Mental Health for Postdocs and Supervisors: Taking Care of Yourself and Others

In this three-part workshop, you will look at mental health through three different lenses: (1) the systemic lens, (2) the individual/identity lens, and (3) the lens of communication in relation with your (PhD) students. The aim of this workshop is to raise awareness about stress-related phenomena in academia and to explore the effects of listening for feelings and needs on our wellbeing. The three sessions build up on each other.

Dates

• 24 April 2023 – Session 1: Stress and mental health in the academic system
• 8 May 2023 – Session 2: Stress and mental health in relation to your different roles (e.g. researcher, supervisor, lecturer, …)
• 22 May 2023 – Session 3: Relating to your (PhD) students’ stress and mental health

Contents

• (1) You will relate to a visual landscape of common stressors, mental health phenomena, and resources in academia, increasing your sensibility to recognize and address them in yourself and others.
• (2) You will practice listening for feelings and needs behind interpretations and evaluations – both your own and others’.
• (3) You will learn from good (and perhaps bad) practice examples of other course participants and be invited to share your own.

Methods

• Effective and empathetic listening
• Nonviolent Communication (Marshall Rosenberg)
• Stressors in Academia (Posters by Zoe Ayres)
• Exercises and practice in small groups or pairs
• Individual self-reflection
• Visual mental health landscape for postdocs