Author: ADMIN

5 Things You Might Lose When Leaving Academia – and What You Might Gain by Dr John Ankers

ADMIN

Recently I wrote about coaching academics at crossroads in their careers. I focussed on the practicalities – but the emotions involved in such forks in the road also play a huge part in our decisions, and challenge our mental health. I agonized over the decision to leave for the last three years of my time in academia. I was torn between a job I used to love but had grown to dread, loyalties to the research, and to a young family that I was helping to support.  Privately, I suffered panic attacks, night sweats – I ended up in hospital with heart issues. And still, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees. Looking back, I was seeking permission – and while my family gave it without question, over and over again, I was denying it to myself.

As individuals, PhDs choose widely different paths – some stay in academia (facing the stress of fierce competition), others switch roles or leave academia for something new. While every candidate, and every position, is different, career crossroads are common and frequent – life-changing decisions that happen regularly! It’s no wonder that wellbeing can suffer – especially when trying to weigh up different factors in work and life. 

Here are some issues that gave me and some of my academic clients pause for thought before a leap to new career paths. Some may be obvious, others maybe not. The hope is that, forewarned and forearmed, you can choose what you take from where you are now as you progress, and ultimately feel better about your decisions, whatever they may be. 

Read More »

Uncovering ADHD During Perimenopause and the Insidious Impacts on Academic Work by Kaylene Ascough

ADMIN

Undertaking a PhD is an arduous task for anyone and has unique challenges for different demographics. For a mature-aged woman going through perimenopause and menopause, though, a whole range of additional challenges can enter the mix. In my case, the associated hormonal changes exacerbated lifelong conditions that went undiagnosed in the past. 

Most people think and talk about the physical symptoms of perimenopause and menopause; hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, aching joints, etc.  What is less often discussed are the mental symptoms; and when they are, it’s usually quite vague and nonspecific such as ‘mood changes’ and ‘brain fog’.  There are many, many symptoms associated with menopause. In fact, I wrote to my friends once about how every symptom that was occurring in my life at the time was attributable to menopause.  What I was not prepared for was just how insidious perimenopause would be. I have since learned that the period where these changes start, and the length of time it can carry on for, is highly variable. Even when you have “officially” reached menopause (i.e., when you have stopped having a period for over 12 months), this does not always mean the end of symptoms.

This means that, particularly with the mental symptoms, you don’t always realise that what is happening to you is a part of the menopause and you can really start to doubt your sanity. Going through this change of life and not knowing, while trying to participate in academic pursuits like a PhD, can leave you feeling truly inadequate, irrelevant and incapable of contributing to your academic field. 

Read More »

Embracing the Unknown: Navigating Challenges as an International Student with Anxiety Disorder by Anonymous

ADMIN

Stepping into a new country to pursue an onshore PhD as an international student with an anxiety disorder is an adventure filled with lows and highs. As I moved from India, to Brisbane, Australia, the stark differences in culture, academic structure, and climate were only a few of the many challenges I encountered in the first two months of my arrival. Alongside my eagerness to explore numerous academic opportunities, the fear of missing out and the pressure to quickly adapt triggered waves of anxiety within me.

Read More »

How it Feels: Going from Homeless to Heritage by Brooke Szucs 

ADMIN

My name is Brooke Szucs, and I work in a lovely, well-lit office within the sandstone buildings of the University of Queensland (UQ). My family were immigrants from what was Yugoslavia. They didn’t come from much, they didn’t bring much, and they didn’t get much more when they came here. 

Growing up poor, university never felt attainable to me.

I’m the first person in my family to attend university, let alone finish it. 

So, when I was able to get a job in the beautiful Forgan Smith building at the University of Queensland, the most iconic and classic of the heritage listed UQ Great Court, I really felt that I had reached heights no one else in my family had ever thought we could achieve.

Going into my office, so close to the main tower that has the building dominating the landscape and is the focus of so many group and tourist photos, made me swell with pride. I couldn’t believe that someone like me, whose mother used to cry when she was unable to buy me a $5 student ticket to go to the movies, would now be officially working there.

However, while my professional life shows sandstone and suits, I am still the daughter of countryside peasants. While I aim for higher, and enjoy my time in my office, I am reminded of my reality when I finish work for the day.

Read More »

Toxic Professors, and How to Cope with Them by Anonymous

ADMIN

I am a Psychology graduate from India. I am writing this blog to talk about who I describe as the malevolent lords of academia – toxic professors, and how to cope with them.

In my opinion, succeeding in academia is difficult with the cut-throat competition and the discrimination against candidates from marginalized communities, even without toxic professors and lab members. 

My expectations of academia were low based on the experiences of previous students, especially those with disabilities and/or Asian students, who had often faced accessibility issues and racism in being selected for research labs, conference travel grants, etc. 

However, I, unfortunately, encountered toxic professors. With these incidents, my respect for academia sadly plummeted, which I didn’t even know was possible because it was already at rock bottom.     

Read More »

Moving From Healthcare to Academia: Strategies to Support Mental Health by Safiya Robinson  

ADMIN

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.

Read More »

Grad School Journaling Prompts: Better Understanding Your Emotional Academic Journey by Jordan A. McCray

ADMIN

Making the decision to leave grad school might have been the hardest thing I have ever done. Graduate students are frequently told that ruminations on leaving are normal, and that wanting to quit constantly is a rite of passage. However, the thought of leaving is framed as a common daydream that gets us through to the next break rather than a legitimate alternative to powering through constant suffering. Constant commiseration is an understandable coping mechanism in fostering understanding in academic communities. It also begs the question: How do you know if it’s really time to leave? How do you discern between “relatable” misery and the need to take action for your own health and wellbeing? 

Read More »

Addiction and the University by Wendy Dossett

ADMIN

TW: Sexual assault, suicide (ideation and attempt), addiction, alcohol and other drugs.  

In my final undergraduate year, an acquaintance who was seeking support for addiction issues told me she’d been advised by a recovery mentor to ditch her ambitions and not apply to go to university. ‘First things first,’ she had said. ‘My recovery is more important.’

I was stunned.

At that point in my life, more than three decades ago now, my own addiction problems were beginning to take hold. However, it would be more than ten years before I would acknowledge that. I had, at that time, little understanding of addiction, and no understanding at all of recovery. I considered the advice my friend had received to be utterly outrageous. Surely, a university education should be available to anyone in possession of the admission requirements! I objected, viscerally, to this person being figured as ‘too fragile’ for education. I considered the aspiration for education to be, not only a good, but a right. My own university education meant the absolute world to me. How dare some ‘non-university-educated’ person, (I assumed, on no basis at whatsoever), limit my friend’s reasonable ambition!

Read More »

My Thesis Experience: From Crisis to Transformation by Nicci Attfield

ADMIN

I am a South African writer with a background in psychology and critical diversity studies. In 2014 I began to assist James Reed with his practice-based research project Agents of Change (which was created with Shelley Sacks from the SSRU at Oxford Brooke’s University). Agents of Change helps to connect people to their thoughts and feelings about climate change. Participants spoke about the fashion industry as well as the losses of plants and animals and even the losses of ancestors due to colonialism. How to live a sustainable life appeared to be elusive to many participants. All expressed a deep grief at the devastating impacts of environmental destruction. Many also expressed shame at living lives which impacted on other people.

Read More »

Everyday Memoirs of a Graduate Student in Zimbabwe by Oswell Moyo 

ADMIN

The deadline for my next manuscript is approaching and corrections have arrived needing urgent attention, and yet I am seated on top of an old single bed engulfed by darkness. Again. my laptop, which has earned names like “fridge” and “desktop” from friends and classmates, is useless when there is a power outage. My city is yet again experiencing a power cut, with it not being unusual for them to occur for a period of 10 to 16 hours a day. Alternative sources of power such as generators are heavily regulated and are only switched on for a few hours a day. And when they are switched on, using that time is dedicated to the necessities: cooking, eating and bathing. Study has to take the back seat, but then I’m reminded of impending deadlines, and that I have to get my work done. I am then filled with the anxiety of, “What can I do?” or “Where should I start?” knowing that my laptop will only fail me again tomorrow. 

Read More »