Thanks for writing this—I agree that many EAs are really feeling badly this week, for all kinds of reasons, including for the set of people whose finances have been put in jeopardy, some of whom are in the community. I want to say on behalf of my team that the community health team is here to support the community as best we can with our capacity. Mostly what we can do is listen and answer some questions (but there’s much we don’t know or won’t necessarily be able to talk about). If that sounds helpful, our form (and I know filling out a form is unfun) is here.
This is a significant community tragedy and will be emotionally traumatic, for people who who were involved directly and for others.
In addition to the direct impacts, many of us may experience: -Loss of trust -Loss of our idea (s) of the future -Loss of feelings of safety -Difficulty articulating what we have lost / minimizing our experience in light of those who have lost more
Others may experience: -Relived grief from other authority figure failures (for example, I lost family to the pandemic and am now viscerally reliving that experience, in light of reduced resources to future pandemic prevention) -Loss of community / pulling away from community -Acute mental health crisis
I’d like to challenge those of us who are treating this dispassionately to check in with ourselves: if you are having trouble clicking away from the updates, if you find yourself distracted or weirdly paralyzed, take note.That’s likely grief.
This seems like an obviously good thing to do, but would challenge us to think of how to take it further.
One further thought—is there something the EA community can do on mental health / helping those affected that goes wider than within the EA community?
A lot of people will have lost a huge deal of savings, potentially worse than that. Supporting them matters no less than supporting EAs, beyond the fact that it’s easier to support other EAs because of established networks. Ironically, that argument leaning into supporting just other EAs is the type of localism that EA rallies against, with it’s global wellbeing / all suffering matters approach.
If we are going to set up supports within the community, I would advise start small but think big—think of how it can be scaled up more widely to others in response to this widescale financial ruin.
One worry one might have is the following reaction: “I don’t need mental health help, I need my money back! You con artists have ruined my life and now want to give me a pat on the back and tell me it’s going to be ok?”
Then again, I do want us to do something if it makes sense. :(
Thanks for writing this—I agree that many EAs are really feeling badly this week, for all kinds of reasons, including for the set of people whose finances have been put in jeopardy, some of whom are in the community. I want to say on behalf of my team that the community health team is here to support the community as best we can with our capacity. Mostly what we can do is listen and answer some questions (but there’s much we don’t know or won’t necessarily be able to talk about). If that sounds helpful, our form (and I know filling out a form is unfun) is here.
This is a significant community tragedy and will be emotionally traumatic, for people who who were involved directly and for others.
In addition to the direct impacts, many of us may experience:
-Loss of trust
-Loss of our idea (s) of the future
-Loss of feelings of safety
-Difficulty articulating what we have lost / minimizing our experience in light of those who have lost more
Others may experience:
-Relived grief from other authority figure failures (for example, I lost family to the pandemic and am now viscerally reliving that experience, in light of reduced resources to future pandemic prevention)
-Loss of community / pulling away from community
-Acute mental health crisis
I’d like to challenge those of us who are treating this dispassionately to check in with ourselves: if you are having trouble clicking away from the updates, if you find yourself distracted or weirdly paralyzed, take note. That’s likely grief.
This seems like an obviously good thing to do, but would challenge us to think of how to take it further.
One further thought—is there something the EA community can do on mental health / helping those affected that goes wider than within the EA community?
A lot of people will have lost a huge deal of savings, potentially worse than that. Supporting them matters no less than supporting EAs, beyond the fact that it’s easier to support other EAs because of established networks. Ironically, that argument leaning into supporting just other EAs is the type of localism that EA rallies against, with it’s global wellbeing / all suffering matters approach.
If we are going to set up supports within the community, I would advise start small but think big—think of how it can be scaled up more widely to others in response to this widescale financial ruin.
One worry one might have is the following reaction: “I don’t need mental health help, I need my money back! You con artists have ruined my life and now want to give me a pat on the back and tell me it’s going to be ok?”
Then again, I do want us to do something if it makes sense. :(
Fair!
In case wasn’t clear from my post, I’m not saying there’s a clear action here yet but to still think beyond the EA community.
Hi Marie, the Mental Health Navigator and Rethink Wellbeing have set up something we hope will be able to serve as the support network you have indicated there is a need for here. More information is available here, as well some resources we hope people will find helpful: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mRmehL6Yuu9SozjNs/give-and-get-mental-health-support-during-hard-times
Dear Inga and Emily, thank you so much for this. It is greatly appreciated.
You can join the corresponding Effective Peer Support Slack here if you’d like to give or get immediate support: https://join.slack.com/t/slack-mpn1309/shared_invite/zt-1jkv97xxh-I~_8J7tTBreFnfCOyi312Q
Perhaps a poll would be useful to determine what sort of support the community needs and would engage in