DjangoCon Europe 2016 - Healthy Minds in a Healty Community
Speakers: Erik Romijn (twitter), Django core dev, and Mikey Ariel (twitter), community lead for oVirt at RedHat, community lead for Write the Docs Europe, workshop organizer for Django Girls.
Many people suffer from mental illness (1 in 4), but their suffering is mostly invisible, so we underestimate how many people feel the same as we do. 1 in 10 attendees last year made use of the offer of free counselling slots.
Thoughts:
- put yourself first, ask "What's in it for me?", say NO
- if I burn out, I'm less useful than when I take a break. Look at long-term capacity.
- GitHub metrics can be seriously harmful, they push you to overcommit
- asking for help is really good and important and rarely punished
- issues are real even if they are in your head, if you look away, if they aren't diagnosed
- people who make fun of you for asking for help are rare, toxic and wrong
- it's ok to say no when others ask for help: put yourself first
- We're a community - helping is what we are here for
- Follow the happy little sushi roll: support people by being there
Results
- Django Software Foundation Well-Being Committee: Proof-of-concept accepted by the Django Software Foundation, implementation in progress. Mission: Provide peer support for community members who need to talk to somebody who just listens and understand. Be there for issues like stress management, depression, anxiety, work-life balance, relationships, self-esteem and identity, LGBTQIA issues. Volunteers needed, but don't overcommit! (mail)
- Happiness Packets: Anonymous outreach program to show gratefulness or spread happiness in general: here