In this webcast, now available to view on demand, researchers talk about their mental health and how they look after themselves and others in the absence of normal support systems. Burnout is rampant in academia, so this topic remains as crucial now as when the session was first broadcast, last year.
Ellen Wehrens, a scientific writer at the Princess Máxima Center for paediatric oncology in Utrecht, the Netherlands, discusses her laboratory’s unusual happiness programme, and how the lab’s members have learnt to support each other from a distance.
Daphne Ling,a neuroscience PhD student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, makes the point that this pandemic is not a sabbatical. She urges us to focus on self-care instead of productivity.
Finally, Luana Marques, a psychiatrist and clinician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, gives insights and clinical advice, alongside techniques and habits for maintaining good mental health. “I want to remind all of us that during these challenging times, it’s OK not to be OK,” Marques says.
This webcast was screened live in July 2020, and forms part of a series developed to support researchers navigating the pandemic.