Dave Cortright 🔸
Bio
Participation4
I have been a serious philanthropist since 2004 and part of the EA community since 2017. I am audaciously optimistic about ameliorating the global mental health crisis and I do EA capacity building through coaching and facilitation. I also support environmental and animal welfare causes. I am on the advisory council of Vegan Outreach and the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Board.
I am a certified professional coach, with additional experience in crisis counseling and peer mentoring. I shifted to mental health and well-being after 25 years as a designer, manager, and director at Silicon Valley tech companies. I am passionate about helping others, and by guiding them to find their true calling, I amplify my impact on improving the world.
How others can help me
I'm looking for partners to work on a peer support group (PSG) program that will help alleviate the global mental health crisis. I'm especially interested in working with students at colleges and universities, or young adults in general.
How I can help others
Figuring out what to do next in your life for maximal impact.
Don’t ask what the world needs, but ask what makes you come alive, because that is what the world needs: people who have come alive.
—Howard Thurman
Posts 16
Comments99
Topic contributions1
I'm proud to announce the 5-minute animated short on mental health I wrote back in 2020 is finally finished! I'd love you to watch it and let me know what you think (like, share…). It's currently "unlisted" as I wait to see how the production studio wants to release it publicly. But in the meantime I'm sharing it with my extended network.
Mental health org in India that follows the paraprofessional model
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/maanasi-mental-health-care-women/
#mental-health-cause-area
I’ve updated the title, but to those of you who had a problem with me asserting that engaging publicly with Give Directly qualifies someone as an EA, what criteria do you think is required for someone/something to be in EA? There’s no standards certification body, so in my estimation it comes down to “the eye of the beholder”. But curious what others think.
For example, I heavily support Vegan Outreach because their goal is to get people to go vegan as efficiently as possible. Yet they aren’t on any EA animal welfare lists, they’re not interested in going to the conferences or getting more involved in the community. They want to focus on vegan conversations. And I respect that.
Giving What We Can also said as much in their latest blog post on the pledge, noting that pledgers get to decide what they consider is effective. https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/en/blog/5-things-you-ve-got-wrong-about-the-giving-what-we-can-pledge
First and foremost Jimmy wants to create a compelling story that gets people to watch. Maybe it all could be done a bit less dramatically, but overall I think he does a good job of representing people as just needing some resources and opportunities to build a better life for themselves.
At the end of the day, is the world better off for having this video in it and all the good done in its production? Yes, I think it’s a net positive.
I spoke with Jimmy 2 years ago and talked with him about EA, which he had already heard of through a friend. He’s definitely aware of it. Whether or not he considers himself an EA is another story, but he is engaging with an effective philanthropy, and doing a lot of good in the world not only through his direct work but also driving awareness via his massive platform. That looks effective from my perspective.
I voted for more mental health funding: Vida Plena and Kaya. They increase WELLBYs with a very high ROI