Summary:

In this relaxed and engaging episode recorded from air loungers at Show Me Con, Timothy De Block catches up with Amanda Berlin from Mental Health Hackers during Mental Health Awareness Month. They discuss the importance of mental health in the IT security industry, which is often fraught with stress and high demands.

Episode Highlights:

Personal Stories of Mental Health: Timothy and Amanda share their personal experiences with mental health challenges, emphasizing the common struggles many face in the IT security field.
Impact of Alcohol: The discussion explores the impact of alcohol on mental health, particularly how it affects sleep and stress levels. They touch upon efforts to create event spaces that offer alternatives to alcohol-centric activities.
Mental Health Hackers: Amanda talks about the work of Mental Health Hackers, a group that attends various conferences to provide spaces for people to relax and decompress.
Fundraising and Awareness: Mention of Mental Health Hackers' new t-shirt campaign designed to promote mental wellness, with proceeds supporting their activities at conferences. You can get T-Shirts here: https://www.customink.com/fundraising/mental-health-awareness-for-mhh

Key Quotes:

"It’s really about awareness... paying attention to how habits like drinking can impact our mental state and sleep." - Timothy De Block
"We need to create environments at events where drinking isn’t the main focus, allowing people to enjoy without the pressure of alcohol." - Amanda Berlin

Additional Resources:

Mental Health Hackers Website: Visit Here
Blumira: Visit Here

Contact Information:

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In this mindful episode of the Exploring Information Security podcast, Amanda Berlin joins me from Converge and BSides Detroit this past week to talk about mental health.

Amanda (@InfoSystir) gave a keynote at Converge last week. The topic: mental health. It's a great talk and something I recommend people watch. Mental health is very important in our field. A lot of us were bullied coming up through school. Others grew up in awful environments. We've gotten past those challenges to become successful information security professionals. There are still scars, however, and if we don't identify and address them it will lead to unhealthy actions. Especially, since we are in a high-stress field that is overwhelmed.

We need to have an open dialogue about mental health. The downside to have a poor mental health. We need to share ideas on how to better address our state of minds. Often we feel alone. We are not. If you feel like you are in a bad place mentally, there are resources that can help. Call a hotline (1-800-273-8255). Do a Google search. There are people who can help. Family, friends, or mentors. You matter.

In this episode we discuss:

Why talking about mental health is important
What experience we've had
How we handle our own mental state
How others are handling their mental state

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