Episode 22: “Let’s just make it to 2021” — Conversation with Dr Zoë Ayres about Academic Mental Health (Part II)
Summary written by Dagny Reese.
In this weeks episode of the Monday Science Podcast, listen to Dr. Bahijja Raimi-Abraham continue her conversation with Zoë Ayres — a water research scientist, Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Division, Chair of the Analytical Science Network and Mental Health Advocate and Co-Founder of Voices of Academia — about mental health in the world of academics.
Want to hear the first part of the interview? Check it out here, before you read part 2.
Dr. Bahijja: Email, social media and communication are a huge issue within academic space — whether it be undergraduate work or post-graduate, its so important. That expectation to constantly be switched on or online be be [immensely stressful]. Communication is tricky in that we now have emails on our phone and such. I can remember before when it used to be acceptable to reply to an email within 3 days or so, and now that time has [slowly decreased].
Zoë: Yeah, I feel that too. My phone is my space and I am not going to be messaging people on weekends and such.
Dr. Bahijja: I wanted to talk a little more about the tools you have provided to help people with academic mental health.
Initially, when I came across your work, I saw your posters on social media, and during the lockdown, while having 3 PhD students, I really started to panic. I didn’t know how best to support them during this time — that’s when I started to come across more of your posters, discussions and advice online. There is already the baseline PhD stress — and now there is also the stress from the pandemic. Your tools [were incredibly helpful] and I would love to hear more about them.
Zoë: The posters, I recently completed a series with advice for undergrads, masters students, PhD, post-grad, technical support workers and even professors — I really wanted a series that would help summarise some of the key things people experience.
In June this year, me and Marisa Edwards, who is based in Australia, also started a blog called “voices of Academia”. We now have people from all over the world writing blog posts for us, telling people about their mental health experiences. That has been really fun — it is sometimes heartbreaking to hear about these experiences, but it is also nice to provide a forum for people to talk about those issues.
This year, I also started the 100 Voices Campaign — I ran a 100 day social media campaign where I had 100 researchers detail their mental health concerns, during their time in academia, as well as provide some advice. So many people really want to share these stories, but don’t have a medium to do so, so I really like [being able to provide that].
Dr. Bahijja: You’ve really created a space for visibility and discussion, it has really widened the community. We can see that people all over the world are having these experiences and it shows that there is a lot more work to do done [in regards to this issue].
The powerful thing about it is that academic health doesn’t just involve scientists, it really goes beyond us, and people in other academic fields experience these issues. I do wish, though, that it is always the same people who want to address these issues, and others may be more stuck in their ways.
Zoë: Yes, I really would love to know about potential ways to [address that issue]. It’s often the case, the people that really need to hear about these issues are often not [part of the discussion]. All we can really do is come together and normalise mental health discussion for those experiencing issues.
There will always be people who will laugh at the concept or self-care or who will be dismissive, but as long as we can provide a space for people who are struggling, we are more likely to get those people into positions where they can make a difference.
Dr. Bahijja: You also started the hashtag academic mental health — how did that come about and how is that hashtag going?
Zoë: I didn’t really have a plan going into it — I was just sitting on twitter and seeing some of these things going on, and I realised there was no unified hashtag. I felt that maybe if I made one, people would start to use it. I just put up a poll, and people voted on what hashtag they would like. There are a lot of people who will never know that I started the hashtag, and I am 100% okay with that. It makes me happy to see people using it to share their experiences.
Dr. Bahijja: It’s fantastic! Especially around this stressful time, with COVID-19. I’ve used the hashtag, I’ve seen a lot of other people using it, and its [really useful].
When you’ve been talking about the posters, I was interested in some of the points about professors, technical workers and others. It’s really nice seeing a wider group being included in the discussion.
Zoë: It was definitely hard to get feedback from some of those people at senior levels, [like professors], because of that stigma and competitive nature. At these higher levels, it really is more dangerous to be vulnerable. When people are vying for a tenured position, you [don’t often want to show any potential weaknesses]. A lot of the professors I speak to, do so anonymously, which still says a lot about the extent of the issue.
Dr. Bahijja: When we talk about academia and how we personally cope, we all have different mechanisms. We see that this conversion really dies down when we get to these more senior levels. In this time, though, during COVID-19, I have seen more senior people talking about the stress and opening up that conversation. I also did see some things like, “oh you’ll have so much more free time to apply to grants”.
Zoë: I did see some of that rhetoric as well, its really attached to some level of privilege. People have very different lives, responsibilities, and we all need to take time to take care of ourselves. A lockdown doesn’t mean we will be more efficient.
Dr. Bahijja: Yeah, it was a very interesting time. There were these conversations about having to take care of yourself initially, and now it’s just the norm. There isn’t any more of that “work-life balance” discussion.
Zoë: There is that knock-on effect because there is a pandemic. Its hard to complete some work because of the pandemic, and we need to make sure we are checking in on our colleagues, making sure they are okay, because a lot of us aren’t.
Dr. Bahijja: Especially with the increased workload, it’s been hard to relax at all. People assume the lockdown or this summer was restful, but it really wasn’t. […] Honestly, we just need one goal and that is to make it to 2021.
Zoë: Funnily enough, that’s also my goal!
Dr. Bahijja: I wanted to talk also more about the academic, mental health landscape in 2020, I saw you posted a campaign about that a couple of weeks ago. Could you talk a little more about that?
Zoë: So, the Academic Mental Health Landscape 2020 is a project I am running at the moment because a lot of my projects [require people to kind of come forward and say they are experiencing an issue]. Sometimes, in academia, you can’t just turn around and say you are experiencing issues. The campaign is essentially that people can write their mental health concern on a post-it note and then take a photo of it, send it to me, and I am hoping to aim to raise the profile of the issue. I can post the concern from my account and help raise the voices of people who can’t speak out or raise their voice. […].
Dr. Bahijja: That sounds like a fantastic campaign! You mentioned that you post those notes and act as a support. What has it been like to take on that role? What are the positives and the negatives?
Zoë: Being a mental health advocate is nice as I often have people writing to me telling me that I have helped them. I felt so alone during my PhD, and it is really nice to kind of provide what I needed back then. I get a lot of joy out of helping people like that and hopefully moving towards a culture change in academia. I’m not really interested in being a figurehead for this movement, I just really want to uplift other’s voices and raise awareness. […]
Now to the negatives, I sometimes have to protect my mental health. I obviously also have a full-time job that is my priority, I love being a scientist. I’ve had a couple of people message me saying “How can you be a scientist and an advocate?” — I can be both, but I know there are people who might think that about me. Sometimes I also get distressful messages, and it saddens me that I am often where people have to look to for health, [and that there is not any other place they can get support]. It shouldn’t be me — it highlights why I am doing this, though.
Dr. Bahijja: I can imagine how people might think you dislike academia, but I think some people don’t understand how you [can enjoy something but still be critical of it]. We are talking a lot about academic mental health, but also science. It’s a shame people don’t realise you can’t do both, equally.
Zoë: Yeah, [many people do not realise you can do both].
Dr. Bahijja: Looking forward and being solution-focused, how do you think we can start improving academia mental health on the individual and organisational level?
Zoë: So, on an individual level, I would think about what I would’ve told myself. First, we need to really understand what self-care is. People often think its just meditation or things like that — it’s also eating right, exercising, looking after yourself physically and mentally. I think having a general self care plan and awareness is really important, especially during deadlines where we might be more time-pressed. […]
If there are people around you, talk to them as well. They are probably struggling as well. Around 50% of PhD students experience anxiety or depression. Also don’t be afraid to get medical help or therapy — it can be immensely helpful. Don’t be too afraid of it.
[Also try not to compare struggles], we are all valid and deserving of help. No matter how small your issue feels, you need to get the help you need.
For institutions, I think awareness is key — visibly talking about mental health, aspects of mental health like financial concerns, harassment, academic bullying, etc. If people in senior positions could talk about that, it would make a world of difference. But we need a culture that enables people to do that.
Dr. Bahijja: That cultural change, to let them feel comfortable, has been essential. Social media has also been an amazing tool — I think going through this pandemic without it would have been really challenging.
Zoë: I think one of the things people can do is doom-scroll, or just look for the bad things on social media. But you can also curate what you see — you can mute people, block people, follow certain hashtags — essentially control and try to see more positive things on social media.
Dr. Bahijja: That sometimes puts me off, and I think that is a really helpful tip. Being able to mute or follow hashtags can be really useful.
Zoë: Even with my page, if someone didn’t want to hear all these conversations about academic mental health [due to stress], they could mute my page for a bit. If you don’t want to see something, you don’t have to see it. We often forget that.
Dr. Bahijja: Before we go, do you have any take-home messages?
Zoë: Firstly, academic mental health is prolific, and many people are experiencing these concerns. If you are experiencing it, you are not alone, and there is help available.
With the pandemic going on, just do the best that you can. We just need to get to 2021. Sometimes its okay to be in survival mode, let’s just get through it.
Want to learn more about this weeks guest, Zoë Ayres?
Feel free to check out her website, twitter and blog here.
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