I apologize for the lack of a post this past Tuesday. Frankly, I forgot! I was busy doing some edits and revisions on a manuscript, and I just didn’t get a post out. Ah well, I think everyone survived? Yes?
Besides that editing, we’ve been busy with a few things, most notably planning our two upcoming conferences this summer! Things are not completely solidified for either conference yet, but we do have some exciting previews and ideas we can share with you…
Anxiety Tech
We are holding our first Anxiety Tech conference on Wednesday, July 18, 2018 in San Francisco, CA at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.
In brief, Anxiety Tech is “for advocacy, awareness, and advancement of mental health in the tech community.” In more detail, it is a conference for technology developers, programmers, health providers, researchers, and students in the fields of mental health and technology who are interested in how virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and mobile applications are changing the way we deal with anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges.
In addition to hearing from leaders in these fields and startups who are changing the game currently, Anxiety Tech will also address mental health among developers, how technology affects mental health, how to build more supportive and inclusive tech communities, and what developers need to know to break ground in this area. We are working on planning workshops after the conference that will provide hands-on time to innovate and put what is learned into practice.
Right now we are finalizing the venue and then we can start selling tickets. As for speakers, our keynote will be Amber Case. Amber “studies the interaction between humans and technology and how our relationship with information is changing the way cultures think, act, and understand their worlds.” She is the author of Calm Technology: Designing for the Next Generation of Devices, Designing with Sound, and An Illustrated Dictionary of Cyborg Anthropology. She is also a consultant, public speaker, visiting researcher at the MIT Center for Civic Media, and fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.
Topics that Anxiety Tech plans to cover include:
- Getting therapy to those who need it most
- How virtual reality is changing the way we treat mental health
- Building a mental health startup
- Mental health within the tech community
- Artificial intelligence and Chatbots
- Building online support groups and communities
- Robotics and mental health
Hopefully tickets will be on sale in a week or two, so check back for more updates, or check the website as speakers are confirmed and announced.
Anxiety Depression and Mormonism—Teen
About a month after Anxiety Tech, on Saturday, August 25, we are excited to present ADAM—Teen at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo, Utah. This is the Saturday after Education Week at BYU, so if you plan on attending that, stay an extra day and get your tickets to ADAM! Ticket prices are very reasonable, so get them before they sell out!
We will have a separate track for loved ones/parents, as well as topics specifically for teenagers (including how and where to get help, navigating church and social life, self harm and suicide, missions and mental illness, etc.), therapy workshops, support groups, success stories, and a screening of ANGST, a great film that focuses on anxiety in teens and children, along with a Q + A with the narrator of the film, Jenny Howe. 
Are you coming?
Please share information about either conference with those you think might be interested! We are excited to bring this important information to the public and hope that everyone who needs and wants to come can attend.
Also, ADAM (Anxiety Depression and Mormonism) will make its second appearance in 2019, most likely on Saturday, May 4 in Provo. Check back for more details about that in the coming months!