19 - Academic mental health

In this episode, I catch up with Dr Marissa Edwards to hear about her journey advocating for better academic mental health and lessons she has learned along the way.

We discuss:

• What academic mental health advocacy is and why it is important
• Our own personal challenges working in academia
• The difference between individual characteristics and systemic issues when it comes to academic mental health
• The importance of sharing success and failures
• Ways to safeguard your time and wellbeing as an academic. 

Dr Marissa Edwards is Senior Lecturer in the School of Business, University of Queensland, Australia. To see more about Marissa's work, you can follow her on X/Twitter (@DrMarissaKate) or connect on LinkedIn.

 

Resources mentioned in this episode

Voices of academia blog

 

The Australian University Staff: Work, Digital Stress and Wellbeing Survey report

 

Research Handbook of Academic Mental Health

 

Emotions and failure in academic life: Normalising the experience and building resilience

 

Sensitive content warning
In this episode, we talk about the mental health challenges that academics face. We speak briefly about an example of an academic who experienced suicidal ideation when faced with perceived failure. Please take care while listening and if you are feeling discomfort and think you would benefit from some support, please reach out to your GP or contact a service like Lifeline.

If you are based in Australia, this resource links to helplines, telephone and online counselling services for children, young people and adults.

 

Cite this episode

MacDonald, J. B. & Edwards, M. (2024, July 3). Academic mental health (No. 19) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

 

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be some errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

 

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Dr Marissa Edwards for sharing your time and expertise. Psych Attack is created and hosted by Dr Jasmine B. MacDonald. The audio for this episode was edited by Morgan McRae.