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Mental Health

Presenter: Awn Duqoum

Target Audience:

  • Open to everyone!

Suggested Prerequisites:

  • An open mind and a willingness to share thoughts & opinions in a safe environment

Workshop Goals:

To educate hackers on the importance of self-care and other mental health topics. Learn about:

  • How to handle imposter syndrome
  • Useful and appropriate tactics for self care
  • Resources to help you take better care of yourself
  • How to avoid / detect burnout

Description:

Mental health affects us all, so let’s take some time to talk about it! The topics covered by this workshop are those that affect hackers on an everyday basis. These topics include: burnout, imposter syndrome, self-care, and how to be an effective peer supporter.

Content Breakdown:

  • Introductions & roadmap
  • Burnout
    • Describe burnout, why it’s important to talk about, how to detect it, and how to remedy it at different stages
  • Imposter Syndrome
    • Explain what is meant by Imposter Syndrome and why it’s important to talk about
    • Discuss how to take positive steps to remedy it
  • Self Care
    • The importance of self care, and effective strategies to get better at self care
  • Peer Supporter
    • Point out the desire for all of us to help out
    • Give simple effective advice on how to help in small ways and when to notice that you need more help
    • Video
  • Q&A & Resources

Slides

Key Notes:

  • Burnout

    • Burnout has multiple types
      • Frenetic
      • Underchallenged
      • Wornout
    • Common causes
      • Resource imbalance
      • Conflict
      • Low control
    • Prevention
      • Examining stressors
        • Looking at them in terms of risk
        • Framing them in terms of person-job mismatch
      • Reducing stressors
      • Time management
      • Asking for help / delegation
      • Self-Care (More on this later)
    • Recovery
      • Find out why you are burned out
      • Proper goal setting
      • Learning to say no / delegate
      • Positive thinking
      • Talking to a peer or counsellor

  • Imposter Syndrome

    • What is imposter Syndrome?
      • The idea that you don’t belong in your program / workplace because you are a fraud
    • This is important to talk about because if left unchecked imposter syndrome can destroy your self-confidence leaving you in a worse place than when you started
    • Who is to blame?
      • This has become very widespread in our culture
      • Cannot blame one thing alone, but common suspects include:
        • Social media leading people to think life is better than normal
        • People using accomplishments to determine self worth
        • Goal oriented society
    • Strategies to combat:
      • Time
        • If you think your a fraud and don’t belong then wait and check that claim
        • If you don’t think you are fit to be an engineer but graduate then your claim was wrong
      • Detaching accomplishments from self worth
        • You are worth more than the sum of your degree and accomplishments
        • Self-worth needs to come from within not outside
      • Learning to detach others from yourself
        • Be happy when people succeed but don’t let it crush your own self confidence

  • Self Care

    • No one can take better care of you than you!
    • Without proper self care you mental health will suffer when times of stress come along
    • Having good mental health is like having a sturdy ship, when harsh winds come you are not broken
    • Stopping the “Who has it worse” completions
      • Stop glorifying bad self-care
      • If someone says they only slept 2 hours last night, an effective response is not “oh I only slept 1” a good response is “you should really get more sleep”
    • Common self-care strategies
      • 8 Hours a day of sleep
      • 3 Good meal a day
      • Dedicating time to staying active
      • Waking up and listing all the things you are looking forward to that day and the things you are proud you achieved yesterday
      • To do lists
      • Time management
      • Not being hard on yourself

  • Being an effective Peer Supporter

    • All of us have a desire to help those around us
    • Not all of us can devote the time and energy into getting formal training
    • It is not hard to be a good peer supporter
    • Skills that a peer supporter needs
      • Active/empathic listening
      • Brené Brown on Empathy
      • Non-judgmental tone
      • Empathy not sympathy
      • Knowing when to refer someone
    • UW MATES offers peer support to students
      • Confidential
      • No wait list
      • In the language the student prefers
      • Best match for the student
    • Other Resources
      • Here 24/7(1-844-437-3247 or TTY:1-877-688-5501)
      • Seven cups of tea
      • Good2Talk (1-866-925-5454)