Mindhack was Australia’s first hackathon for mental health, and took place at Spacecubed over Friday – Saturday 20-21st May. We take a look at what happened at this ground-breaking event.
Mindhack is the brainchild of a not-for-profit called Meeting For Minds, who are dedicated to connecting neuroscience research with people with lived experience of mental health disorders. Mindhack followed this brief, and challenged attendees to come up with ideas that connected neuroscience research to people with lived experience of mental health disorders.
The event drew some 70ish attendees, not all of whom stayed for the entire event.
Mostly the teams followed the brief, and rose to the challenge. The ideas presented were (in the order they pitched):
- Let’s Chat – an interactive online chat forum for people with mental illnesses/possibility of having mental illnesses, to help support them and provide a wider education about how to talk with people having a mental illness.
- BUB – idea for parent therapy following the birth of their child, especially focusing on fathers’ experience of post-natal depression.
- VR Real – virtual reality for hospital patients to decrease the likelihood of depression – allowing patients who can’t be moved to experience nature and being outside.
- Idea No. 876 – trying to bring mental health education to children, suggesting a research proposal for more research in child’s mental health.
- Feel Reel – 30 second videos to bring research to people. Summarising and communicating cutting-edge mental research in easy-to-understand videos.
- Teamster – application that connects depressed people with their clinician/therapist to work on small steps towards a better quality of life (I.e. Waking up earlier) – adding new goals, hitting new milestones, seeing an growing journey and see the progression of the person in their fight against mental illness.
- Insain Vision – bringing yound people support without the wait – “Provide hope and clarity for young people with nowhere else to turn”- sharing their vision with an online community and celebrate when achievements are met
- Evolve Understanding – how to connect in a respectful, understanding manner – make it simple to find and connect researchers and research projects with potential research subjects. Allowing people with a mental health problem to volunteer to help understanding of that problem by connecting to a research program on the problem.
- The Pathways Project – creating stronger pathways within the brain – helping metro indigenous people to deal with their mental health problems through neurofeedback programs.
- Social Guide – guide to help people deal with family/friends with mental illnesses. Providing working strategies for communication with people with common mental health disorders and delicate situations.
There were no places awarded, just three teams selected to go forward to pitch their idea further at the Meeting For Minds Synergies conference next week:
- Evolve Understanding
- Feel Reel
- Let’s Chat
The judges were really impressed with the scope of the ideas presented, and had a hard time pulling the three winning teams out of the event.
The Facilitator’s choice award, recognising a team that deserves recognition, went to Idea No. 876 for their impressive learning journey during the event.
