it works well.

suhailpatel 12y ago

Such a fantastic idea. There really needs to be more awareness on Mental Health and this is a great step towards that.

collyw 12y ago

Burnout and exhaustion are a mental health issues? I though they were more of a problem with prioritizing things in your life. Edit: I have suffered from both of these things myself, and I never considered myself to have mental health problems. In my case it was (still is) a case of taking a step back and re-prioritizing things. Apparently I shouldn't tell myself that?

fredley 12y ago
These are exactly the kind of assumptions that I think this programme is taking aim at. Not to critisise you for thinking them - I think this is how most people, and society in general, view these issues. Telling someone whose burnt out that they just need to reprioritise their life is like telling a depressed person to just cheer up. It's more complicated than that, and there are often deeper things that need to be untangled before someone can get better.
Dewie 12y ago
It's unclear whether you're asking a genuine question, or just using a rhetorical one to dismiss the idea altogether. I guess the lack of question mark on the second line points to it being the latter. Consider that if you're already burned out - even if they "just" had to do with bad life prioritize - it's often not like you can just quit whatever you're doing and go on a retreat. You still have that 9-5 job, or whatever more heavy-weight responsibilities. Then it doesn't really matter what the original cause was - it's a mental health issue.
- collyw 12y ago
  I would say it is a work life balance issue. I am not saying its not a problem, but I am struggling to see it as a mental health issue. The first hit I got on Google doesn't talk about exhaustion or burnout. It does mention depression, which I agree with. http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/an-introduction-to-mental-health/what-are-mental-health-problems/ http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/an-introduct...
  - 12y ago

fitshipit 12y ago

I would love to see this at hackathons and conferences everywhere. So many people need help but are so ashamed to ask for it (particularly in our field) that you literally need to make talking to someone as convenient as getting a McDonald's hamburger to get them to seek help.

TTPrograms 12y ago
I don't think it's so much an issue of shame always, but rather that often one of the symptoms of something like depression is lack of motivation to seek help. This is the ultimate challenge with mental health - as you said, it has to be exceedingly convenient for someone in that situation to get help. Otherwise it's a perpetual feedback loop.

secstate 12y ago

Kudos to the DjangCon Europe organizers for setting this up. I was recently listening to a sermon on Abraham Lincoln (the U.S. President in office during the civil war) who suffered from such crippling depression during his life that there's no way he'd be electable today. Such is the exposure to the details of a persons life in the 21st century, but I feel like that makes it even more important to publicly address mental health issues. Folks should not suffer alone, and should not be made to feel less capable or important because they struggle with mental health.

cmdkeen 12y ago
Winston Churchill suffered from depression he called his "black dog". He wrote to avoid it, and his prolific output, and indeed alcoholism, should be viewed through that prism.
scrollaway 12y ago
> Kudos to the DjangCon Europe organizers for setting this up. Yeah, kudos for setting it up... but at DjangoCon? I don't get it. DjangoCons never seemed focused in the first place...

tomjen3 12y ago

>Booking a slot will simply be a matter of taking a Post-It note with a time on it from the appointments board, anonymously and discreetly. It will take less than an hour before some ass removes all the post-it notes. Sorry, but that system has too much fate in humans.