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>Found a help network for hackers, somehow improve the current situation for crisis/suicide chats or something like that. So what do you think would improve the current situation of (depressed/suicidal) hackers. I think one of the biggest problems here is that people with suicidal level depression lose all perspective and see the world as void of any possibility of escaping whatever box they feel trapped in. No way out or through, no light at the end of the tunnel, just trapped in a particular emotional state and perception of things. No way forward in life. One of the best ways to help people through that is for those who have been through it to simply share, in detail, their own experience with it, how and why they felt trapped at the time, and how they made it through, and what ultimately solved it for them. Simply demonstrate the possibility, with as much concrete detail as possible (which hackers particularly require), that there is a way through (a hack, even), that depression grossly skews your perspective of the world, and things are not as bad as they appear (especially for anyone living in a first world country and among the lucky few fluent in the empowering languages of technology). Other options would be physically changing people's perspective by organizing some sort of multi-month aid mission to an impoverished country (maybe hook up with Engineers or Doctors Without Borders). Or alternatively a grueling, endorphin-generating Outward Bound type excursion. Anything to jolt people out of their current perspective of their relatively limited existence. Finally, if it helps you could treat this whole idea as a startup, solving the particular problem of hacker depression. Use lean startup methodology, your hacker problem solving skills and mentality, look for hacks nobody has found yet. Document and blog it all, etc. Who knows where it might lead, but there's certainly an awareness of the problem thanks to high profile hacker suicides lately, and lots of people probably willing to help. |