Mental Health Matters KU Leuven Healthy

How to maintain a healthy work-life? What to do when feeling isolated? How to deal with anxiety and imposter syndrome? Taking care of your mental health during research is not only the responsibility of young researchers but also of their supervisors.
In this episode, PhD students Robyn and PJ speak with three supervisors at KU Leuven. Together with Kai Dallmeier, Bénédicte Lemmelijn and Sabine Van Huffel, we look back on previous episodes and talk about social connection, finding a good work-life balance, dealing with fear and imposter syndrome, and the role  supervisors play in the mental wellbeing of young researchers.

Michalina is a first-year Ph.D. at KU Leuven. In this first year, she has already learned a lot about the importance of feedback. “I think to give good feedback also means that you can communicate it well and that the other person can receive it well. I think sometimes there is an imbalance in that.” She underlines the importance of an open and safe space where things can be shared in a direct, straightforward way. In this final episode of Mental Health Matters, Michalina, Robyn and PJ share ideas on how to create this safe space and how this can be beneficial to your work-life balance. 

Lars has been around the world! He’s originally from The Netherlands, but has already lived in Antwerp, Leuven, Melbourne, Brussels, Montreal and Finland. “It’s exciting, for the first month, to move into a new place, but on the other hand it’s quite tiring, and you start missing your friends.” Lars has struggled with feelings of isolation in different academic environments. Along the way, he learned that many other Ph.D.’s experienced the same issues. Want to know how he handled the situation and how he’s doing now? Listen to this episode to hear his story.  

Anaëlle moved from France to Belgium and is now doing her PhD at KU Leuven. From the moment she started her PhD, her perfectionism took over. It has always been part of her life, but she finally knows how to define it. Throughout her Ph.D., she could count on a lot of understanding: “My supervisor has been really great, I told her that I went to a psychologist and that she told me that I struggle with perfectionism. My supervisor was making sure that when there was some progress in my PhD, she really pointed it out and that was really encouraging.” In this episode, Anaëlle talks about perfectionism and her fear of failure.

Alice does her PhD at KU Leuven about digital disconnection. Although it’s the topic she’s doing research about, she also resonates with it: “I try to organize my workday in sort of blocks, during the focus block I switch off all notifications, close my mailbox, put my smartphone away and put on my headphones to really be in my concentration bubble.” This eye-opening episode gives you tips and tricks on how to stay digitally disconnected and how to positively use digital tools.

Margarita noticed she had a strong resilience compared to her peers. She also had stress during her PhD, but overall she really enjoyed it. “One of the things I feel maybe PhD’s do, is that they expect that everything is good at the first chance. But doing a PhD is also a learning process, and you have to be humble about that and be open to it.” Listen to this episode and learn how yoga also helps Margarita build resilience.