Chances are each of us counts at least one close friend or family member suffering a mental illness. Anxiety, depression, substance abuse disorder - mental health issues takes many forms, and many are insidious. For all the efforts of public awareness programs, mental health remains a taboo topic.

No matter what we do, our work life is taking a toll on our health. Many of us spend more time where we work than any single other location. And many of us are reluctant to admit our troubles to colleagues for fear of any repercussions. Small wonder our jobs are such a driver of mental health issues.

Talking about mental health in a compassionate and empathetic way can have positive effects.

To present their thoughts on the issue we are hosting some great speakers. We’ll be hosting one main speaker and a series of lightning talks and some discussion afterwards.

The evening
18:00 socialising/food/drinks
18:45 Speakers
20:00 our nearly-patentable discussion panel
20:30 more socialising
21:00 finish

Main Speaker: Sarah Nguyen
Sarah Nguyen’s background is in people leadership in the tech and start-up space; she’s currently focused on teaching individuals and companies the skills of emotional intelligence, mindfulness and mental wellbeing via her business, Talentary.

Lightning Talks:
Owen Senior
Our Man Owen is co-organiser of Sydney Tech Leaders and is sure to give us a proper bio to use any second now.

James Brett
James Brett describes himself as a digital leader who is passionate about developing people and organisations to create a positive future for humanity.

Georgie Luhur Cooke - Being open and reducing stigma about mental health
Georgie Luhur Cooke is a user interface engineer at Campaign Monitor. In her spare time she enjoys blogging, lifting weights, getting close to nature, and living an intentional and clutter-free life.

Jared Wyles
During the day Jared spends his time writing C++ and the occasional JS at Adobe having worked on such products as Photoshop, XD and various engines of the web stack. At night you can find him keeping his web development skills relevant by contributing to compiler explorer (https://godbolt.org). When not in front of a computer you can find him patting dogs in the local park. Please, feel free to share your dogs photos with him tonight.

Amy Allenspach - The ROI When Building A Mentally Healthy Work Environment
Amy is with UNSW Planning and Performance, the team which supplies data and data insights to the UNSW Council, Executive Management, Faculties and Divisions. She has worked in information and data management in the education sector for over a decade as a librarian, a scrum master and currently as a Team Leader (Delivery). Amy is passionate about community building, lifelong learning, and finally completing the Inner West brewery walking tour.

If you or anyone you know needs help:
Lifeline on 13 11 14
Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
Headspace on 1800 650 890
QLife on 1800 184 527

David Edgar

Kristine Howard

Ted Tencza

Sydney Technology Leaders

Career & Business

Professional Development

Leadership

Professional Networking

Engineering Leadership

Leadership Development

Public Speaking

IT Management

Leadership Training

Chief Technology Officer

Mentoring

IT Directors

Information Technology in Business

Mental Health

Qantas Airways Limited

Share

Sydney Technology Leaders

Mental Health

Sydney Technology Leaders

Details

Members are also interested in