‘If you’re reading this, you’re Early’, this is ironic given I am usually late. This phrase greets me daily on Twitter, perhaps reminding me to do better with my time keeping, but nonetheless here I am ‘early’ to something, Web3: if like me four months ago, you think this is a typo- it’s not.
Although not fully defined, Web3 is the internet decentralized, whereas in Web2 (the internet as we know it) sites are owned and controlled by corporations: Network and infrastructure set up via server installation and software, that we may or may not be charged to access or at the very least have to give up personal information for (Marr,2022), thus losing control of our data.
I am a Woman: Gender is important given that Women only occupy 26% of the Web3 space; Socialist and Systemic Psychotherapist working at a senior level within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). I see first hand how ‘centralization’ of a system plays out in contexts of funding, governance and in the loss of control of vital aspects of our own medical data. Web3 is based on the blockchain: a shared database that stores data in blocks linked together by cryptography; thus ‘we’, the users, control, participate and become shareholders in ‘the governance and operation of the protocols themselves’ (Stevens, 2021).
The particular ‘shares’ of the blockchain that I hold are in the form of NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) a one of a kind digital token, (in my case art and photography) no two are the same, other than in cases of multiple ownership. Why ‘Non’? because you can’t trade one for an identical other e.g. you can trade one bitcoin for another bitcoin because they’re fungible. NFTs can still be bought , sold or exchanged across various blockchains e.g. Ethereum, Tezos or Solana. Why not right click save? you won’t ‘own the work’, anyone can buy a Warhol print, only one can own the original.
You may be wondering what the point of NFTs are, or in Web3 talk- ‘what’s their utility’, indeed can a JPEG ‘have’ utility? Often they’re an investment strategy, indeed this is why I ‘onboarded’ on the 1st of January this year. COVID isolation allowed me the time to DMOR (Do My Own Research), I set up a MetaMask Wallet, minted my first NFT and the rest, is HERstory.
I am now a Founding Member of Misfit Robots and a Moderator for Fame Lady Squad (FLS), thus my initial ‘investment’ has evolved into the primary ‘utilities’ for me being ‘Community’ and ‘Intentionality’. Twitter and Discord are fundamental here; the tools with which we and the projects we are part of communicate, without these an NFT remains a fluctuating JPEG.
Through FLS my social network has meaningfully expanded across the world, my own Mental Health made infinitely better in a way I did not realise I needed. This brings me to Inclusion: my initial interactions in Web3 were through Discord text and voice chat (VC); you can show up however and in whichever way you want- for those of us who have experienced prejudice, marginalisation and othering- it’s liberating. I am reminded of this liberation each morning when I hop into the FLS discord to be greeted by Jilly, Web3 communities have pillars, Jilly is one of ours.
The majority of my ‘wallet’ is occupied by Women led and Mental Health centric projects, which brings me to the ‘intention’ of this article: Mental Health, it’s the catchy buzzword of the moment, as a professional I see the manipulation of marketing; I feel sad and angry. Web3 ‘is’ stressful, it’s fast moving, FOMO inducing-combine the perfect storm of vulnerability with fear of missing out and projects are shilled to an ideal target audience- sleep depriving: self care in this space has never been more important. I have spent time in Discord Channels labelled ‘Mental Health’ and listened in on spaces entitled ‘Therapy’, I see influencers label themselves as ‘Mental Health Experts’ and wonder what this means? we can all be experts of our own lived Mental Health experiences, but are we experts on others? I say no, as a professional I am always standing behind my clients as they take me on their journey, to label myself an expert is to suggest I know more about them than they do. I applaud projects wishing to fund Mental Health Charities but what are they doing to take care of their Discord members, many of whom might be sharing their problems publicly for the first time? My takeaway from this has been that there has been a dereliction of duty in how we keep people’s Mental Health safe in Web3.
Feeling activated, I ‘made a wish’ (think of this as a proposal) in the Meta Angels’ project’s Discord, I hoped to find likeminded individuals who wanted to do Mental Health differently in Web3. My wish was granted and I joined Misfit Robots, a project with a deep Intentionality to do Recovery and Mental Health not only differently but safely. At the time of writing we are one of sixteen projects in Cohort 1 of the Angel Labs accelerator platform.
Our vision at Misfit Robots is to provide a Web3 Mental Health Service: our Discord is staffed by experts on their own lived experiences alongside trained Mental Health professionals from all over the world, offering support from an evidence base and IRL signposting as and when needed: our Twitter Spaces are a collaborative discourse on everything from how to access therapy, to lived experiences of substance misuse, addiction and trauma.
The possibility of Web3 feels magical and endless in its potential to shift the paradigm of a worldwide system that continues to stigmatise Mental Health and marginalise safe and ethical access to treatment. Through the pandemic we have already seen a global shift toward e-therapy and text therapy (Le Coyte Grinney, 2021), in my private practice I am receiving requests from prospective clients seeking a ‘crypto/digitally’ native Therapist. I offer that as a professional community we have a duty of care to educate ourselves and to understand the language and concepts of Web3: we have incredible tools and technology in our hands and risk leaving our clients behind if we choose not to step onboard.