Prompt at Distill 2014

At last year’s Distill we announced our program promoting Mental Health awareness in the technology industry. It’s been a year since the launch of Prompt and we wanted to give a glimpse into what’s been done over the past year and what we’re planning for this year’s Distill conference.

For the first time, Distill 2014 will bring together all four featured Prompt speakers: Ed Finkler, Greg Baugues, John Dalton, and Paddy Foran for a panel discussion on their experiences and learnings on mental health in tech and what they’ve been able to share as part of the Prompt team.

Let’s learn a little more about our speakers.

Ed Finkler is an accomplished developer and well known member of the PHP community. He began speaking on anxiety and depression from his own perspective and began Open Sourcing Mental Illness shortly thereafter. Ed is also certified in Mental Health First Aid, and he advocates the course for anyone who wants to make their workplace safer for those struggling with their mental health.

Greg Baugues serves as a developer evangelist with Twilio and started speaking about his struggle with ADHD and bipolar disorder after he lost a coworker to an unintentional drug overdose the day after he missed what would have been his first appointment with a psychiatrist. Greg’s hope is that developers who struggle with mental illness will know that they are not alone, and that one day it will be as easy to talk about anxiety and depression as it is to talk about diabetes and high blood pressure.

John Dalton speaks about the issue of clinical depression through the lens of the person who is watching and caring for the sufferer. His journey from being informed to a deep understanding of depression and what it means is an eye-opener for anyone who’s heard it.

Paddy Foran gives a deep analysis of mental illness from the perspective of a person who walks through every day with depression. He likes to dissect the issue and help people sympathize without patronizing.

All four of these speakers will be discussing their roles as advocates and the importance of raising awareness and acceptance of mental health in our industry. They will also be answering questions attendees might have about handling issues for themselves and the people in their lives.

For a preview, please take a look at this video from the php[tek] Mental Health Summit (NOTE: John Dalton was not in attendance but Ben Marks stepped up in his place.)

Please join us at Distill 2014 and take the opportunity to be part of a frank and salient discussion with our Prompt Panel.