Mental Health Over Summer: Rachael's Experience

Rachael shares her experience of how best to work and rest during the summer.

- Rachael Johnston

What do you do to help with your mental health over the summer?

I try and keep myself as occupied as possible.  To keep focused, it’s really important for me to plan ahead and have things set in my diary to look forward to. My previous job as a teaching assistant meant I had the whole summer off; however, I’m now a support worker supporting children with additional needs, which makes this summer a bit different.

What do you like to do during the summer?

I have my birthday over the summer, so there is usually the build up to that. I took two weeks annual leave to be able to have some time with my family and friends to celebrate.  I have had a short weekend away with my mum, which was nice, and I braved a massage. I’ve never had a massage, so I’ve decided I want to try and keep up to see if it helps me unwind a bit more.

What do you find hardest in the summer?

When we do get the sun, it usually means shorts and strappy tops. Currently my weight isn’t great, so I’m very body conscious. I also have scarring from self-harm. This summer, I’ve been a bit braver, and on really hot days I’ve just thought ‘sod it’! Then there are the big events and get-togethers! Usually it’s a time when everyone seems to go out and there is never a reasonable excuse not to go, so I try and tell myself to give it a go. If things do get too overwhelming, I can always go, so I find myself driving to places and ditching the alcohol in favour of a quick exit if I need it.

What differences have you found in your mental health over the summer compared to when you’re at university?

I’ve never been a fan of the summer holiday, even when I was in school.  I like being busy and having something to do. So I do notice that when my brain isn’t occupied, I start to feel low. However, when I’ve not been in university for a while, I start to become anxious about going back.  I check and recheck my personalised plan so I can reassure myself that any new tutors know what additional steps need to be taken. I suppose that’s the thing with mental health: no matter what I do, that little voice never seems to be satisfied.

Do you have any advice for other students who struggle with their mental health in the summer?

I’d say plan ahead. If you’re struggling, don’t bottle it in.  If you’re not up to do something which you have planned, be honest and don’t just cancel, my friends have either been able to talk me round into going out for a little while, or they’re happy to find a good film and stay in.
If you have appointments through the summer, stick to them, get to them even if you’d rather be sitting in. Sometimes it helps your therapists to see you in person when you’re really down, to get a fuller understanding of your situation.
To avoid staying stuck in a cycle of wearing the same clothes for days, I also try and set an alarm to have a fixed time when I have to have a shower and change.


Are you interested in getting involved in the “Mental Health over the Summer” blog series? Please do not hesitate to email us at blog@studentminds.org.

Hi, I’m Rachael. I’ve been blogging on and off for a few years now around my experience of living with Anorexia and Borderline Personality Disorder. Although I’m meant to be on a break from university this summer I requested an extension for my last assignment due to a dip in my mental health, so I’ve been able to keep myself occupied with this summer with uni work and my job as a support worker.

https://thejourneyback2life.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/to-the-bone/

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Eating Disorder Recovery and Doing a PhD.

Daniel ties his PhD Journey in with his recovery from an eating disorder.

- Daniel Rough

PhD research is often exciting, rewarding and genuinely enjoyable. You're given 4 years in which you dedicate your time to becoming the leading expert of a topic you are genuinely interested in! It's a wonderful opportunity, but one that at times can feel like a punishment. Nearly every PhD student I've spoke to has experienced times of tremendous stress, anxiety, and feelings of inadequacy.

In this post, I want to offer my experience of balancing eating disorder recovery and my PhD.

From www.wunderlist.com, a helpful online to-do list

Write things down
We can often become anxious when it feels like we're not making progress. Sometimes we find ourselves sat in the office chair in the late afternoon thinking "what did I actually do today?" Likewise, starting the day with no specific tasks in mind can leave us drifting and distracted. I actually wrote a blog post on writing while I was feeling particularly 'meta'.

"Write what you've done. Write what you want to do. Write notes on papers. Write notes on spontaneous thoughts that occur. Because thoughts are ephemeral, they disappear, never to be seen again. Words, written down, recorded, they stick."

I'm not just talking about PhD-related thoughts either. Starting a personal blog, even if you keep it private, can be tremendously helpful. During my recovery, I used my blog to vent frustrations and to chart personal successes.

Structure your day

Structuring what we do during our working hours can extend to organising what we do with all the hours of our day!

Take time to relax and enjoy yourself

As PhD students, we have a lot of what I call 'unstructured time'. It's not exactly free time, as many of these hours have to be filled with work. However, if we don't organise our time properly, procrastinate, work ungodly hours, it can feel like all our time is spent working. This can affect both your physical and mental health.

• Don't burn the midnight oil. I'm admittedly terrible for this one, but particularly in winter, daylight hours are scarce, and being up and awake for them has been proven to have a positive affect on our mood. 
• Have a 'quitting time'. It's all too easy to say to yourself "I just need to get this little bit working" at 5pm, and still be chipping away four hours later in desperation. Be strict with yourself, whatever stage you're at with your work, stop. It'll still be there tomorrow! 
• Have hobbies and interests outside of work. What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Playing an instrument, cooking, playing a sport, going for walks, tiddlywinks, whatever floats your boat! Have something you can look forward to at the end of the day or on weekends. It can be with others, or on your own. Just make sure to get some 'me' time. 
• Talk to your peers. Sometimes it can feel like you're the only one struggling, like everyone else has their head screwed on. It's not true! It can be reassuring to find that others aren't coasting along with no difficulties. And of course, it can be nice to get out the office and talk about something other than research! I myself have spent days, often weeks avoiding people during phases of my anorexia. While being social felt like the last thing I wanted when I was stressed and upset, interacting with others distracted me from thoughts of work. It helped me realise that there is more to life than just the PhD.

Taking a leave of absence
There's no doubt about it, focusing on recovery while focusing on a PhD is tough. Sometimes, it's simply necessary to stop. I remember sitting in the lab by myself at 3am. I had read the first sentence of a paper 10 times, and still failing to focus my weary eyes on it. My stomach was filled with nothing but cold coffee, and I clutched my hot water bottle despite the warmth of the room. It was then I stopped, put my head in my hands, and said aloud:

"I can't do this"

Right then and there, I had admitted to myself that I needed time off to focus on recovery. This is not a sign of weakness, inadequacy, or failure. To acknowledge that our health has to take priority, accepting that we need help, is a tremendous act of strength.

Taking time off to live at home and focus on getting back to health saved my life. I returned to university 6 months ago, happy, healthy, and focused. Work no longer affects my health, and health no longer affects my work.

Getting help
Your university will have services and people who understand mental health issues and can offer you help and support. I would also suggest talking to your supervisor, whether you decide to take time off or not. Supervisors' roles involve ensuring that their students are looked after and not suffering as a result of work.

St Andrews has an Advice and Support Centre for students

You can find more information and support about Eating Disorders here

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Top tips for supporting a friend with an eating disorder

Chloe provides some top tips on how to be a supportive friend to someone going through the difficulties of an eating disorder.

- Chloe Murray

I have never had a friend going through an eating disorder. However, I have been that friend and I know what it’s like to have people worrying about you and trying to help. Here are some top tips for those of you with friends who are experiencing the difficulties of an eating disorder.

1. Make sure your friend knows that you're always there for them, no matter what.
They might not want to talk about their feelings but just knowing that you're supporting them is the best help there is!

2. Your friend might say things they don't mean.
They might distance themselves from you and not make an effort. In the depths of an eating disorder, nothing else matters other than getting thinner. Please be patient with them, it’s hard for them to be rational and to distinguish between their own thoughts and the thoughts of their eating disorder. 

3. Your friend might lie about what they have or haven't eaten which can be frustrating.
They are only following the strict rules of their eating disorder and at times, for them, it can seem like lying is the easiest option. You have to understand that this isn't your friend talking, this is their eating disorder, which makes them do or say things they don't want to.

4. Try not to threaten them into eating.
My friends always used to threaten to "tell the teachers" if I ever skipped lunch at school in an attempt to make me eat. This just pushed me further away from them, leaving me feeling alone and unloved. At the end of the day it is down the sufferer to get better and the first step for them is wanting recovery.

5. Keep persevering. Please keep inviting them out. It can be frustrating if an invitation always gets declined. Your friend may find social activities difficult, especially if they involve food. It can be hard for them to escape their "comfort zone" and venture out from a routine in which they feel safe in. Don't give up! Your friend will probably feel guilty and left out for missing out on any social events and will hope to be included in future. 

6. Don't treat them differently.
Your friend is not defined by their eating disorder. Although it may try to mask his/her former personality, they are still the same person they used to be. Recovering from an eating disorder is all about finding other things, other than losing weight that make you happy. You can help your friend realise all the other wonderful things in life that are worth fighting for!

7. Set a good example.
Try not to talk about weight/calories/food or exercise. It is easy for someone with an eating disorder to feel guilty. They often compare themselves to others and if they feel that eating more/exercising less than others that will cause excessive guilt and perhaps become jealous of you.

I'm sure it can be so hard to support a friend going through an eating disorder and I can assure you that it is so extremely difficult for them too. I was lucky enough to have a huge support network cheering me on in my recovery and it helps a great deal! I can honestly say, without my friends and family encouraging me and inspiring me daily, putting up with my tantrums and being patient with me, I'd still be consumed by anorexia. Recovery is possible, but it takes more than just the sufferer to fight!

For more information on how to find support, click here.

For more information on how to support a friend going through a metal health issue, click here.

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The importance of peer support during your PhD

Leading on from his previous post, Andy discusses how peer support can be vital for the well-being of PhD students

-Andy Rowe

The introduction of the PhD journey in my previous blog post described the difficult process of managing a PhD. It detailed how pastoral and mental health support is something which is hardly spoken about (I term this a “non-academic” issue) and consequently little is known about it. However, it is a huge issue which can be faced by many an academics at some point in their career. This blog illustrates how important peer support is not only for undergraduate students, but also PhD students; many institutions struggle to adequately provide a means to enable peer support. This is where I, briefly, sing the praises of what we do at Loughborough University. 

I have co-created and currently co-lead a social and support network at Loughborough University (Click here for our twitter account) which enables students from across the University to come every Tuesday lunchtime and socialise with others whom they would not usually engage with. It is incredibly informal and we want people to put their work to one side for an hour and receive support from those who are also going through the same process. We politely request for people not to come and talk about their work, as it is a chance to get away from that and there’s more to life than the PhD! It also shows that as PhD students we are not on our own in what we think and what issues we are facing. We also provide signposting to other services which may be able to help with more specialised issues. We have cake, tea, coffee and a buffet lunch every so often and support students, where possible, to organise certain University-wide events to get the PhD community together. It has become incredibly popular and if only it could be a model for more institutions across the UK.  

More generally what this shows is that supportive peers are incredibly important and they can make or break your PhD journey. It forms a key facet in your PhD experience along with family, friends and supervisors. I’m fortunate as through the network I have met some fantastic people who I would not have met otherwise. However, every department in each institution is different as more often than not you only really associate with others in your own department. From experience, different means of working can have an impact on the development of peer friendship networks. For example there are numerous students at institutions across the country who work in a hot-desk, open plan, office environment and despite being adopted to help people communicate with one another, if people do not want to interact, regardless of the type of work space, they simply will not. In my experience, open plan working does not solve isolation and peer support issues. It can be difficult to formulate friendships as students can become frustrated with this way of working and they consequently work elsewhere in the office where there is a free desk. Whilst this way of working may actually enable people to speak to larger volumes of others, the development of really close friendship support networks can be limited. I am not saying people do not support each other, but students can feel like a “rabbit in headlights” at the sheer number of people working in the same space. 

Secondly, I use my close friend who has just completed his PhD as a further example. He worked in an office environment which he shared with two others and was on the same corridor as other PhD students in the same cohort. His transition into PhD life was easier for him as he developed a close friendship with those in his office because he saw them every day in the same space. This then transcended into meeting the other students at morning and afternoon communal coffee breaks.  

It is also here where I should importantly mention those who work from home; like me. We are forgotten about, there is no doubt about that, and there are different reasons as to why we choose to work from home. But, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, we should not cut ourselves off from the institution – training sessions, which support the RDF (Research Development Framework), provide a huge opportunity to meet others. This is how I met some of my fellow PhD friends. In this situation I would strike up a conversation (don’t be shy!) with them and after the session I would take their email address and drop them an email suggesting meeting for coffee – you would be very surprised of the amount of PhD students who are glad of the chance to converse and socialise informally! 

Overall, as a PhD student, your working environment can have a huge impact on the development of peer support networks. These people are going through the same process as you and whilst each PhD journey is different, supportive peers should be able to understand and offer an empathetic ear. As well as the reputation of the department, the University work space should be a major consideration in your decision to apply there. After all, different means of working have both their advantages and disadvantages, but you have to choose what you feel will be right and comfortable for you as ultimately you could be spending several years in that space.  

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