Thanks everyone for being understanding of my taking a blog hiatus. I’m sure you all understand how life gets, and how sometimes we just need to take a break from certain things and obligations.

I do want to keep anyone who might be interested updated on the conferences we have coming up this summer, though. And you really ought to buy tickets because that’s a nice thing to do and makes it so that we are not SOO stressed out, haha. Also buying them before the week or day before is really nice and good for stress levels too.

First on the calendar is Anxiety Tech on Wednesday, July 18. This is my husband’s brain child, and we wanted to create a conference that inspired developers to build for mental health, mostly after having gone to OCD Con and witnessed the lack of knowledge and information about how technology can assist mental health care.

The full and in depth schedule and speaker list (with bios and abstracts) is on the website linked above, but we have amazing speakers and talks like:

  • Amber Case: The Future of Anxiety and Technology
  • Solome Tibebu: Why We Need Innovation in Mental Health Tech
  • Pamela Fox: Fight Tech with Tech: Take Control of your Digital Environment
  • Jonathan Sockell: VR Mental Health Startup: From Idea to Reality
  • April Wensel: Cultivating Compassionate Communities
  • Jenna Quindica: Living with Bipolar Disorder as a Software Engineer
  • Jessica DiVento: Sorry not Sorry: Advocating for Mental Health at Work
  • Bryan Hughes: Hacking with My Anxiety
  • Shemika Lamare: Self Care: Avoiding Burnout
  • Shawn Kernes: Getting Therapy to Those Who Need it Most
  • Ada Ng: UX of Wearables in Clinical Treatment for PTSD
  • Skip Rizzo: The Evolution of VR Therapy

It’s really going to be amazing, and it’s a single track conference, so you can hear ALL of the talks. There will also be a light breakfast, snacks, and lunch, a complimentary t-shirt, etc. It’s in San Francisco at the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, so you can wander around during the snack and lunch breaks and see the gorgeous Palace of Fine Arts and then hang out at the Golden Gate Bridge or Fisherman’s Wharf after the conference.

Sold? I hope so! Go register here. Also, if you buy 2 tickets right now and use the discount code TWITTER, you can get both tickets for only $500 plus tax. Full price tickets are $400, so that’s a great deal!

We also have our followup to ADAM Conf coming up on Saturday, August 25 at the Utah Valley Convention Center—Anxiety Depression and Mormonism for Teens and loved ones!

You asked for more reasonable ticket prices, we did that. You asked for more of a focus on depression, we changed the name of the conference! You wanted time for support groups and questions, we worked it in!

Talks and activities include:

  • Kari Ferguson (me!): More Than Ourselves: How and Why to Seek Outside Help
  • Solome Tibebu: Social Media and Mental Health
  • Jonathan Hankins: Self Harm and Suicide
  • Bryan Young: Navigating School, Church, and Social Life
  • Jeff Gregson: Maintaining Family Relationships
  • Paul Peterson: Missions and Mental Illness
  • Tim Thayne: Roles of Treatment and Home Teams for Mental Health
  • Hands on Therapy Workshops: Mindfulness and CBT/ERP
  • Success Stories of Young Adults who live with Anxiety or Depression
  • Support Groups for Depression, Anxiety, and Loved Ones
  • Showing of “Angst” with Q+A with narrator Jenny Howe

You can register here

Volunteers?

We have spots open for volunteers at both conferences! You need to find your own transportation and lodging, but let us know if you’d like to help out and get into either conference for free! Send us an email at info AT mentalillnessmatters.com and tell us a little about yourself, why you want to volunteer, and which conference you want to help out at!

Which Conference Are You Coming To? Tell your Friends!