Front-End Meetup - A tale of 2 emojis and other stories from the field.

Whos this talk for:
Students and any professional working in a fast pace, unpredictable industry, like tech and want a practical way to deal with self-doubt in their everyday life. No prior training needed, anyone interested in this topic is encouraged to join.

What's in it for you, takeaways:
How Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps people who suffer from self-doubt (hint: that's anyone who’s ever lived)
How to apply CBT to self-doubt moments
Further reading and resources on CBT exercises

What's this all about?
By using cognitive behaviour therapy(CBT) techniques you can build confidence and overcome self-doubt and the anxiety it brings. It's nearly impossible to make an impact, receive and give criticism, and make great decisions quickly when feeling too stressed, nervous, incompetent or like you don't fit in. We all feel that way sometimes, during this talk, you'll learn how to apply CBT to your daily life. So when you do feel that way... you'll be okay with it and can move on with confidence.

What to expect:
The focus of this talk will be on a personal struggle of self-doubt during a real-life work situation.

This talk will not go into the many different CBT techniques, it only focuses on the reframing technique.

Bio:
Taking time for self-care and not giving into self-doubt is easier said than done. Kathleen has personally struggled with this throughout her 10+ years in tech. She’s living and breathing the balancing act that many face of parenthood and career goals. During her career she became a mother/bonus-mom, manages her family with her husband who has a chronic illness, switched roles from graphic designer, front-end dev to UX and is currently a product designer at Shopify.

Kathleen learned the hard way that not taking time for self-care can led to burn out. She overcame depression and anxiety with meditation, cognitive behaviour therapy, medication and making sure she takes time out for self-care everyday. Now, she’s thriving as she raises her family and ships awesome product with her team. There will always be a few bumps on the road, but she has an action plan that helps when that happens.

Kathleen is an active member and mentor within the design community. She’s a founder of the London Ontario chapter of Ladies that UX. A volunteer-run monthly meet up which creates a welcoming, transparent community of women that work in UX, who positively promote and teach each other. She’s given presentations on UX and productivity at various meetups and at the 2016 Explode conference. She’s also served as a mentor for Ladies Learning Code, Hackwestern and SheHack Hackatons.