Episode 5: Hackers helping hackers: Mental health in cybersecurity | The Job Security Podcast

Burnout. Imposter syndrome. Compassion fatigue. The cybersecurity industry attracts brilliant, neurodivergent minds—but it also exposes them to unique stressors that can take a serious toll. What happens when the people protecting our digital world need protection themselves?

In this episode of The Job Security Podcast, host Dave Johnson sits down with Amanda Berlin, CEO and co-founder of Mental Health Hackers, to explore the mental health challenges facing cybersecurity professionals and what the community is doing to address them.

This conversation covers the unique stressors in cybersecurity work, the prevalence of neurodivergence in tech, practical strategies for combating burnout, and how Mental Health Hackers is creating safe spaces at conferences worldwide where hackers can support other hackers.

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KEY TOPICS & TIMESTAMPS

3:47 How Mental Health Hackers got started
5:14 What Mental Health Hackers does at conferences
7:50 The challenge of finding mental health professionals who understand cybersecurity
9:57 Practical strategies for preventing burnout
12:34 Why polymaths have an advantage in mental health
14:00 The most common mental health issues in cybersecurity
16:39 The pressure of leadership and C-level mental health
19:23 Finding therapists who can follow technical conversations
21:34 Connecting mental health professionals with InfoSec practitioners
23:57 Mental Health First Aid training
24:09 How to volunteer or sponsor Mental Health Hackers
26:32 What businesses can do to support mental health
29:18 The cultural evolution of the cybersecurity community
32:13 How DEF CON has changed over the years
35:34 The connection between physical and mental health

KEY QUOTES
"Do something that is not security related, something that's not your day job related. For a long time I did not do that and burnt out." - Amanda Berlin

"There's actually a really high occurrence of general mental health issues in STEM fields, as well as neurodivergence. We see it all the time." - Amanda Berlin

"When my kids tell people what my nonprofit does, they describe it as sort of like a daycare for adults that are geeks. And it's pretty close to that." - Amanda Berlin

HELPFUL LINKS
Mental Health Hackers - https://mentalhealthhackers.org

CREDITS
Host: Dave Johnson
Producer: Ben Baker
Sponsor: Expel Security

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