Voices of Academia

Dr. Jennifer Paxton acknowledges that her feelings of inadequacy had always been there but were amplified during the transition to motherhood. She opens up about an interaction with an empathetic colleague that shocked her into seeking support. TW/CW: Themes of suicidal ideation

A Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, PI of a tissue engineering lab, wife and mother, Jennifer opened up in the last episode about parenting as an academic during COVID-19. This is the second part of her story. 

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Jennifer’s blog piece – ‘Return of the Mummy – the trials and triumphs of a life post maternity leave.’
• Paxton Lab website
• Jennifer’s lecturing profile

Helpful health and wellbeing books

•  Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig
•  Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 10/09/2021.

Sound: Theme music is “Mindset” by Ketsa; podcast edited by DanPatricksAudio.

Senior Lecturer, PI, wife and mother, Dr. Jennifer Paxton, opened up about feelings of embarrassment, guilt, anger and acceptance in response to professional contacts seeing her home life in online meetings and lessons. She highlighted specific frustrations of being a parent in Academia. She also courageously opened up in the final 15 minutes about her decision making process for having a child. She, like many of us, was putting off major personal milestones because of the pressure of academia.

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

- Jennifer’s blog piece – ‘Return of the Mummy – the trials and triumphs of a life post maternity leave.’

- Paxton Lab website

- Jennifer’s lecturing profile

- Helpful health and wellbeing books

Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig

Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 10/09/2021.

Sound: Theme music is “Mindset” by Ketsa; podcast edited by DanPatricksAudio. 

5th year Health Psychology PhD Candidate and creator of the Dear Grad Student podcast, Elana Gloger, chats about maintaining wellness - creating space between where you’re at, and your tipping point to becoming unwell. She encourages leaning in to your unique needs and remembering that ‘you’re not other people.’

Elana opened up previously, in episode 27,  about how premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) impacted her life and PhD before it was well managed.

CW: swearing, sexual references

This episode touches on:

-  Running through the woods, reality TV, and the desire to be a mother

-  Alleviating fears of medication

-  Accepting that seeking external help is not a weakness

-  Impacts of unmanaged PMDD on a partner

-  Common treatment options for PMDD

-  Selecting an appropriate and affordable provider

-  The annoying fact that exercise actually helps

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

Dear Grad Student Podcast

- Twitter: @deargradstudent

- Instagram: @deargradstudentpod

- Facebook: Dear Grad Student

- Website: deargradstudent.com

- Mental health podcast episodes: deargradstudent.com/mental-health

PMDD resources

- @iapmdglobal (twitter) and iapmd.org (website) provides evidence-based information about PMDD.

- Tory Eisenlohr-Moul studies menstrual cycle effects on PMDD

YouTube: ‘Your cycle in 3 minutes’ – contemporary dance interpretation of the impacts of the menstrual cycle

App: Flo – for learning about and starting to track your menstrual cycle

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 14/01/2022.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa

Emily chats with Elana Gloger, who opens up about how premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) impacted her life and PhD before it was well managed.

TW/CW: Suicidal ideation, swearing

This episode covers:

- Elana’s favourite, I mean F-A-V-O-U-R-I-T-E video game, her childhood likeness to Angelica from the Rugrats, and being a child of divorce
- A description of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and premenstrual exacerbation (PME)
- How Elana’s diagnosis of PMDD unfolded
- An explanation of the menstrual cycle!
- The moment Elana decided to get support for mismanaged PMDD
- The potential future clash between PMDD medication, pregnancy, and applying for tenure track
- The impact of unmanaged PMDD on Elana’s PhD
- First steps to take if you think you might have PMDD

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

- Dear Grad Student Podcast
    - Twitter: @deargradstudent   
    - Instagram: @deargradstudentpod
    - Facebook: Dear Grad Student
    - Website: deargradstudent.com
    - Mental health podcast episodes: deargradstudent.com/mental-health

- PMDD resources
    - @iapmdglobal (twitter) and iapmd.org (website) provides evidence-based information about PMDD.
    - Tory Eisenlohr-Moul studies menstrual cycle effects on PMDD

- YouTube: ‘Your cycle in 3 minutes’ – contemporary dance interpretation of the impacts of the menstrual cycle

- App: Flo – for learning about and starting to track your menstrual cycle

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 14/01/2022.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

Emily chats with Dr. Andy Fraass, who opens up about support for anxiety that comes from his wife and daughters, improved sleep hygiene, and challenging intrusive thoughts.

Andy opened up previously, in episode 25, about social anxiety, learning he couldn’t trust his own self-perception, and the impacts of academia on family life.

This episode covers:

-  Self-educating about indigenous cultures, science fantasy, and achieving the bucket list goals of professorship and family.

-  Family support systems

-  Meditation and improved sleep hygiene

-  Methods of overcoming negative thought patterns

-  The role parenting can play in encouraging self-care and self-management of symptoms

-  The importance of supervisors being forgiving and understanding with students

-  The surprising value in group therapy for those with social anxiety

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• App: Calm – for improving health and happiness, and for sleep stories
• Andy’s blog about anxiety in academia

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 19/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

Emily chats with Dr. Andy Fraass, who opens up about social anxiety, learning he couldn’t trust his own self-perception, and the impacts of academia on family life.

This episode covers:

• The boy behind the family man, a career stemming from childhood media (Jurassic Park), and single-celled creatures that tell us about climate change and evolution
• Andy’s family history of mental illness, and academics
• The increased difficulty of hiding social anxiety with age, exacerbation of symptoms, and academic requirements for networking
• The tenure track interview that made Andy realise he couldn’t trust his perception of his own performance
• Post tenure-track openness about generalised and social anxiety disorders, and panic attacks
• The impacts of academic pressure on family life
• The mental health impacts of choosing to stay within an industry that can have significant detrimental effects on family

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• App: Calm – for improving health and happiness
• Andy’s blog about anxiety in academia

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Recorded: 19/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

Emily chats with Andrea Hayward, a Project Manager for the CACTUS Communications ‘Joy and Stress Triggers: A global survey on mental health among researchers.’ They discuss open-ended answers from the survey, highlighting what institutions can do to ease work-related pressures, reduce barriers to seeking help, and encourage personal wellbeing of researchers. Andrea also opens up, for the first time, about experiences she had during her Masters, including being made to feel like she was never good enough.

This episode covers:

• The purpose of CACTUS Communications and how the organisation became involved in the researcher mental health space
• How Andrea’s work on the CACTUS Mental Health Initiative has made her aware, for the first time, of the psychological experiences she had during her Masters, including being made to feel like she was never good enough
• The role of managing academia-induced stressors shouldn’t fall solely on the researcher
• Suggestions to reduce barriers to seeking help and support in academia
• What institutions can do to reduce work-related pressures and help encourage work-life balance and personal wellbeing of researchers
• Some initiatives that are assisting researcher mental health
• Different types of bullying
• Improving policies to feel valued, safe, and included in academia

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Activities under the CACTUS Mental Health initiative:

The CACTUS Mental Health Survey reports

Twitter: CACTUS Mental Health Initiative

The CACTUS Mental Health Webinar series

The CACTUS Mental Health Video series

Researchers and Their Stories

‘R Voice’ – a private community forum for researchers to talk openly about what they’re going through

• Mental health Internationally Delivering Support (MINDS) conference page
• Academic mental health networks

Dragonfly Mental Health workshops available for universities and institutes to provide concrete steps for improving researcher mental health

PhD Balance

TAE Consortium (Transforming Academic Ecosytems)

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 12/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa

Emily chats with Seda Battilani, who opens up about juggling medication trials with work, disclosing medication use to a supervisor, and social media accounts for people with ADHD.

Seda opened up previously, in episode 22, about anxiety disorder, and pursuing an ADHD diagnosis as an international student.

This episode covers:

• YouTube obsessions, choosing someone to share a life with, and the desire to settle in one country long-term
• Juggling the impact of medication trials with work
• Disclosing medication use to a supervisor and asking for extensions
• Learning to cope better over time
• The importance of honest communication
• How ADHD can present
• Rejection sensitivity
• Social media accounts for people with ADHD

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Good places to start for ADHD
  • Insta: @the_mini_adhd_coach
  • TikTok: @connordewolfe
• Seda is available on Twitter and via email

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Recorded: 07/09/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Seda Battilani, who was drawn into research in linguistics after learning about the field during her undergrad. She became fascinated by how our communication impacts the way we perceive each other. Seda opens up about early struggles with an anxiety disorder, and the complexities of pursuing an ADHD diagnosis whilst also an international student.

This episode covers:

• Seda’s COVID wedding and a crash course in her research (translanguaging and endangered languages)
• The impact of the pandemic when abroad and doing a PhD
• The road to being diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder
• The mental health impacts of being an international student
• Adjusting to higher work demands with ADHD
• The vulnerability of pursuing a diagnosis
• Lack of communication from medical professionals re: what to look out for when starting medication
• Navigating visas and a foreign health system

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

Good places to start for ADHD - Insta: @the_mini_adhd_coach, TikTok: @connordewolfe

• Seda is available on Twitter and via email
• Previous episode: 15. I will not be silenced | Dr. Clare Griffin – self-advocating for a diagnosis

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 07/09/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Kartik Aiyer, who opens up about the benefits of a good academic mentor and support network on mental health and productivity.

Kartik opened up previously, in episode 20, about the impact a poor Faculty relationship had on his mental health during his PhD.

This episode covers:

• Kartik’s music obsession and the positive relationship with his family
• The benefits of supportive research group culture on mental health but also productivity
• The need to train and empower junior researchers to value their own contributions whilst also learning from the research experience of others
• That clear, respectful communication between mentors and mentees is key
• What to look for in a mentor
• Places to seek mentors
• Shutting out negative thoughts and focussing on personal strengths
• Suggested policy shifts to improve mentoring and training

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Kartik’s blog post on ‘Empowering early career researchers and improving culture in academia.’
• Kartik’s science communication blog
• Professor Jen Heemstra – as a role model tweeting to bring out the best in researchers

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 04/10/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Kartik Aiyer, who opens up about the impact a poor Faculty relationship had on his mental health during his PhD.

This episode covers:

• Kartik’s love of running, books and sports
• How academia doesn’t appear to be people-focussed
• How researchers require training in mentoring to get the best out of people
• Suffering in silence
• Poor relationships with academic faculty
• Ineffective bullying/harassment management pathways through universities
• The need for emotional, psychological and financial support for graduate students

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Kartik’s blog post on ‘Empowering early career researchers and improving culture in academia.’
• Kartik’s science communication blog
• MINDS conference for academic mental health

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 04/10/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Viviana Re, who opens up about using therapy, the physical and meditative teachings from yoga, and essential oils to help calm the nervous system and manage panic attacks.

Viviana opened up previously, in episode 18, about experiencing panic attacks during her PostDoc and how they restricted her personal and work behaviour.

This episode covers:

·  Living a yoga lifestyle, supportive partners and accepting oneself

·  Judgement as part of life in academia

·  Learning who is safe to open up to

·  How the responses of others aren’t a reflection on us, but more to do with their own beliefs and fears

·  How in some cultures, there’s a traditional idea that mental health concerns should be kept within the family

·  Using the physical and meditative aspects of yoga, as well as essential oils to help calm the nervous system and manage panic attacks

·  Learning to listen to what your body is trying to tell you

·  Recovery on the day of a panic attack

Resources:

·  Viviana’s personal blog: https://biralnas.wordpress.com/

·  Books: Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway (Susan Jeffers); The power of now (Ekart Tolle), The God of small things (Arundhati Roy)

·  Article: https://alltogether.swe.org/2020/06/mental-health-women-in-stem

·  Podcast: Yoga on the Sofa – living a yoga lifestyle, Morgana, (in Italian)

Referenced episodes:

• Episode 5. Mindfulness: not some 'Buddhist chant' | Daniel Ranson

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/VoAPodcast

Support accessibility: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DanielRanson

Recorded: 03/09/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Viviana Re, who opens up about experiencing panic attacks during her PostDoc and how they restricted her personal and work behaviour.

This episode touches on:

·  Vivana’s love of books, the sea and nature in general

·  Personal growth

·  Descriptions of anxiety and panic attacks, and how to recognise them

·  Hiding symptoms at work to avoid being judged harshly

·  How the unpredictable nature of panic attacks restricted Viviana’s personal and work behaviour

·  The series of events that encouraged Viviana to shift her approach to managing panic attacks

Resources:

·  Personal Blog: https://biralnas.wordpress.com/

·  Books: Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway (Susan Jeffers); The power of now (Ekart Tolle), The God of small things (Arundhati Roy)

·  Article: https://alltogether.swe.org/2020/06/mental-health-women-in-stem

·  Podcast: Yoga on the Sofa, Morgana (in Italian)

Full transcript of the podcast is available here (https://sonix.ai/r/ciSoCN1L8hoGFySo9s5hGoqj/share?utm_source=sonix&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=link), with many thanks to Dan Ranson. 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 03/09/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Henry Powell-Davies, who tried a PhD and decided it wasn’t for him, choosing to exit with a Masters. He discusses what supported him through the isolation, making this decision, and moving on.

Henry opened up previously, in episode 16, about the mental health impacts of pandemic isolation, and making the difficult decision to exit his PhD with a Masters.

This episode covers:

·  Breaking habits, #ChemistsWhoCook, skydiving and visiting Australia

·  How academics seem to lean towards being productive, even in our downtime

·  Twitter as a supportive community

·  How Henry’s experiences have led him to become an advocate for young people in S.T.E.M.M through his work with the Salters’ Chemistry Festival.

·  How Henry used his learned knowledge of himself to make decisions for his future

·  How Henry initially found it difficult to accept academic support for his disability

·  The usefulness of disability supports but how they may not be enough to help overcome the pressures of the academic system

·  Pandemic isolation ideas – online communities, research group food challenge

Resources:

·  Books: Atomic Habits by James Clear – for shifting habits, 5 minutes in the morning – a journaling book to help zero in on what brings happiness in life

·  App: Headspace - for meditation

·  Chemistry Salters’ Festival – for young students with additional support needs – Henry advocacy video

·  Twitter: #RealTimeChem – big chemistry community, #DisabledInStem, @ChemConvosPod

·  Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC): Twitter conference, listening and wellbeing service

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Henry Powell-Davies, who opens up about how the isolation he experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated lockdowns, led him to question and ultimately redirect his career path.

This episode covers:

·  How Henry’s experiences have made him who he is today

·  What led Henry to research & the alternative paths he considered

·  How being visually impaired since birth has impacted Henry’s life, within and outside academia

·  How disability doesn’t define Henry, but he’s accepted it as a part of him and tries to ask for appropriate support

·  Moving to a new city for a PhD

·  Isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown

·  Exiting a PhD with Masters and the difficulties of letting go of what might have been

·  How it has become clearer to Henry that the worth PhD students provide is undervalued

Resources:

·  Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear

·  App: Headspace for meditation

·  Podcast: ChemConvos

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Finally, if you feel there are additional content or trigger warnings you would like us to add to our database, please contact us!

Recorded 09/07/2021.

Sound: Mindset and Something Beautiful by Ketsa are licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Clare Griffin, who opens up about medical treatments for OCD and bipolar disorder, strongly advocating for her needs and using creative writing as a medium to express experiences of mental illness.

Clare is a science historian who opened up previously, in episode 14, about the delay in her diagnoses and how this impacted her academic journey.

This episode covers:

·  A fantastic book series recommendation, and more animal chat

·  Some of the medical treatments Clare has found for OCD and bipolar, including how she responded to approaches that didn’t feel right to her

·  The problematic issue of agency being withdrawn from someone that is mentally ill

·  Silencing of people with mental illness to make others feel more comfortable

·  Considerations of cost and safety through treatment

·  Saying no, and being clear with others about your needs, even at a senior level of academia

·  Creative writing for expressing mental illness from a different, perhaps less vulnerable, angle

·  Disability resources Clare recommends

·  How self-advocacy has helped to support Clare

Resources:

·  Clare’s website

·  Autistic Hoya - for writing and projects on disability justice: Twitter, website, Lydia X. Z. Brown

·  Ovidia Yu – mystery books author, with diverse characters

·  Clare recommends disability literary journals and websites, where people can creatively express their conditions. One of them is wordgathering, where she has also shared parts of her story

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Finally, if you feel there are additional content or trigger warnings you would like us to add to our database, please contact us!

Recorded 25/06/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Clare Griffin, who opens up about the delays in her diagnoses of OCD and bipolar disorder, and how the conditions have impacted her academic journey, both before and after treatment.

This episode covers:

·  Clare’s love of video games, running and animals

·  The common lag time of ~10 years from onset of symptoms to diagnosis of OCD or bipolar disorder

·  How mental illness is often framed based on how it impacts other people

·  The difficulty of knowing whether your mental experiences are similar to those of others

·  How Clare’s academic journey was impacted by her conditions before she received diagnoses

·  The academic culture of overwork

·  Self-advocacy balanced with personal boundaries and health

·  How Clare’s openness about her diagnoses has impacted her academic experience

Resources:

·  Clare’s website

·  Autistic Hoya - for writing and projects on disability justice: Twitter, website, Lydia X. Z. Brown

·  Clare recommends disability literary journals and websites, where people can creatively express their conditions. One of them is wordgathering, where she has also shared parts of her story

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Finally, if you feel there are additional content or trigger warnings you would like us to add to our database, please contact us!

Recorded 25/06/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Malik Boykin, who opens up about how dancing, writing hip hop rhymes, and challenging his self-doubt in the mirror keeps him going, with a challenging life and career.

Malik opened up previously, in episode 12, about early life experiences and challenges he faces as a Black man and Professor.

This episode covers:

·  Malik’s love of 90s hip hop, and his dreams to perform in Africa, publish a Nature paper, and become a full Emeritus Professor

·  The support Malik received from his graduate department following significant loss

·  Finding time to get to a dance floor (hip hop/Afro-beat/electronic music) and let go of stress by dancing

·  Actively seeking and taking up every opportunity to get help

·  Despite the challenges, Malik never considered quitting – not because quitting should be stigmatised, but because this path felt like his calling

·  Getting comfortable with critical feedback, on repeat

·  Using mirror work to challenge self-doubt

Resources:

·  Dr. Boykin’s Research Lab

·  Malik Starx the artist

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Finally, if you feel there are additional content or trigger warnings you would like us to add to our database, please contact us!

Recorded 29/05/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Malik Boykin, who opens up about early life experiences, how they lead him to become a Professor, and some of the challenges he has faced, and continues to face, as a Black man and academic.

This episode covers:

·  Embracing multidimensionality eg. You can be a scientist AND an artist

·  Formative experiences from Malik’s early life

·  A drop off in high school engagement and grades after significant loss

·  Malik’s realisation that his life as a Black man in America without a college degree may be precarious

·  Finding self-, rather than external, motivation

·  The link between Black advocates and role models in academia, and Malik’s success

·  The academic expectation to continue to meet deadlines even following a devastating personal loss

·  A few examples of the extra labour Malik manages as a Black academic

Resources:

·  Dr. Boykin’s Research Lab

·  Malik Starx the artist

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Finally, if you feel there are additional content or trigger warnings you would like us to add to our database, please contact us!

Recorded 29/05/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Tonja Wright, who opens up about how her PhD supervisors supported her when she was depressed, her discovery of the benefits of complementary medicine, and the inspiration for her productivity and wellbeing business.

Tonja opened up previously, in episode 10, about the difficult decision to leave her PhD when she was experiencing treatment-resistant depression.

This episode covers:

• Fun podcast recommendations! How did this get made podcast, The deep dive podcast
  
• Finding supportive supervisors
  
• Tonja explains schema therapy in her own words
  
• The Australian system of discounted therapy sessions through a GP Mental Health treatment plan, mentioned also in episode 7
  
• Prioritising spending on health
  
• Lifestyle changes
  
• Complementary medicines (naturopathy, kinesiology) as unexpected allies
  
• Where Tonja found the inspiration for her business
  

Resources:

• Tonja’s business Design to Transform - an evidence-based, green, inclusive and vegan interior design consultancy for workplaces.
  
• *Tonja’s web course to help working mums increase their productivity and wellbeing working from home (www.designtotransform.com)
  
• Insight timer app - free guided meditations for anything you could imagine

*Keep on the lookout for this to be released. 

Tonja is available on LinkedIn and Instagram

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

We’d love to hear your story. Please submit this brief form.

If there are additional content or trigger warnings you'd like us to add to our database, please contact us!

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Recorded 13/05/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Tonja Wright, who opens up about treatment-resistant depression, the difficult decision to leave her PhD, and how she is now grateful to have re-evaluated her life’s direction.

This discussion includes:

• How Tonja’s experiences led her to start a business (Design to Transform) that uses evidence-based design to optimise productivity and wellbeing in workplaces
• A few ‘getting to know you’ questions – The answers to which really help develop an understanding of how Tonja’s experiences have led her to where she is now - if you prefer to dive right in to Tonja’s experiences in academia, most of this is covered from about 13.5 mins in.
• Insight to the process of feeling ready to start speaking out, and how Tonja hopes others won’t delay getting support, as she did, due to feeling shame for experiencing reduced mental faculties in a high-achieving environment
• Acknowledgement that Tonja’s identity was tied up in intellect but that learning to see herself as more than her work was healing
• Opening up to supervisors about experiencing depression
• Taking time off PhD
• Mention of pharmaceuticals, getting linked up with healthcare services, and talking (schema) therapy, which is discussed more in the next episode
• Tips for navigating the healthcare system while depressed
  

Resources:

• Tonja’s business Design to Transform - an evidence-based, green, inclusive and vegan interior design consultancy for workplaces.
• *Tonja’s web course to help working mums increase their productivity and wellbeing working from home (www.designtotransform.com)
• Insight timer app - free guided meditations for anything you could imagine

*Keep on the lookout for this to be released.

Tonja is available on LinkedIn and Instagram

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

We’d love to hear your story - please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Recorded 13/05/2021.

Sound: Mindset and Hard Sell by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Mohamad Nadim Adi, who debunks the myth that it’s impossible to leave then return to academia. Nadim discusses the mental health benefits of starting his own business and volunteering for an organisation that made him feel valuable, before deciding to give academia another shot.

Nadim opened up previously, in episode 8, about perfectionism, a micromanaging Post-Doc supervisor & leaving academia for a few years.

This discussion includes:

• Debunking the myth that it’s not possible to leave then return to academia
  
• What it is about doing your own work that’s beneficial from a mental health point of view eg. Control over decision making, a unique skill set (as the people around you are no longer all researchers) etc.
  
• Navigating starting a business when confidence is low
  
• Liberation and control after the first few difficult years of starting a business
  
• Performing a successful “pilot experiment” for the business before going all in
  
• Continuing to volunteer at a research organisation to maintain a link to the “academic world.” For Nadim it was:
  
  • Post-Doctoral Fellows Association, University of Alberta – for representing and serving the needs of PostDocs from all faculties.
    
  • Canadian Association of PostDocs – which at the time aimed to get PostDocs considered as employees, rather than trainees. The label as trainees had implications such as unavailable parental leave, employment insurance, pension or work permits for international PostDocs.
    
• Volunteering can help address the isolation inherent to research.
  
• Taking baby steps with commitments to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
  
• Seeking support systems in the midst of difficulties may blind you to what’s available.
  
• Striving for a healthy lifestyle to avoid repeated burnout.
  
• Highlighting to younger researchers that you might not end up in academia and that’s ok.
  
• Trying to avoid always taking work home with you – focus on yourself.
  

Nadim is also available on LinkedIn

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Recorded 14/01/2021.

Sound: Mindset and Hard Sell by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

Emily chats with Dr. Mohamad Nadim Adi, who opens up about feeling the pressure to be perfect, the detrimental health impacts of a micromanaging Postdoc supervisor & how the deterioration of his confidence led him to leave academia for a few years.

CW: Weight gain, civil war, and a death in the family

This discussion includes:

• Laughing about the challenges of switching from architecture to programming
  
• The pressure to be perfect affecting ability to complete simple tasks
  
• Trial by fire professors
  
• No prior family members having done a PhD
  
• The difference between studying for/passing exams and experimentation
  
• Doing reports last-minute and redoing them because they weren’t ‘good enough’
  
• A micromanaging postdoc supervisor
  
• Weight gain during the first year of Nadim’s postdoc that made him unhappy
  
• Nadim learning to do what he could and adjusting only if necessary
  
• Making the difficult mindset shift of letting go of perfectionism
  
• Working in consulting for 5 years
  
• Using knowledge of ‘learning by doing’ in Nadim’s company outside of academia
  
• Leaving academia for a few years, missing it, and deciding to return
  
• Imposter syndrome
  
• Lacking confidence to write funding grants
  
• The soft skills learned while doing research, like juggling a million balls in the air at once, critical thinking, and problem solving
  
• Volunteering in organisations to help you feel good about yourself – if you can find a low stress environment where you receive appreciation as a volunteer. You might also see the immediate impact of your input, which can often be difficult in professional settings
  
• Acknowledgement of an unhealthy ‘workaholic’ coping mechanism
  
• Regret for holding the mindset that taking time off after a death in the family wouldn’t leave a good impression
  

Nadim is also available on LinkedIn

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Finally, if you feel there are additional content or trigger warnings you would like us to add to our database, please contact us!

Recorded 14/01/2021.

Sound: Mindset and Hard Sell by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

In this episode of Voices of Academia, Emily chats with recently-minted Dr. (!!) Jessica Marshall, who touches on taking time off her Ph.D. and the support she received from personal relationships, therapy, and publicly available systems after she experienced sexual assault. Jess opened up previously, in episode 6, about the friendship, partner, family, and identity losses she experienced during her Ph.D.

Key topics/resources:

• Australia – low-income concession card – medicare rebates on psychologist
  
• Employee Assistance Program
  
• Sexual assault resources – Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (VOCAT), Sexual Offences and Child abuses Investigation Teams (SOCIT)
  
• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for PTSD
  
• Avoiding Re-traumatisation
  
• The process of taking intermission from a PhD
  
• Mental Health First Aid course
  
• Barriers to therapy
  
• What personal/professional supports did well/badly
  
• Mindful self-care
  
• Osher Günsberg – book and podcast. ‘Back after the break’ really helped Jess when she felt lost.
  
• Jess founded a science party business during her Ph.D., switching to developing merch during Melbourne’s epic COVID lockdown -  My Mini Scientist
  

Jess doesn’t have Twitter but you can follow her on Instagram

The full transcript of the podcast is available here

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

If you feel there are additional content/trigger warnings you would like us to add to our database, please contact us!

Recorded 23/10/2020.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

In this episode of Voices of Academia, Emily chats with recently-submitted PhD Candidate, Jessica Marshall (@JessicaMarshall), who opens up about the friendship, partner, family and identity losses she experienced during her PhD.

This episode touches on the difficulties of finding work-life balance during a PhD, Jess’s difficult experiences with family, health and sexual assault during her degree, the impact these experiences have had on her life, why she believes she doesn’t belong in academia and how this has led to her future career goals.

Key topics:

• Finances
  
• Isolation
  
• Some unhealthy reasons for pursuing academia
  
• Trauma
  
• Parental divorce
  
• Family secrets – Identity collapse
  
• Suicide
  
• Sexual assault
  
• Imposter syndrome
  
• Putting on the mask
  
• Choosing carefully who you open up to
  
• Jess founded a science party business during her PhD, switching to developing merch during Melbourne’s epic COVID lockdown -  My Mini Scientist
  

Jess doesn’t have Twitter but you can follow her on Instagram

The full transcript of the podcast is available here.

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded 23/10/2020.

Sound: Mindset and Hard Sell by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia and other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Emily chats with Ph.D. Research Fellow, Daniel Ranson (@mrdanielranson), who is now a convert to mindfulness as a coping mechanism for anxiety, in addition to therapy, medication, and insight from a mental health practitioner. Dan opened up previously, in episode 4, about perfectionism and OCD tendencies that progressively worsened from his undergraduate degree, onwards.

TW: Anxiety and a suicide attempt

This episode touches on medication and its side effects, the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and how Dan found his therapist, how to get past the negative connotations of ‘therapy’ eg. treating CBT as a gym for your mind, insight from having a mental health practitioner in the home, helping Dan’s family understand how to interact with someone who is mentally ill, the power of company, taking charge and making decisions for someone that is mentally ill and struggling to make their own eg. Let’s go get a coffee, breaking down the barriers to embracing mindfulness – Dan never thought he would use this approach. He used to see it as some form of ‘Buddhist chanting’, not opening up to anyone in academia, we are the next generation – we should model it for the way we want, what we think a PhD is going to be like and what it is are often very different things. 

Resources:

There are a variety of apps (often free!) available to help people manage mental health. Dan recommends Headspace, Calm, Buddhify
Matt Haig books ie. ‘Reasons to stay alive’
PhD: Addicted to Research podcast (available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast etc). Daniel is part of his own podcast! He describes it as a 'hand holding' podcast to support people through their PhD and help those applying. General wellbeing support for all stages of the academic journey.
UK Samaritans call line
Mental health nurse

The full transcript of the podcast is available here.

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded 03/12/2020.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about our work at @academicvoices or our website. 

In this episode of Voices of Academia, Emily chats with PhD Research Fellow, Daniel Ranson (@mrdanielranson), who opens up about perfectionism and OCD tendencies that progressively worsened from his undergraduate degree, onwards.

TW: Depression, anxiety, OCD and a suicide attempt.

This episode touches on feeling pressured as a first-generation university student, overactive worrying, the two sides to perfectionism, development of OCD tendencies that impacted life, living with anxiety, depression, overwork, a suicide attempt, seeking professional help including medication and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), medication adjustments, stigma, medication overdose and recovery.

Resources:

• Mindfulness apps: Headspace, Calm, Buddhify
  
• Matt Haig books ie. ‘Reasons to stay alive’
  
• PhD: Addicted to Research podcast (available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast etc). This is a new initiative created by Society for the Study of Addiction PhD research fellows that is designed to be a 'hand holding' podcast to support people through their PhD and help those applying. General wellbeing support for all stages of the academic journey.
  
• Mental health nursing
  

The full transcript of the podcast is available here.

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded 03/12/2020.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

If you’re interested in being interviewed, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about our work at https://voicesofacademia.com/ and @academicvoices on Twitter.

In this episode of Voices of Academia, Emily chats with undergraduate senior, Syreeta Nolan (@nolan_syreeta), about how learning to accept her disability and see it as a capability, not a liability, has shifted her life for the better. 

This episode touches on self-acceptance, self-care, disability Twitter, seeing a counselor, juggling self-care with emerging opportunities, learning to say no, asking for help, and empowering the next generation to feel like they can make it in academia. 

*trigger warning* - there is talk of sexual, emotional, and mental abuse, and medical trauma. 

Resources:

Kubler Ross – change curve 

https://www.blackinneuro.com/perspectives/i-am-black-and-disabled 

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/11/12/could-disability-be-further-included-diversity-efforts 

Students with disabilities address the Board of the University of California for the first time to advocate for adjustments and support (includes personal stories) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBxKG2hpcWk&feature=youtu.be 

Alice Wong - Disability Visibility

#MyDisabilityMadeMeGoodAt 

@DisInHigherEd

@dismhmatters and #DisMHMatters

Celebrate Recovery

Zoom bombing interview - https://ucsdguardian.org/2020/06/03/a-response-to-the-racist-zoom-bomber/

#CripTheVote, a nonpartisan online movement encouraging the political participation of disabled people

Full transcript available here

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded 19/11/2020.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

If you're interested in being interviewed, please submit this brief form https://buff.ly/3ls24yT

You can find out more about us at https://voicesofacademia.com/ and @academicvoices on Twitter.

In this episode of Voices of Academia, Emily chats with undergraduate senior, Syreeta Nolan (@nolan_syreeta), about the mental health impacts of navigating disability within universities. 

This episode is essentially distilled down into two parts - Entering and progressing in academia after a mental health crisis, and the mental health impacts of trying to be accepted as a person with disabilities within academia. 

*trigger warning* - there is talk of suicide attempts, medical trauma, and rape. 

Resources:

Crip Camp – YouTube

Kubler Ross – change curve

https://www.blackinneuro.com/perspectives/i-am-black-and-disabled

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/11/12/could-disability-be-further-included-diversity-efforts

Students with disabilities address the Board of the University of California for the first time to advocate for adjustments and support (includes personal stories) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBxKG2hpcWk&feature=youtu.be

Alice Wong - Disability Visibility

The Black Disability Framework

#MyDisabilityMadeMeGoodAt and the inverse of #AbleismTellsMe

#NEISvoid 

The full transcript is available here

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/ 

Recorded 19/11/2020. 

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.

If you're interested in being interviewed, please submit this brief form https://buff.ly/3ls24yT

You can find out more about us at https://voicesofacademia.com/ and @academicvoices on Twitter.

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded 19/09/2020.

Twitter contacts: Voices of Academic (@academicvoices), Dr. Marissa Kate (@DrMarissaKate), Dr. Zoe Ayres (@ZJAyres), and Emily King (@EKing_Sci)

Website: www.voicesofacademia.com

Full transcript: https://sonix.ai/r/CoCvSXHw1wsi4ERFfgPukHLK/share

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive. 

Share your experience of mental health and wellness in academia. Help us normalise these conversations, explore different wellness strategies and encourage cultural change.  If you're interested in being interviewed, please submit this brief form https://buff.ly/3ls24yT

You can find out more about us at https://voicesofacademia.com/ and @academicvoices on Twitter.