I recently began a career in academia, after spending over 20 years in clinical practice as a dentist. While I still practice a few days a month, the bulk of my time is spent teaching dental students who are about to start their journey into a clinical career. I was drawn to academia through my love for teaching – something that I had done in various roles throughout my clinical career – and an interest in discovering more about the practice of research. 

On one of my earliest days at the university, I walked into the kitchen on our floor to make myself a cup of coffee and saw printed and stuck to the notice board several memes warning staff to look after their mental health. I found this interesting, and slightly alarming – what had I gotten myself into? Having just left a career that has a track record of poor mental health and burnout, I was surprised to find similar complaints in academia. However, conversations with my line manager and other staff confirmed to me that academia can be a place where burnout and poor mental health can be an issue and I needed to find a way to make sure that I took care of my own mental health. 

As my first year progressed, I began to observe a number of similarities between academia and clinical practice, and places where mental health could be impacted. I also began to think about the strategies I had used over the years in clinical practice to protect my own mental health, and I gave serious consideration to how I could put those strategies into use in my academic career.

Similarities between healthcare and education

One of the main similarities I found between healthcare and academia is pressure; pressure from myself, from others and from institutions and society – and this pressure had negative impacts on my mental health. I could see how these pressures were also present in academia.

Pressure from myself showed up for me as perfectionism, which is definitely an issue for dental professionals. This could be because dentistry attracts high achievers, or the high standards required to get into dental school, and simply because perfectionism is needed to survive in the career. Either way, I found it continued to be present as I worked in academia. The pressure to find that perfect number of references, never to make a mistake when teaching students or answering questions and so much more has often been present for me. 

Pressure from others was also an issue. One of the first roles I was given when I joined the school was that of lead of student feedback. This meant that I was at the receiving end of all of the student complaints through the various methods by which they submitted them. It felt familiar, mostly because as a dentist I honestly had people tell me they hated me. –This happened daily, and often multiple times a day. Many people are afraid of the dentist, and so it is a profession that gets a lot of negative press. So having negative feedback from students felt a lot like patient feedback, and I had to reach into my toolbox to handle that as well.

Thirdly, there was systematic pressure. In healthcare, this pressure can come from a variety of places. When I worked in the public healthcare system, it came from the annual targets that we had to meet, and from the organization as a whole. In private healthcare, it came from the practice owner, and in all cases there was societal pressure as well. Sometimes I felt as if I was choosing between my ability to care for patients adequately who needed some extra time and care, and hitting targets, and it made me feel drained, as these pressures took their toll – particularly as I went into healthcare to help people, and this sometimes felt at odds with the targets.

In academia, the pressure is institutional – to produce research – and do it while juggling teaching, creating and marking assessments, going to meetings, and answering emails – oh so many emails! 

These pressures – present in academia and healthcare drove what felt like competition between co-workers, and it made me feel defensive – around patients in clinical practice and around research in academia – instead of fostering collaboration. I sometimes felt isolated, and it didn’t feel like a safe environment to even appear to struggle with anything. 

So I have been reaching for three of my coping strategies which helped in clinical practice that are also helping me in academia.

Reflection

One of the things that helped me with this when I was a full-time clinician was having a reflective practice. This allowed me to reflect on and reinforce what went well, and also consider where I could make an improvement. My reflective practice allowed me to almost take some distance from whatever I was working on at that moment, and this helped to reduce some of the perfectionism with the reminder that there is no such thing as perfect. It allowed me to intentionally focus on the good and bad, and reminded me that I can always learn and grow.

My personal reflective practice looks similar now to how it did when I was a full-time clinician – a writing practice, or sometimes having a conversation debrief with my sister (who is also an academic). Reflection has helped me with both the pressure I put on myself and the perfectionism, as well as the pressure from students (and patients) to remind me that even if it felt like something went badly, something probably went well too. It showed me how I could take that feedback and make improvements for next time. And it also helped me with my self-awareness – knowing my triggers, recognizing if I felt like my mental health was going downhill so that I could get support, and anticipating my own needs – whether it is making sure that I take my annual leave, going for a walk at lunchtime, or just getting up and taking deep breaths before responding to that email.

Seeking support

One of the other ways that academia and being a dentist have felt similar to me is that it my experience feels very solitary at times. This is a little strange, given that both are professions where you literally can’t work unless there are other people involved (academics and students, or patients and clinical staff). So one way that I have looked after my own mental health is to ensure that I sought support. I have a good GP and seek a therapist when I need it. I also have good friends who support me personally. And I am fortunate to have a great line manager and good work colleagues where I am, and I make sure to seek and provide support when I need it and when I can. This support came in various forms. When I first experienced depressive episodes, I sought the help of my doctor who referred me to a therapist, but who also sent me for blood tests to check for any other underlying causes. She was able to discover an underlying medical condition (hyperthyroidism) which could have been contributing to how I was feeling, and the therapist helped by listening, as well as giving strategies such as increasing physical activity and providing an alternative perspective. 

She also encouraged me to have more fun, and include more enjoyable activities in my day – which led me to identifying those things that I enjoyed, and making time for them – including singing, theatre and eventually writing! My friends and work colleagues have also been good listeners, and they help me to manage my expectations for myself, and remind me that we all have struggles – so that I am not so hard on myself.

Creativity

Having a creative outlet was one of the biggest ways I kept good mental health when I was a full-time dentist. For me there was a lot of writing involved – I started a blog a few years ago and have done a lot of writing since then. Sometimes the writing is to share, and sometimes it’s just to decompress and get the thoughts out of my head. But there has also been playing music and singing, the occasional paint and sip session, crafting, amateur theatre and so much more. 

Having a creative outlet has always given me mental downtime, and it has been fun! And working on something where the object is to have fun rather than be perfect allows me to laugh at myself and not take myself so seriously. 

In addition, it taught me to bring creativity to work, and to other essential tasks such as cooking and cleaning the house. Trying new recipes, re-arranging my furniture – whatever feels like a creative way to get my household tasks done, and the same is true at work – designing workshops for the students, creating a podcast or video for their plenaries and workshops and so much more. 

Conclusion

The first year of my transition into academia is almost complete and so far so good. During my time as a dental student, one of the earliest things I learned was the potential for poor mental health in my profession, and the awareness meant that I sought ways to care for my mental health from early in my career. Similarly, I am grateful for the memes posted in the kitchen that made me aware of the need for looking after my well-being in this role, and I am also grateful for the opportunity to share these strategies with colleagues and the students I teach.

I can honestly say that knowing that I need to look after my mental health and noticing how I feel and what impacts my mood has been useful to me through the first part of my working life. I am taking this awareness with me as I continue my career in academia, along with my writing practice, my people, and my love for creativity. I hope that my story helps those who are at any stage in their academic journey. 

Safiya Robinson is a dentist and clinical lecturer, as well as a storylistener, writer and podcaster. In addition, she is a keen world traveller who uses her writing to explore her experiences and philosophy on life, sprinkled with fun, humour and big love from a small island – or wherever she happens to be – which currently is University of Plymouth. She is also an aunt, sister, niece, and friend. In her spare time you’ll find her enjoying sunsets, baking or eating delicious treats, spending time with friends or family, and making corny jokes (often the same ones… repeatedly!)

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