📌LAUNCHING | PostCode 2025

📌LAUNCHING | PostCode 2025

A first-of-its-kind online interdisciplinary forum for therapists navigating social media ethics and best practices

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What is PostCode: A first-of-its-kind online interdisciplinary learning forum for therapists navigating social media ethics and best practices (scroll down for list of speakers and programme)

When: 10 am - 5:30 pm | Saturday, April 12, 2025

Where: I will share the event link with you after you register

Fee: INR 1,500

How to attend:

i) Fill this form to register.
ii) Transfer the fee using any of the options below. The options are also included in the form. Be sure to mention "PostCode" as a note when you make the payment.

That's it. I will share the event link with you closer to the date.

Welcome to PostCode

Freud may have squirmed at therapists turning into influencers. But in 2025, that orthodoxy is passé. Therapists are ruling social media. So much that some want to quit practicing therapy altogether and become full-time content creators.

Mental health content on social media has long fascinated me. The knowledge and support I was able to get from mental health experts on platforms such as Twitter, RIP, helped save my life when I felt terrifyingly lost and lonely. These wise, kind folks became my mentors. Some of them became IRL friends. They helped me navigate my life-threatening illness with their profound, compassionate insights, while also showing me how to get better at capturing nuance in my own writing.

At the same time, especially post Covid, social media helped mental health professionals get much deserved public recognition and expand their careers beyond their clinics.

But what started as a warm, fuzzy corner of the internet is now beset with thorny questions. As mental health content by therapists exploded on TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn, along came a bunch of ethical crises. Here are a few that my therapist friends tell me they are constantly thinking about:
* Are professionals being trained enough to investigate why they are on social media in the first place? Is it for self-expression, helping the public, or getting appreciation for their thoughts?

* What are the boundaries of self-disclosure online for therapists?

* What kind of fantasies might a therapist's social media feed, their projected personality, create in the mind of a patient/prospective patient/caregiver, and how might that impact the viability of the therapeutic relationship?

* The trend of sharing patient stories for the sake of knowledge creation – can this ever be kosher, even with consent?

* What is the impact of the proliferation of trauma content on how laypeople perceive therapy?

* Are therapists talking enough about actual, concrete outcomes from therapy? About how therapy can help you regain a sense of agency, autonomy, and joy in a broken world?

* What kind of therapy content do patients and caregivers really need right now? How should therapists listen better to these needs?

* What tools do therapists need to become effective content creators? What myths about the role social media can play in their careers do we need to bust?

I didn't find any forum in our part of the world that was asking these critical questions in a structured, nuanced manner, without fanning polarisation and screechiness. So I decided to build PostCode, a first-of-its-kind online, interdisciplinary learning forum for therapists navigating social media ethics and best practices.

What started as a single "Who's with me?" post on LinkedIn quickly acquired enough momentum that on Saturday April 12, 2025, I will be hosting more than 15 fabulous voices from therapy, the media, peer support, and the startup world to take on these and more knotty questions. It's honestly been mind-blowing to see this kind of interest and support for my idea. It proves that when persons with lived experience and experts by qualification come together meaningfully, pretty darn awesome things can happen. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

I've had nearly 200 pre-registrations – thank you! As promised, those who have pre-registered on a pay-as-you-can basis will get direct access to the event. Pre-registrations are now closed.

You can now confirm your place at PostCode here. Check out the speaker list and tentative programme below.

CONFIRM YOUR PLACE HERE

PostCode's founding supporters

I've been building Sanity for the first 4.5 years relying entirely on voluntary support from my community of readers and learners. Even when sustaining this labour felt impossible, I never kept a hard paywall, never accepted a dollar in ads, and even turned down funding from a giant because I am paranoid about protecting this platform's values.

But I am just one guy trying to create an ambitious new forum that's never been attempted before. Putting together an event like this is expensive and takes enormous work. I have no team, no funds, and frequently no sleep. I want to pay honoraria to the experts I'm inviting to PostCode, and also make the effort sustainable. So this time, after much torturous pleading with the overanxious voice in my head and scolding from a few friends who know how desperately I need help, I decided to open up PostCode to brands as the forum's founding supporters.

I had one rule: I will not share any data pertaining to the event attendees or speakers, neither will brands get any say over the programming.

I am grateful to Amaha for supporting my vision and values as PostCode's first Founding Supporter. 🙏🏽

Thank you to my earliest backers

Thanks to all the crowdfunders for backing this idea when it was just a line on a napkin. Doesn't matter how much you contributed, you are all stars for me. Let me know if I've missed your name and I'll add it in.

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Aanchal, Absy, Divya, Sanjivani, Palkee, Shruti, Sristi, Sanjana, Priyanka, Yashasvi, Mohisha, The Reflection Room, Pratiksha, Anu, Shalini, Aishwarya, Mamatha, Ankitha, Akshada, Swati, Shweta, Nidhi, Arushi, Nandni, Vaishnav, Srikirthi, Priya, Sailee, Arjun, Rohan, Rohini, Megha, Kritika, Kunal, Spandana, Vanshita, Jaya, Sushreeta, T Mishra, Kavya, Nandini, Jasmine, Ira, Shreya, Nidhi Chhadia, Shree, Laavanya, Sindhiya, Arpita, Sumandhi, Sneha, Sukh, Trijita, Shreya, Jai, Mishthi, Shilpi, Shristi, Prajakta, Ruchee, Smriti, Vrinda, Kalpana, Neha, SD Mehendale, Doc Amiba, Jasprit, Akanksha, Sanchana, Neetu, Sneha Jaiswal, Ankita Lalwani, Shabina, Mairal, Shama, Surabhi, Nazema, Debashree, Saumya

I have to say special thanks to two people who gave me a lot of heart in the early days of planning. Gitika T and Vedha Bharathi, thank you for the support.

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"I am supporting this forum in my capacity as an ethical steward of the mental health ecosystem in India and Turtle Island (the land now called the United States). Social Media plays a crucial role in describing and shaping the mental health ecosystem. To me, this un-conference promises to provide an opportunity for all stakeholders of the mental health ecosystem (users, providers, investors) to develop a moral and ethical map to navigate the current social media landscape. (No pressure, Tanmoy!)" - Gitika

"When I moved from tech/HR into psychology, I felt totally rudderless. I found group after group on social media. Most groups were interested only in selling me courses or internships, and none of them were research- or evidence-backed. I couldn't find any group where I could interact and learn. I am supporting this forum in the hopes that it will become that group where psychologists can come together to learn, grow, be respectful of each other and make meaningful connections. So that someone new to the field doesn't have to go through it alone." - Vedha
RESERVE YOUR PLACE