One in four students are suffering from mental health problems. 64% of PhD candidates are feeling lonely at work. Academic staff feeling overworked is nothing new. This can either seem like an overwhelming problem or, even worse, just the price people are expected to pay for having the privilege of working or studying in academia.
As this year’s University Mental Health Day is all about the power of using your voice, I’d like to tell you about two things I’ve been doing to use mine to help others...
Coaching:
Firstly, I’ve been using my voice to ask questions as part of my coaching practice. I have been practicing my coaching skills on university staff who for various reasons are finding stress in their lives ranging from communication problems and procrastination around deadlines to frustrations with a lack of work-life balance. Throughout the course, I have been learning about the different models and tools I can use to help. These have included: visualising what success might look like, writing meaningful and emotion-laden goals utilising Carol Wilson’s EXACT model, and encouraging the understanding of other’s perspectives via the 51% rule and Perceptual Positioning. By training to be part of the University’s coaching community I get to keep learning, which is something I always love doing, staff achieve progress towards their chosen goal and the University gets happier employees. It’s a win for everyone!
Mindfulness:
Secondly, I have recently become involved in the University’s wellbeing group again (I took a break from it due to maternity leave). It is a group of volunteers who provide meditation and mindfulness practices – drawing on each individual’s experience with yoga, tai chi, Qigong, Hindu or Buddhist teachings once a week, every Wednesday 12noon-12.30 in the Meeting House (a multi-faith and none space on campus). Towards the end of last month, I led a session in Mindfulness. Mindfulness has been proven to reduce stress and has become quite popular over the last few years.
There were 15 people in attendance: a mixture of staff and students, male and female with a range of different faiths and nationalities. I started with a brief breathing exercise to encourage people to settle down and feel calm. This was from a book called Happy Teacher’s Change the World which I refer to regularly in my role as an Academic Practice lecturer. I then spent the majority of the 30 minutes going through a detailed body scan taken from Jon Kabatt-Zinn’s book – Wherever you go, there you are.
Towards the end I remembered why I enjoyed doing these sessions so much – the participants seemed so calm and still and this was verified by the comments they made afterwards. We finished with a Loving Kindness meditation which encourages us to put aside our inner judgmental voice and be kind to ourselves, our friends, and those who we may not hold so dearly.
Each week these sessions change in teacher and content and it is a nice space to take time out for one’s self, to regroup and to connect with others in the same environment without having to have a conversation.
There is increasing evidence of the success coaching in an educational setting can bring and universities are increasing their provision of wellbeing activities. While they won’t solve all life’s ills (or problems related to decreasing budgets, bureaucracy and restructures), they can certainly help towards dealing with them. I’d strongly recommend seeking them out.
Related posts:
For further help with looking after mental health as a student - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/student-mental-health/
Over to you! I’d love to know what you do to promote good mental health. Leave a comment below.
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