Crowdsourcing set to revolutionize mental health research and care 

HOUSTON, March 7, 2013 – Schipul Technologies, (www.schipul.com), an open source software development company and creators of the Tendenci open source CMS for associations, announced today that Sarah M. Worthy will moderate the Core Conversation, “How to Crowdsource Your Mental Health for Free,” at the SXSW Interactive Festival. The session will provide insights on how access to and sharing of information can help to improve diagnoses, reduce treatment costs, decrease the length of treatment and enable individuals with mental illness to live a healthy and balanced life.

Recent tragedies in the news shined the spotlight on the nation’s flawed system of care for the mentally ill. Experts say mental health care continues to be hampered by budget cuts, closures, battles with insurers and stigma. Worthy, along with Data Scientist Dharol Tankersley, PhD, will describe how the patient community can take an active role of their care and seize greater control over their situation.

“Crowdsourcing can do something for you that nothing else can – it compliments traditional psychiatric medicine in new and powerful ways,” said Worthy. “Just as crowdsourcing has revolutionized technology, creative services, travel and other industries, it will revolutionize health research and care. Crowdsourcing is a way to get the information into the hands of doctors, patients and families – and to provide a way for them to share with the community and contribute to solutions.” 

The session will also address ways to protect privacy, including how to ensure mental health records and personal information is not revealed on the Internet.

“How to Crowdsource Your Mental Health for Free,” is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, March 11th at the Sheraton Austin, during the 20th annual SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas from March 8-12, 2013.

An incubator of cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity, the SXSW Interactive Festival features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable line-up of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer. 

For more information, visit https://sxsw.com/interactive. 

About Schipul Technologies

Schipul Technologies develops and builds websites on the Open Source Tendenci CMS (www.tendenci.org) system for NPOs, a revenue generating online tool with over a half million people logging in during the past year and millions of users overall. Schipul is headquartered in Houston with an office in Silicon Valley, and provides web marketing services to an international client base that encompasses a variety of service industries in local, national and international markets. Schipul’s clients include the Houston Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and Tony Chachere's® Creole Foods, among many others. Additional information about Schipul is available at www.schipul.com and www.tendenci.com.