Visiting Startupland for Mental Health Awareness Month.

I was recently invited to discuss my impressions and insights on the mental health issues impacting entrepreneurs, technology professionals, and many of our best and brightest innovators and creative minds for a series of articles.  I want to draw attention to these articles, and the difficulties faced by many of my neighbors here in the Seattle in the spirit of Counseling Awareness Month celebrated every April.

Life in Startupland

Emily Parkhurst with The Puget Sound Business Journal interviewed me for her contributions to a collection of Special Reports on Depression in Startupland.  I contributed some of my combined experience as a mental health professional and as a 15 year veteran of the technology industry, including two multinational corporations and a successful telecommunication start-up.

As a group, Entrepreneurs and Information Technology Professionals are grist for the mill of the high stress, high pressure Seattle technology and innovation industry.  Their careers or creations lay the demanding onus of success at any cost over their lives.  Recent news coverage of the suicide of a prominent tech luminary, and an award winning article about the brutal cost of entrepreneurship both take place in what the author calls Startupland.  These articles, and the series by The Business Journal have drawn attention to the plight of many of our best and brightest.

If you are a creator, innovator or entrepreneur in the demanding Seattle technology or start up communities and you feel familiarity after reading these articles, there’s never been a better time to take a good look at exactly how counseling can help you thrive the crucible of your life, call and make an appointment today.

About Counseling Awareness Month.

April is Counseling Awareness Month, a time for professional counselors to educate the public about the profession, the work they are doing, and the contributions they make to communities around the world.

Interesting Facts and Figures about Professional Counseling & Mental Health

• On average, 100 Americans die by suicide each day (Mentalhealth.gov)
• Nationally, 42.5 million adults aged 18 or older experience a mental illness in the past year (SAMHSA)
• 22 veterans kill themselves every day (Department of Veterans Affairs)
• All Marketplace insurance plans are required to cover mental health and substance abuse services as an essential health benefit (healthcare.gov)
• Nearly half of LGBT youth say they do not “fit in” in their community (Human Rights Campaign)