Mental Health and Women in Tech
My background before I started my startup was in IT, and it was my mental health struggles in the IT field that led me to get into the wellness field. Can anyone else relate here, in terms of facing mental health challenges related to working in tech?
I want to create something (either a product or an easily accessible service, maybe both) to help women in tech - or maybe just people in tech - achieve emotional fitness so they can fearlessly take on bigger goals.
Would anyone be brave enough to share a story or an opinion?
What would be useful to you as a tech worker in an ideal world?
Thanks.
I've been at my place of employment for 27 years and I started having mental health issues when in 2020 at the start of the pandemic when I was ruthlessly bullied and harassed at my job.
What helped me among many things was coloring books. It helped relieve my stress and anxiety. https://www.etsy.com/shop/SmartGirlCredit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
I always struggled to find a place/company where things felt positive, and the ways some treated me meant I would just quit rather than hang around. I'm not sure if that counts towards what you are thinking?
I totally understand where you're coming from. That was my struggle, too. I ended up quitting multiple times rather than staying around. What techniques, if any, did you try to deal with other people/situations/your feelings while you were working in these negative places?
Follow-up question: What was draining the positive energy there? And thanks so much by the way for answering.
Is your story the common one about speaking up, applying for jobs while your match is low and their over requirements just sounds too much.. handling forms of fear/stress/.. imposter syndrome, being a bit homble and agreeable vs people who speaker higher than their skills and similar?..
I'm not familiar with the common story you mentioned. Through my company, I teach mental wellness skills that help reduce vulnerability to negative situations, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. My unique selling proposition is that I've "been there, done that" - been hospitalized for bipolar type I psychotic episodes 5 times and have gone through 5 intensive outpatient programs and learning the skills first hand. Some of the skills I teach, like making wise decisions that take into account both feelings and facts, can be found on the homepage of my website (www.skillednotill.com). I'm looking to narrow down my target audience to women and tech, and my goal is to understand some real stories about problems that I might be able to help. Hope this answers your question.
Thank you for your work! Would you be interested in sharing your experience with my readers on DrMental? I write there various articles and reviews like https://drmental.org/7cupsoftea-review and we are studying a question of problems of women in tech.
Are you a meat eater?
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/bipolar-disorder/
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/toxoplasma/
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"Skilled Not Ill"
Sounds like the mantra you want to tell yourself and teach, but wouldn't that be counter directional to where people are?.. while it might be ok to brand like that, the branding is not a lead generator in a way no? like you'd possible have to work twice as hard as attracting interest...
Like as a sales or even transformation process, one should come from where people currently are and lead them to where they should go, but this is the go to not where they are...
If you look at common ads, they start with the problem like "feeling X..", start with the hurt, and lead them to the solution in the end. (there is a lot of backing to this format...)
Seems like your kinda doing this in pitches already "1. Workers are stressed."
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The capital letters for all the works in the home page feels a bit off, maybe play with the fonts in place?
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These conditions are estimated between 1%-4%, >half untreated, IDK how many undiagnosed
Like I wonder, a lot of this can apply to everyone, much of the site is worded for everyone, some of the site is worded for people who are diagnosed ill...
No pricing on site, just contact, if your specifically trying to get top $/hour consulting, that's common.
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So suppose you already have past clients, why not poll them for future offers?
Is IT like the sector you have least customers from and want to develop?...
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Surprised there is no youtube link and videos.. these things communicate well in video IMHO..
GL
Yeah you totally nailed the problems on the head. The name is a problem for not just the reason you said but also for other reasons (too long to get into). The wording on the site IS confusing because some of it is geared toward everyone and some of it is geared toward people with mental illness. I can't figure out a target market to stick with or a name or a way to pivot all of this. That's why I was thinking I'd start over and use the skills I know to help women in tech. But first I need to have a problem that I can test with them. What is a painful problem I could solve?
Have you worked in tech? as a type of programmer?
You can run more than one site / brand or just have district parts that focus on different customers and/or issues, just the distinction should be felt.
For example 2 sided marketplaces have a split in the homepage and then the rest of the site.
Or anything package wise that has private vs corporate.
Or big companies that have "solutions" per industry for example.
Suppose you already had customer you worked with right?
Can you group these to a few groups? for example if you did corporate that's and obvious group by it's own...
There is nothing more valuable than paid customers that already had a positive experience with you to build on top off.
If you can use them to figure the next steps you would be leaps and bounds ahead then starting from scratch.
The paid customers that were happiest were a female solopreneur, a female corporate manager, and a Program Manager in higher education - a nonprofit setting that was kind of like a corporate setting. Two had anxiety and one had borderline personality disorder. They kind of already were people who were Skilled Not Ill and just had hit a rut and were blocking themselves from achieving bigger goals. They were my ideal clients to work with, too. Maybe that can be my "thing?" Being a coach that gives you skills to remind you that you're Skilled Not Ill? Something like that? Would love your thoughts on how to spin it. You're so helpful.
How did you reach out to these people / how did they hear about you?
One person found me on Google. The other 2 found me from a message I posted in October in an email group called Philly Startup Leaders. This what I wrote:
Hi PSL!
I'm looking for beta testers to sign up for my new Hybrid Coaching Service that applies mental health and toughness skills to the "standard" life coaching approach.
The first call is free to find out if it's a good fit for you. PSLs and your connections can have a discounted rate of $40/session instead of $80 for the first 4 sessions after that.
Send me a message directly (kat@skillednotill.com) if you're interested, and please forward to anyone you know who might need this.
Find more details at www.skillednotill.com/coaching and a quick summary here:
"The Skilled Not Ill Hybrid Coaching Service is for motivated individuals and aspiring high achievers who manage mental health challenges, like anxiety and self-doubt, while holding down a job and are ready to take on bigger goals.
You are 100% welcome to sign up if you have a more serious mental health challenge such as bipolar (type I and II), depression (seasonal and long-term), anxiety (generalized and social), and borderline personality disorder.
It's important to me that you see a therapist or have other means of treatment already in place if you feel that you need it."
Being mentally healthy is important, but it's just the baseline. Stay at the baseline too long, and you could end up moving backwards into unmanageable mental health challenges, job less, and a continuous state of discontent.
Wishing you all a happy and fulfilling day!
[End email]
This is pressing the pain point, I don't think I've seen that on the site...
You also had a specific (relatively cheap) price offer in the text
And you put it in a good goal oriented group...
It feels like your initial attempt was better...
I feel like you're right. I was thinking about another pain point that I'm solving which is that there is no "middle care" option for when you're feeling down but not mentally unwell enough to need a therapist. I help people when they're in a rut, I teach them skills, and I give them confidence. Currently we have the option of either clinical care or no care at all.
I loved the idea of turning it back to the customers in a question "who do you think would benefit from this service the most" or similar.
It does sounds like consulting goal oriented females in a rut worked out for you..
That's a great idea - I'm going to ask them in an email. Yeah the way you put it - even without the consulting part - goal oriented females in a rut" - is a really great persona description!
btw linkedin link seems broken
Fixed!
Thank you. I'm going to fix it