All Community Builders Need Therapy: The Last 5 Years in Tech
** Coming off an idea from our recent Intentionally Good Summit, we are producing a special edition for community builders**
Special Edition: The Last 5 Years in Tech
Moderator: Joey Womack (@joeywomack) Founder, Goodie Nation
Here’s to the visionaries, the dot-connectors, the innovators, the bridge-builders—the ones who see the power of community when others see competition. They don’t just follow the paths; they create new ones. You can celebrate them, challenge them, support or question them, but you can never overlook them because they ignite revolutions in tech, they expand opportunity, and they reshape the future. While some may call them dreamers, we see the architects of progress—because the ones bold enough to believe that building together can change the world are the ones who do.
Tech community builders have been through a lot over the last 5 years. Consider the following factors:
COVID-19 pandemic
Post-George Floyd push for DEI
Plush fundraising environment for founders
Bad fundraising environment for founders
Rise of AI
Anti-DEI Movement
And there's more
Building community is hard. Really hard. Yes, it is rewarding, but It takes can be exhausting. Even more, it can have you asking yourself some really difficulty (and existential) questions.
All Community Builders Need Therapy is the second part of mental health program, and is a spin-off of our groundbreaking All Founders Need Therapy series. Mental health is a big deal, and one of the most overlooked segments of our population when it comes to mental health is community builders.
We created it to show community builders that they aren't alone on their journey and many others share their pain. As a community builder, oftentimes we want someone who has been through the wars, and can feel our pain. "The Hero’s Journey" is relatively unique, and when you cross paths with a fellow warrior, it can be instant magic.
In life, there are times when things get rough, and we want someone to simply listen while we bare our souls (shoulda listened when adults told us, as kids, that getting older sucks). The people who sit back, and don’t say a word are like a gift from above. At the end of the conversation, we usually feel a lot better. Like a burden has been lifted off our shoulders.
All Community Builders Need Therapy is our answer to this problem.
How It Works
You can share your story OR just listen. No pressure either way.
Storytellers are given 3-4 minutes to express their frustrations, but we give extra time if its obvious that you need to get stuff off your chest.
For the most part, this isn't about advice. We let people share and then we move on to the next person.
At least one person cries for the vast majority of these sessions. In fact, we feel like we aren't doing our jobs as moderators if someone doesn't cry.
This isn't formal therapy, but we can introduce you to professionals. No recording
No sharing of what you hear outside this session
Be respectful
Agenda
+12:00pm: Context Setting
+12:05pm: Stories begin
+12:55pm: Closing Remarks
+1:00pm: All Community Builders Need Therapy Ends
Backstory to How This Got Started
http://www.joeydigital.me/2011/01/my-latest-passion-project-founders-therapy/