Hi everyone,
It's World Mental Health Day and I thought it might be helpful to discuss mental
health among academics. This is obviously a sensitive subject, and it can be easy to
become despondent! So if you're contributing to the discussion, please try to offer
constructive ideas for improving mental health in our line of work.
For my part, I faced a mental health issue late last year due to work pressures. I
didn't actually realise it was coming about until I was in an unrelated occupational
health meeting, and happened to mention I was quite tired and stressed, whereupon the
occupational health nurse produced two questionnaires, the answers to which revealed
a moderate case of stress and depression.
I decided to do something about it, so I spoke to my union who were very helpful in
beginning to address the root of the issue. This became a very big undertaking which
involved collecting a huge amount of email correspondence and meeting notes where
these issues had arisen. Naturally this in itself contributed to my work pressure!
But gathering it all together and beginning the process of addressing the issues,
with the help of the union, was extremely beneficial to my mental health.
In the end I left that job (for largely unrelated reasons), but I believe that the
process was on the right track; and I would strongly recommend it to others. If you
are in a similar position, and if your stress is clearly emanating from a particular
issue or relationship at work, I can recommend trying to gather all the information
you can demonstrating how it has come about, and working either directly or with your
union to address it.
I know it's not always that simple, and indeed for many a union relationship is
difficult for other reasons. And there are other issues impinging on mental health
that are rather more systemic, such as unrealistic contact hours, growing
administrative burdens, and so on. Any advice people have about these would also be
great to hear!
I hope you're all well and I hope this discussion brings about some positive
strategies for improved mental health.
Dave
--
Dr. Dave Sayers, ORCID no. 0000-0003-1124-7132
Senior Lecturer, Dept Language & Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä,
Finland | www.jyu.fi
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
Communications Secretary, BAAL Language Policy group | www.langpol.ac.uk
[log in to unmask] | http://jyu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
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