
Open Sourcing Mental Illness - jonbaer
https://osmihelp.org/
======
DanBC
They link to Zero Suicide, which is good, but they should also link to Suicide
Safer Communities which is possibly more effective to reduce rates of suicide
because it recognises that suicide prevention is everyone's business, and that
suicide isn't limited to people with diagnosed mental illness.

[https://www.livingworks.net/community/suicide-safer-
communit...](https://www.livingworks.net/community/suicide-safer-communities/)

~~~
chris_wot
At this point I have to say that if anyone in NSW, Australia is thinking of
suicidal thoughts - do NOT call the police, or anyone in the Public Health
Service. This absolutely includes the Ambulance Service.

Why? Because of the following:

    
    
      20 Detention on information of ambulance officer [1]
      
      (1) An ambulance officer who provides ambulance 
      services in relation to a person may take the person 
      to a declared mental health facility if the officer 
      believes on reasonable grounds that the person appears 
      to be mentally ill or mentally disturbed and that it 
      would be beneficial to the person’s welfare to be dealt 
      with in accordance with this Act.
      
      (2) An ambulance officer may request police 
      assistance if of the opinion that there are serious 
      concerns relating to the safety of the person or other 
      persons if the person is taken to a mental health 
      facility without the assistance of a police officer
    

Then section 21 defines "police assistance":

Police assistance [2]

    
    
      (1) A police officer to whose notice a police assistance 
      endorsement on a mental health certificate, or a request
      for assistance by an ambulance officer under this Division,
      is brought must, if practicable:
      
      (a) apprehend and take or assist in taking the person the 
      subject of the certificate or request to a declared 
      mental health facility, or
      
      (b) cause or make arrangements for some other police 
      officer to do so.
      
      (2) A police officer may enter premises to apprehend 
      a person under this section, and may apprehend any such 
      person, without a warrant and may exercise any powers 
      conferred by section 81 on a person who is authorised 
      under that section to take a person to a mental health
      facility or another health facility.
    

I'm sure people in the U.S. Can see how problematic this is. And - it's not
just an abstract concept to me, it happened to me several months ago.

1\.
[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/mha2007128...](http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/mha2007128/s20.html)

2\.
[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/mha2007128...](http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/mha2007128/s21.html)

~~~
facetube
When the police get involved with mental illness in the US, you're at risk of
ending up dead:
[http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article90905442....](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article90905442.html).

~~~
chrisworden
I once overheard: "Not sure if you want to take your own life? Call the police
and they'll help that right along."

------
amelius
I liked their previous name "devpressed" better. But good initiative.

My personal piece of advice for any developer suffering from anxiety,
depression or other mental problems, is to focus on posture. Bad posture can
have a really big impact on mental health. You can have RSI in your upper back
without knowing it (arms & hands still working okay), and this can cause all
kinds of other problems.

~~~
timehastoldme
I mean, really? Reminds me of something Dr. Steve once said:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8zOlpPUDCg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8zOlpPUDCg)

------
thom
There's also a UK startup doing similar things, commercially:

[https://sanctus.io/](https://sanctus.io/)

Both seem well-intentioned but make me deeply uncomfortable. I suppose the
fundamental reason being that if you want to destigmatize mental health
issues, maybe you should destigmatize seeking treatment from mental health
professionals first.

~~~
chris_wot
If the mental health professional then decides you should be involuntarily
committed or detained in a mental health facility, you're screwed.

I applaud the motives behind #itsoktotalk but if you _do_ talk and they strip
you of any decision making, then this campaign will fail. The result of
talking about thoughts of suicide very often leaves the sufferer in a mental
health facility - or waiting for hours in a stressful ER room (or worse) and
you won't be seen to at all.

The hashtag should be #itsnotoktotalk

------
SolaceQuantum
I don't understand what makes this open source. It seems to be a nonprofit for
the destigmatization of mental illness by a forum to discuss online and I
guess resource collection. By that logic, several craft hobby communities are
open source.

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cryptarch
I'm having trouble finding the source code, am I the only one?

I wonder what a mental illness compiler would look like. Would every user have
to interact with a ML system to derive their own opcodes? Could it be used
both for curing and causing mental illnesses?

"The next 3 months I'm taking a sabatical. I will go to a resort where I will
be given clinical depression.

A childhood friend died of it when there was no cure, and I've always wondered
what her experience was like.

I hope understanding what she went through will give me some closure."

~~~
defen
> I'm having trouble finding the source code, am I the only one?

[https://github.com/osmihelp](https://github.com/osmihelp)

------
jwilk
Well, that's an unfortunate name.

My first thought was that now I can get a mental illness for free. Um, no,
thanks.

~~~
arxpoetica
My first thought was, this is great.

