Taking care of your 'self' within the PhD process 

12th Oct 2016 1:30pm-6:30pm 

Taking care of your ‘self ’ within the PhD process

 

Wednesday 12^th October

1.30 – 6.30pm

Department of Drama and Theatre

Royal Holloway, University of London

 

Aims of the session

It is widely known that completing a PhD can be a very stressful but rewarding endeavour. As Lecturer Nadine Muller stated in a recent article for The Guardian, it is difficult to divide between the personal and professional when you are ‘doing what you love: ‘This means that doctoral and early-career scholars are seldom trained in how to firmly draw that line and value themselves beyond their work’[1]. Many students who complete their PhD have a mental health condition, others experience poor wellbeing at different times during this time frame. The focus of the session aims to creating a calm, caring, and supportive environment to reflect on the demands of undertaking doctoral studies.  The approach will be arts-based and will encourage creative engagement with materials.  Professional input will address possible common periods where challenges can arise, such as post upgrade, as well as exploring coping strategies, and faculty resources available. A key element of the day will be to nurture on-going peer support, utilizing the existing model of peer-support promoted by Student Minds mental health charity, aiming to provide a learning atmosphere that helps to reduce the isolation of doctoral studies.[2]

Who is the day for?

The session is for new, upgrading or on-going PhD students.  It will be open to those who both have a mental health diagnosis and those without.  We are looking to work with a group limited to 20-30 in order to assure that the session can be more ‘bespoke’ and attend to the participant’s needs.

 

Who will be leading the session?

 

Dr Emma Brodzinski is a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London with a research expertise in Theatre in Health and Theatre and Therapy.  She has experience as a PhD supervisor and examiner.  She is also a dramatherapist with a focus on adult mental health.  She has worked within NHS and in private practice.

Elizabeth Bennett is a PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London (Drama and Theatre). She holds a distinction in Applied Theatre and Participatory at Masters level (RHUL), where she developed skills as an arts-based workshop leader. During her undergraduate studies, Elizabeth was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, she will draw upon the experience of her continuing academic career, and the support she has received at various stages of education, to provide practical and creative strategies for living well with, and alongside, anxiety.

Rachel Fahy is a Mental Health Advisor at Royal Holloway, University of London. She studied Psychology and Information Technology in her undergraduate with an emphasis on Mindfulness. Afterwards she completed her MSc in Psychology (BPS accredited). Rachel has worked in various roles supporting students and service users with mental health conditions.  As an Assistant Psychologist she ran group therapy sessions on the role of spirituality in recovery from Schizophrenia. Rachel’s role at Royal Holloway involves mentoring students to manage their mental health, teaching student’s strategies to help with stress, relapse and anxiety, advising departments on appropriate reasonable adjustments and delivering mental health awareness training to staff.

For more information and an application form please contact Emma Brodzinski  - e.brodzinski@rhul.ac.uk