Podcast

Podcast: Parenting as an Academic during COVID-19 | Dr. Jennifer Paxton

The 29th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 29: Parenting as an Academic during COVID-19

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:

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. 

Podcast: Preventative Care for PMDD | Elana Gloger

The 28th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 28: Preventative Care for PMDD

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:

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

Podcast: Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and a PhD | Elana Gloger

The 27th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 27: Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and a PhD

TW/CW: Suicidal ideation, swearing

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

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:

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

Podcast: Challenging Intrusive Thoughts | Dr. Andy Fraass

The 26th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 26: Challenging Intrusive Thoughts

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 

Podcast: Being Your Own Worst Critic | Dr. Andy Fraass

The 25th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 25: Being Your Own Worst Critic

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.

Recorded: 19/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

Podcast: SPECIAL 1YR ANNIVERSARY EPISODE – How To Change The System That Sets Us Up To Fail | Andrea Hayward

The 24th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 24: How To Change The System That Sets Us Up To Fail

TW/CW: Bullying and abuse

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:

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: 12/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

Podcast: Medication and Social Media Support | Seda Battilani

The 23rd episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 23: Medication and Social Media Support

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:

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: 07/09/2021.

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

Podcast: Anxiety, ADHD and Living Abroad | Seda Battilani

The 22nd episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 22: Anxiety, ADHD, and Living Abroad

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 marriage, 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:

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: 07/09/2021.

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

Podcast: Person-centred Mentoring | Dr. Kartik Aiyer

The 21st episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 21: Person-centred Mentoring

CW: Academic bullying and abuse

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:

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: 04/10/2021.

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

Podcast: A Toxic Power Dynamic | Dr. Kartik Aiyer

The 20th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 20: A Toxic Power Dynamic

CW: Academic bullying and abuse

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:

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: 04/10/2021.

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

Podcast: Preventing the Panic Cycle | Dr. Viviana Re

The 19th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 19: Preventing the Panic Cycle

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
    • Dan is now a convert to mindfulness as a coping mechanism for anxiety, in addition to therapy, medication, and insight from a mental health practitioner.

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/

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

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.

Podcast: Panic as a PostDoc | Dr. Viviana Re

The 18th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 18: Panic as a PostDoc

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, with thanks to Dan Ranson.

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: 03/09/2021.

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

Podcast: Master of your own destiny | Henry Powell-Davies

The 17th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 17: Master of your own destiny

Emily chats with Henry Powell-Davies, who tried a PhD and decided it wasn’t for him, choosing to exit with a Masters. He shares the range of reasons for his choice, including insufficient support for people with disabilities within the academic structure, and the isolation of the pandemic. But he also 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 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (S.T.E.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 cultivate gratitude and help zero in on what brings an individual 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/

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

Recorded: 09/07/2021.

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

Podcast: Exiting a PhD with Masters | Henry Powell-Davies

The 16th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 16: Exiting a PhD with Masters

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 re-direct 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

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/

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

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.

Podcast: I will not be silenced | Dr. Clare Griffin

The 15th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 15: I will not be silenced

CW: OCD and bipolar disorder

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 historian of science 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

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/

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

Recorded: 25/06/2021.

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

Podcast: Living without Diagnoses | Dr. Clare Griffin

The 14th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 14: Living without Diagnoses

CW: OCD and bipolar disorder

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 psychological 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.

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.

Podcast: Dancing for Freedom | Dr. Malik Boykin

The 13th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 13: Dancing for Freedom

TW: Fatal and racist violence in the U.S.

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

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.

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.

Podcast: Professor under threat | Dr. Malik Boykin

The 12th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 12: Professor under threat

TW: Depression, loss, and racial discrimination

Portrait of Dr. Malik Boykin. Malik stands as a smiling black man with dreadlocks, wearing purple regalia and an African necklace in a library.

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.

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.

Image by ndemello from Pixabay

11. Depression as a Warning Sign | Tonja Wright
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. Read more

10. Withdrawing from a PhD | Tonja Wright

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.  Read more

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

9. Entrepreneurship & volunteering as healing | Dr. Mohamad Nadim Adi
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. Read more

8. Confidence Chasm | Dr. Mohamad Nadim Adi
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. Read more 

Image by Anrita1705 from Pixabay

7. Taking Time Off | Dr. Jessica Marshall
Emily chats with recently-minted Dr. (!!) Jessica Marshall, who touches on taking time off her PhD and the support she received from personal relationships, therapy and publicly-available systems after she experienced sexual assault. Read more

6. Loss during a PhD | Dr. Jessica Marshall
Emily chats with recently-submitted PhD Candidate, Jessica Marshall, who opens up about the friendship, partner, family and identity losses she experienced during her PhD. Read more

Image by truthseeker08 from Pixabay

5. Mindfulness: not some “Buddhist chant” | Daniel Ranson
Emily chats with PhD Research Fellow, Daniel Ranson, 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. Read more

4. Perfectionism and OCD | Daniel Ranson
Emily chats with PhD Research Fellow, Daniel Ranson, who opens up about perfectionism and OCD tendencies that progressively worsened from his undergraduate degree onwards. 
Read more

Image by jdalton1216 from Pixabay

3. Disability & The Power of Acceptance | Syreeta Nolan
Emily chats with undergraduate senior, Syreeta Nolan, about how learning to accept her disability and see it as a capability, not a liability, has shifted her life for the better. Read more

2. Navigating Invisible Disability | Syreeta Nolan
Emily chats with undergraduate senior, Syreeta Nolan, about the mental health impacts of navigating disability within universities.
Read more 

Podcast Launch!

1. Why an academic mental health podcast?

Find out here

Podcast: Depression as a Warning Sign | Tonja Wright

The 11th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 11: Depression as a Warning Sign

TW: Depression

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: 

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. There is currently no business arrangement between Tonja and the podcast. We receive no kickback from mentioning her upcoming online course to help working mums increase productivity

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/

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

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

Recorded 13/05/2021.

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

Podcast: Withdrawing from a PhD | Tonja Wright

The 10th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 10: Withdrawing from a PhD

TW: Depression

Summary:

In this episode of Voices of Academia, 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 and Emily met through a mutual friend at trivia and discovered shared mental health experiences during our PhDs
  • 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 – what’s your favourite thing to do in your spare time? What were you like as a kid? What drew you to research? How has the pandemic impacted you? 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
  • Tonja’s first experience of depression as an academic, after having moved interstate to start her PhD
  • 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 6 months sick leave off PhD
  • Mention of pharmaceuticals, getting linked up with healthcare services, and talking therapy, particularly schema therapy, which is discussed more in the next episode
  • Tips for navigating the healthcare system while depressed
  • How it felt to make the decision to leave a PhD
  • How Tonja re-evaluated her life’s direction after working toward a certain goal for over a decade

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. There is currently no business arrangement between Tonja and the podcast. We receive no kickback from mentioning her upcoming online course to help working mums increase productivity

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/

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

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

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.

Podcast: Entrepreneurship & volunteering as healing | Dr. Mohamad Nadim Adi

The 9th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 9: Entrepreneurship & volunteering as healing

Summary:

In this episode of Voices of Academia, 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:
  • 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.

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.

Podcast: Confidence Chasm | Dr. Mohamad Nadim Adi

The 8th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 8: Confidence Chasm

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

Summary:

In this episode of Voices of Academia, 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.  

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.

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.

Podcast: Taking Time Off | Jessica Marshall

The 7th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 7: Taking Time Off

TW: Sexual assault, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Summary:

In this episode of Voices of Academia, Emily chats with recently-minted Dr. (!!) Jessica Marshall, who touches on taking time off her PhD 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 PhD. 

Key topics/resources: 

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

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

Finally, if you feel there are additional content or 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.

Podcast: Loss during a PhD | Jessica Marshall

The 6th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 6: Loss during a PhD

TW: Divorce, sexual assault and suicidal ideation. 

Summary:

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.

Podcast: Mindfulness: not some “Buddhist chant” | Daniel Ranson

The 5th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 5: Mindfulness: not some “Buddhist chant”

TW: Anxiety and a suicide attempt 

Summary:

In this episode of Voices of Academia, Emily chats with PhD 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. 

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:

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.

Podcast: Perfectionism & OCD | Daniel Ranson

The 4th episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 4: Perfectionism & OCD

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

Summary:

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. 

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:

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.

Podcast: Disability & The Power of Acceptance | Syreeta Nolan

The third episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 3: Disability & The Power of Acceptance

TW: Sexual, emotional, and mental abuse, and medical trauma. 

Summary:

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. 

Resources:

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 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, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Podcast: Navigating Invisible Disability | Syreeta Nolan

The second episode of the Voices of Academia podcast is live!!! 

Listen to this episode directly at the link below, or click through to find the link to your preferred listening platform. 

Episode 2: Navigating Invisible Disability

TW: Suicide attempts, medical trauma, and rape

Summary:

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. 

Resources:

The full transcript for 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 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, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.