I'll love any talk that opens with quoted music (Making it up as I go along) and some really astounding figures, this held very true for this session.
Shannon Duvall (Elon University) and Michele Pagnotta
(Licensed Clinical Social Worker)
ran a really interesting session on 'Survival Skills for the Graduate Student' aiming to give hints and tips to help improve mental
well-being during graduate school.
The statistics are impressive. From the 2004 Berkeley Graduate Student Mental Health Survey:
- 50% of graduate* students suffer from emotional or stress-related issues
- 10% seriously considered suicide
- 1 in 20 considered it
I plan to delve into those figures later (might be interesting for stimulating discussion with the first year PhD class I lead), but that is an amazing and worrying finding.
They started by talking through Michele's Top Tips:
- Wise Mind (make decisions you are really happy with, by keeping a balance in your mind between emotion and reason)
- Acting Effectively (do things that will work, most effective. Don't use SHOULD.)
- Don't Worry, be happy (worrying is not problem solving)
And then Shannon's Top Tips:
- Focus on the Facts (don't worry about Imposter Syndrome, not provable, not a fact)
- Advisor Relations (ever-evolving, professional, vital to your happiness and success)
- Be Professional (it's ok to have worries and doubts, but don't forget to keep your academic relationships professional)
Further advice:
- Set Your Goals and document your activities and meetings
- How to Ask for things (Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce)
- Communication with advisors (ask directly for positive feedback)
- (Everyone was told to write down) MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS (ask, ask, ask)
- Act Confident (you don't need to be confident, you just need to 'act' confident)
- Getting Motivated (remember that progress comes in waves, intentionally take breaks)
- Get Going Again (clarify goals, prioritise and break down)
- Review your Work Schedule
- Gaining Motivation (develop small, medium and large rewards, guild-free breaks and cheerleading statements)
They gave an interesting introduction to the five areas involved in keeping your vital life balance (in order of importance):
- Personal Growth / Care
- Relational Growth
- Community Growth
- Spiritual Growth
- Professional Growth
You don't have time not to take these things not into account - they are critical to your mental health. Keep yourself physically healthy and relax to reduce stress. Make sure to attend to current relationships, it is a priority goal.
All in all, sensible and useful advice. It is really worth visiting the Mental Makeover website, where they have a downloadable handout related to the session.
A lot of people rushed to queue to ask questions when they opened the floor, with more eagerness than I had seen in any other session so far. What they spoke about had related in some way to everyone in the audience.
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* The term graduate is equivalent to post-graduate in the UK - an interesting difference and a grammatical mystery worth pondering at another time.
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Johanna Hunt
Official GHC 2007 Blogger
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