Catalyst Fund Project

• The PhD Support Groups are available to any PGR who needs support with personal, emotional and relationship issues that arise from the doctoral experience. This includes PGRs who have a pre-existing or emerging mental health disorders, mental health problems or mental distress.
• The groups are jointly facilitated by a Counsellor and a Researcher Developer and operate within the Advice and Counselling Service’s existing clinical and risk procedures, ensuring timely referrals into alternative support according to need.
• Anonymised feedback has been used to devise a list of areas to address at the institutional level and to measure the effectiveness of the support groups in improving participants' wellbeing.
• Access a summary of the results and find out more in the article Enhancing postgraduate researcher wellbeing through support groups.
• Participants’ subjective wellbeing scores increased considerably over the eight weeks of attending a group and improved from initial score ranges associated with risk of depression or psychological distress.
• Participants also felt less isolated and anxious, more satisfied with their life and work-life balance and more confident that they could complete their degree within the institutional timeframe.

• The annual Cohort Days and the expanded 'Survive and Thrive' programme reached just over 500 PGRs during the project.
• The aim of this strand was to send a clear message that the tools provided to manage the emotional pressures are equally important for a successful PhD journey as the academic skills training.
• The new sessions for the Cohort Days were developed in collaboration with the Charlie Waller Trust and the session resources are free to download (available under the 'Live' section on the relevant OfS page).

Results

The majority of attendees reported:

• finding the training useful in helping them manage their mental health and wellbeing;
• being more aware of how to improve their mental health and wellbeing and where to go for support;
• feeling more supported by the University;
• being more likely to seek support with their mental wellbeing.

• Development of a half-day training workshop to cover pastoral support, including recognising first signs of deteriorating mental health, starting a conversation and responding to a student in crisis.
• Embedding a 30-min excerpt of this training within the mandatory training for all new supervisors.
• The workshop was developed in collaboration with the Charlie Waller Trust

Results

79% of attendees:

• rated their knowledge of the subject as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ after the workshop (compared to 24% before the workshop);
• stated that they probably or definitely will use what they had learned during the session (which includes starting a conversation on mental health and wellbeing issues, and signposting PGRs to an appropriate service);
• stated that they probably or definitely will recommend the training to a colleague.

• The aim was to address issues like social isolation, and “toxic” sub-cultures of overwork and ableism, contributing towards a change in culture. The message that needs to reach all PGRs is that Queen Mary promotes a culture of support.
• The campaign launched on 30 January 2019 with the event Is it just me? Discussing mental health and the PhD experience, which was followed by a month of wellbeing workshops and activities that encouraged PGRs to look after their wellbeing across the 5 dimensions of wellness. To support the campaign, the Researcher Development programme and the GradFest in February 2019 had a focus on wellbeing.