Show HN: Groupicorn directory of IOP group therapy programs
My name is Andrew, cs major from University of Pittsburgh 1996 and long time BBS SysOp from 1991-1993. I grew up chatting online as a teenager. Before this new fangled internet came around, back in my day, ok sorry, to the point: Isolation and work from home jobs can drive you a little crazy.
It was always my dream before 2020. Getting the powers that be to agree to work from home. Now six years later it's definitely a careful what you wish for type situation. I got to a point with just code code code all day, interacting with no humans that I broke. Where do humans go for repair? I didn't really know. Turns out there's something called an IOP (intensive outpatient program) and yes it has the word "intensive" right in the title. Is it intense? <robert de nero voice>little bit</rdnv> But also wonderful.
All of a sudden I had a place to go Monday thru Friday and co-workers / friends! In fact, it was even better than previous office jobs because we didn't just sit next to each other on laptops and not talk, this was group therapy. I was never a fan of individual one-on-one talk therapy. But wow, group therapy is something very different.
Therapists can be incredibly helpful. Doctors can be incredibly helpful. They've spent years learning things I haven't. But they're also human. We're all flawed humans. The really interesting thing about a group is that suddenly the wisdom doesn't have to come from one person it can come from fifteen. Somebody half your age says something and you think, "OMG. They're completely right." Somebody talks about a problem that's nothing like yours, and somehow they describe exactly what you've been feeling for the last ten years. Sometimes you see somebody else describing the same ridiculous thing you've been doing, and it's much easier to recognize it when somebody ELSE does it. Sometimes the person running the group says the thing that sticks with you. Sometimes it's the guy sitting next to you eating a granola bar. There's wisdom in the group.
The site is all about helping people find, tour and enroll in your first IOP programs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhoAHUU2TCM
https://github.com/groupicorn/list-of-programs
Open source system to find all the programs in every state.
We have iphone and android app mobile apps as well. Feedback much appreciated.