Adventures in psychiatric crisis reform: Nov 3 update

Marketing, scheming about a podcast, writing up ideas

Nov 3, 2022

(This update is coming very shortly after the previous one, mostly to get back into a rhythm of posting updates at the beginning of the month. Because of this, it’s a bit random and contains less than other updates!)

What did I try?

Set up analytics to be able to track visitors to the mania guide
Wrote up a new idea for a financial instrument for paying for healthcare after a serious psychotic episode (still in private draft)
Decided to record a podcast, and locked in some guests for a first season of the psychcrisis podcast
Discussed using the crisis guide more broadly to support event organizers in the effective altruism and related communities
Posted the guide in some online communities
Applied to participate in a legislative subcommittee in a related nonprofit

What happened? What worked? What did I learn?

In terms of sending the appropriate search traffic to the guide I discovered I really, really can’t use Google for Nonprofits ad grant money until my 501(c)3 status is officially approved, so that is currently blocking larger-scale advertising.
I’ve gotten a great hit rate on inviting guests on the podcast–it has encouraged me to be more ambitious with my invitations.
I got the chance to interview an old friend in depth who now has several years experience working in one of Sydney’s best psychiatric emergency departments, and I got a more in-depth picture of what the day-to-day work is like for the staff there.

What am I doing next?

Aside from recording podcast episodes (which has a clear vision and which I’m extremely excited about), the next step is sort of an orienting-prioritizing-deciding process. Figuring out what kind of effort to put into the guide and what kind of effort to -not- put into it. Figuring out which marketing channels to prioritize and which not to. I will say more about the novel financial instrument concept when I explain it more publicly, but I need to figure out what I want to do with that next! I’m now in a really happy situation of having more opportunities and avenues to choose from than I have capacity to pursue, so the next step is figuring out how to choose between them wisely and quickly.