Hello dear reader,
You know this newsletter is handwritten because when things get really busy, I slip up from maintaining my publishing cadence. I haven't published the usual Monday Signals or a weekend deep dive for a good fortnight and I hope you'll forgive me this.
July has been one juggle of a month, but for all good reasons and so today I come bearing a basket-full of sweet updates, freshly plucked and ready to share with you.
TiNT Event Updates
Announcing City Chapters for India
When I introduce myself and my work at TiNT and a shake a person's hand, I say that TiNT exists to help therapists make sense of the role and implications of technology in their practise, business, and career.
The business and career part I’ve been addressing via the newsletter, the TiNT Academy and the TiNT Studio but the practise part is wayyy out of my league. I don’t have clinical training and so I’m always weary to talk about clinical implications—I skirt around the topic and have never fully addressed it here.
But the thing is, not opening the conversation is doing our larger goal a disservice. So the best way, and perhaps the only way to do this, is to hand this platform and the mic to those who are better equipped to have and hold this conversation—therapists themselves.
Which made me set up TiNT City chapters, our local groups that come together to talk about the implications of tech on client wellbeing and the clinical practise.
All TiNT Circles are completely free and open only to therapists.
TiNT Bangalore Circle is lead by Aditi Bhatt, Shruti Jain, and Dishita Swaika. Come meet for the first circle at Cubbon Park on Sunday 23rd August, RSVP here.
TiNT Delhi Circle is lead by Utkarsha Jagga, Kanak Kejariwal, and Amit Vashist. Join the first circle at The Coping Central on Saturday 5th September, RSVP here.
TiNT Mumbai is headed by Heym Mehta and is meeting on Saturday 29th August. We’re in the process of figuring the venue for this one but you can RSVP here nevertheless to block on your calendar.
More monthly events are in the pipeline and you’ll find them here on the TiNT Events Calendar.
Therapists Who Build Hackathon
ICYMI the Therapists Who Build Hackathon has picked up steam and as I write this (its T-1 day from closing registrations), we’re at 71 participants. SEVENTY-ONE!!! I’m a firm believer in the power of a single exclamation (anything more is too excessive), but this was amount of attention was beyond my expectation too! You've shown up and how!!
Anthropic is our tooling partner. Registrations officially close Sunday 26th June, IST 11:59pm. Details and sign up here.
On Monday 27th June, both builders and therapists will hear from me on next steps for the hackathon.
TWB folks, see you in inbox soon!
TiNT Studio Updates
TiNT Studio is our clinical product consulting arm where we invite the innovation industry to collaborate with therapists in building credible products. We've been having a good run I daresay, with one project announcement going out every month. In keeping up with that streak, I bring to you news of a new and an past project.
New Project: IIT-Delhi x TU Dresden on Identifying Bias in AI
IIT-Delhi’s LSCE2 lab in collaboration with TU Dresden is running a project on AI bias in clinical tools. Their ask is roughly 8 minutes of chat with the tool to flag bias.
Check out the details and express your interest on to participate via the project bulletin.
Past Project: Insight on 167 Hours With InnerOS User Research Sprint
And now for the part that I'm most excited to share with you.
A month ago I'd announced the InnerOS User Research sprint project on the bulletin. 13 therapists, 11 in India and 2 in the US, each sat down for 30 minutes to talk about the 167 hour gap between sessions.
The key insight from this user research sprint was that therapists therapists don't unanimously agree on how AI should handle the 167 hours between sessions.
They split into four distinct camps: some want to build a plan with the client and hand it to them, some want an update to read before the next session, some want the gap left completely empty on purpose because the emptiness is doing the work, and some want it to depend entirely on the client in front of them.
Where all 13 agreed without exception was in holding the stance help me, don't replace me. AI drafting notes, spotting patterns, holding a case together was welcomed. AI making a clinical call, or making it too easy for a client to escape a hard feeling, not welcomed. Every therapist said they'd trust a tool followed with the same reason: they stayed in control of it, not the other way round.
To summarise, the problem statement here is that if we build for one cap, we alienate the other three.
The key takeaway for all in the clinical community is this:
don't let any single product convince you of what is good and right for the 167 hours between sessions.
Full findings, camp by camp, are going out to the sprint's 13 participants directly this week.
If you're building something where clinical judgment needs to shape the product instead of just decorate it, I'd love to run a sprint like this with you next. Reply to this email or find me on LinkedIn. |
TiNT Content Updates
This newsletter is now just over 350 readers. We're from India and the US predominantly. We are therapists and builders, students and operators, researchers and founders.
We're a global, interdisciplinary, diverse village and I love it!
Help me continue to earn your attention. Tell me who you are and what you'd like to read.
On Evolving Identity
Last month TiNT completed exactly one year around the sun. :)
Until January of this year, this was a simple newsletter.
It's nearly August and we've evolved into an academy with a course, a collection of free PDF resources, a community with chapters in three cities, a hackathon, a presence in leading psych graduate programs in India, and a studio which produces fresh new opportunities for therapists.
I consider myself hella lucky and privileged to be able to do work that I care about, that challenges me, and that teaches me everyday.
But given the remote nature of this job, I don't always get to see the impact of my day to day effort, and sometimes I doubt if I'm doing anything valuable at all.
Through moments like those, your responses to the newsletter, your DMs and emails have held me and carried me, have made me feel seen. Have given me the strength to continue.
We step into a new identity today. A new logo, a new colour palette, and a new visual language. Today's newsletter is the picture of evolution, of that strength to continue.
I'm so ever grateful to you dear reader, for the attention and intention that you bring to TiNT, and to me. In being seen by you, I find the stamina to push forward everyday.
Take care and see you soon,
Harshali
Founder & Educator, TiNT
Look us up on LinkedIn, Insta, Luma. We're present but not so active yet on X and Youtube.
Look me (Harshali) up on LinkedIn and Insta.
