I first starting presenting on mental health last December in Charlotte, NC on mental health. I got some backlash at a couple of events for a few people on “me” being the person talking about it. But I’ve gotten an overwhelming amount more of support than I have backlash. I just want to share the comments I got from the 20 people of filled out evals at Summit. If you notice one person actually used something they learned with a family member that week. I’m not going to worry about revealing scores mine was the highest I’ve ever gotten, but if someone could please fix that darn vendor related worded question so I can quit getting my score lowered while not advertising anything it would be great.
I would ask any managers out there that are reading this that have had to feal with employees with mental health issues to contact me. I do get questions on the best way to approach an employee they are concerned about and have given advice and how I would like to be approached but I liked to hear how it looks from a manager’s perspective. Just DM me on Twitter. I don’t any details on the person or particular situation just how you approached the person with the issue.
These are all the comments unedited I received:
- This is important stuff to keep in mind both for oneself and when working with and watching out for others, personally and professionally. Thank you.
- I’m happy that people are starting to become more comfortable sharing their battles with mental illness and depression. Tracy eloquently shared her story in a way that makes us want to take this session back to spread to our colleagues. There definitely needs to be an end to the stigma surrounding mental health; sessions like Tracy’s are helping crack that barrier.
- VERY valuable session. Thanks!
- Thanks Tracy! That was a wonderful session and thank you for discussing the elephant in the room as the saying goes. I didn’t realize there are higher rates of mental health issues for us IT folks. I’ve also struggled with co-workers that didn’t understand and were not compassionate about what I was going through at the time, which made things harder. Thanks again! Rich
- This is a great session. It is good to remind ourselves that we are all human and need to focus on our mental health. Also I have known Tracy for awhile and I know that she is super talented and does so much to give back to not only PASS but other great causes too. Hearing about some of the challenges she has had helps to demonstrate that we are all more a like than we are different in that we all struggle with things from time to time. Also great use of pictures in the session. Having relevant pictures through out made the presentation speak louder for sure. Thanks for sharing your story, Tracy!
- valuable topic
- I admire Tracy’s strength for talking about what she has been through. Hopefully it opens the door for others to be able to speak more openly in the future. as far as the presentation itself, the slides were good and gave a good summary of the discussion.
- Thank you for speaking about this. It’s good to hear that we’re not alone in feeling stress. The list of resources in the slides is of great help.
- I really wish you had done a session like this with a health professional. It was okay to hear first hand experience but I think that insight from a mental health professional would have been much more helpful.
- It takes a lot of courage to approach and discuss this topic. This was a very good reminder to me to stop and remember it’s not all about deadlines etc. Some the statistics were very eye opening. I’ve been impacted by several suicides over the last five years and it is hard to understand and to understand how to help. It’s good to be reminded that just listening helps.
- Tracy is exceptionally brave; I appreciate her work to destigmatize the topic and provide practical and tangible advice. Much appreciated.
- Thanks Tracy. I was able to use some of the things you taught me to work through a mental health issue in my family yesterday and the results were excellent. Keep sharing!
- Thank you so much. Thank you for sharing your story and helping me realize how many people struggle with mental health in IT. Thank you for the pointers on how to help a friend. Thank you for the survival tips. This was the most valuable session of the whole conference for me!
The post PASS Summit 2020 Mental Health Presentation Eval Comments first appeared on Tracy Boggiano's SQL Server Blog.