Enough. Over the last few years, too many of our own have fallen. Len, Aaron, Barnaby and countless others… How many of our best and brightest – our family - have been lost to suicide, to drug overdose, to depression…? How many of us self-medicate, feel empty or think about getting out of this industry? It is time to dig deeper. We know the outcomes – now we'll shift the focus to contributors and try to get in front of it.
In 2012 we asked, "Do we have a problem with Stress & BurnOut in IT Security with our with the Maslach Burnout Inventory study?" In 2013, Amber Baldet educated us on Suicide Intervention. This year, we'll tackle a question that's been asked since we started. "Are there any unique contributors within our community and demographic?"
To this end, we've invited Madeline Wallach, Counseling Psychology and Arts Therapies (an expert in profoundly gifted children and adults) to help us answer what might be special about our community. Through guided discussion, we will profile some common characteristics of the profoundly gifted, including "Isolation" and "Uneven Development", but more importantly, what can be done to improve and overcome these patterns.