Erasing the Stigma: Mental Health and Tech
Many developers, including myself, deal with mental health issues, yet mental health in the developer community is often overlooked, hidden, or swept under the rug. Too many of us suffer in silence and end up hurting our professional and personal relationships, or even worse, ourselves.
What can be done to help de-stigmatize mental health issues? How can we, as a community, band together to help those of us with mental health issues feel more welcome in tech?
Together, we can work to Erase the Stigma associated with mental illness.
Speakers
J.D. Flynn
JD Flynn is a Drupal Developer and Mental Health advocate from La Porte, IN. He's been working with Drupal for about 5 years and has been doing web development off and on since the early 90s.
JD spent a decade as a paramedic in Northwest Indiana working in several communities and many different demographics, but decided that the long hours and nights away from home were no longer for him. While working full-time, JD earned his associates degree from Ivy Tech State College in Web Development and began working with PHP, and eventually Drupal.
After a few months, JD became very active in the Chicago Drupal community and today is an organizer of MidCamp and the Drupal Chicago meetup group.