Mental Health in the Geosciences

Mental Health in the Geosciences#

This session was designed by Anthony Arendt and Shashank Bhushan. It was inspired by a session on mental health offered as part of OceanHackweek. Content has been reviewed by Gitika Talwar, PhD, a Licensed Clinical-Community Psychologist.

Norms and Shared Agreements#

All of our interactions and conversations surrounding content in this session will be contained within and supported by the shared agreements below.

These norms are derived from a manual used by Gitika Talwar, PhD and Dvon Maurer, MA, for the Winter 2023 edition of the UW Doctoral Student Support Group and from the guidelines suggested by East Bay Meditation Center for Multicultural Interactions

I will practice deep listening, which means listening to myself and others in the present moment without being distracted by devices or other technology.
We value the unexpected and the opportunity to learn. Therefore, we will not pre-plan our responses when listening to others, but instead be open to being surprised and learning something new.
I will say things to other members in a constructive and nonjudgmental way. I will refrain from offering unsolicited advice, and if I have advice to offer, I will accept it as advice to myself. We will refrain from blaming or shaming ourselves and others.
We are committed to fostering a safe and respectful environment. Therefore, we will treat everything we hear with the utmost confidentiality and respect.
We will strive to recognize and respect our diverse intersecting identities and lived experiences, acknowledging and addressing the systemic oppression and marginalization of people based on race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, size, weight, age, disability, immigration status, or any other dehumanized identity.
Impact matters; intent is not equal to impact. I trust that we don’t aim to hurt each other, and I recognize that it may happen. We will practice ownership of our experience when speaking by using “I” statements.
We can say “I pass” if we don’t wish to speak on any prompt.
I am the expert of my experience & others are the expert of theirs. I will offer my experience to help group members feel less alone & for us to collectively generate wisdom that can guide us.

Learning Outcomes#

understand the prevalence and types of workplace related mental health challenges currently encountered by geoscientists
learn individual and community-based approaches to create culture change and normalize mental health conversations
learn about available resources to find support when navigating mental health challenges

Summary Description#

Recent data suggest that over 3/4 of people in the U.S. workplace have experienced one or more mental health challenge associated with their workplace. And from our own personal experience, geoscientists face unique challenges in navigating the ups and downs of academic careers, and the grief associated with climate change, among other issues.

In this session we will begin a conversation about mental health in the geosciences. We will offer resources and follow a recent framework created by the US Surgeon General. If there is sufficient interest we will plan for continued meetings in an effort to build a community of practice around this topic.

This session is optional and we will establish norms that ensure confidentiality for all participants.

Preparing for the Session#

We invite participants to arrive with a willingness to share stories and listen to their colleagues. This session is intended to be a no-device session, to ensure a distraction-free, immersive experience for all of us. We request all of the interested participants to familiarize theselves with some our shared norms (above), which will also be provided in printed format during the session. The hackweek team will provide stationery materials to participants for personal note taking!

We encourage people from all career-stages to join this session!

Broad format#

Respecting everyone’s time commitment, we have designed this session to be semi-interactive. The session will be a mix of interview-style interaction between Anthony and Shashank, and include small group discussions between participants in small groups.

Links to material#

In this section, we provide our initial curated list of resources. We acknowledge that this list is not exhaustive and encourage participants to suggest additional relevant resources with which they are familiar :)

Institution based mental health support: Many institutions have resources to support students and employees for their mental health needs. Here we provide examples for University of Washington students and employees as reference, but encourage participants for exploring similar resources at their respective institutions.
- Anyone in an immediate crisis situation should call or text 988, or chat on 988Lifeline.org.
- Everyone in the UW community can access SAFECAMPUS resources for mental health and violence prevention assistance during regular work hours.
- Students: All students at the University of Washington have access to same day crisis counselling through the Husky Helpline.
- More structured support can be accessed through the UW Mental health counseling center, peer wellness coaching group, and group therapy programs.
- Services by the Mental Health Counselling Center are all covered by student insurance (ISHIP or GAIP). We encourage participants to learn more about these resources here.
- Faculty/Staff/Postdocs: Faculty and staff can avail short-term, focussed therapy sessions through the Washington State Employee Assistance Program (WA EAP).
- Everyone enrolled with PEBB is eligible.
Resources for workplace-related mental health issues relevant to geoscientists:
Participating in supportive and inclusive communities: Many of us struggle alone and have inhibitions when discussing our feelings because we might fail to identify in the same way as our everyday workplace colleagues. This is particularly relevant if we identify ourselves as marginalized in some form or another. In these situations, engaging with communities and groups of scientists we can identify with personally might help us seek mentorship and rediscover our purpose. Along these lines, we provide an initial list of organizations that have a core focus on inclusivity and mentorship: