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Image: Jen Heemstra
‘Self-care first’
Scientist prioritises
wellbeing in lab policy.
By Loren Smith
“Your mental and physical health are by
far the most important consideration in
all that you do while in our lab. Moreover,
success should not come at the cost
of maintaining your interests/hobbies
or healthy relationships in your life.”
T
he passage above reads like a
workplace fantasy, but is the new
reality in Jen Heemstra’s lab. The
associate professor of chemistry, from
Emory University in Atlanta, posted her draft
lab wellbeing policy on Twitter. She invited
suggestions, yet largely received adulation.
“This is going in our lab policy now … with
credit to you @jenheemstra.”
— Jonathan (@JLHabif) October 13, 2018
Other excerpts from the draft policy
include the following:
“If you are not feeling well … take the
time off you need to seek out help and take
care of yourself. If you are struggling … and
wondering: ‘Is it okay to go see a counsellor
instead of setting up that PCR?’ the answer
is ‘Absolutely! Get the help that you need’.
“Being an undergraduate, grad student,
or postdoc is stressful. We all care about
you and are here to support you – just let us
know how we can help.
“Being ambitious and working hard are
part of our lab culture, but it should come
from a perspective of driving yourself out of
the fun of pushing your limits and exploring
what you are capable of. The key is to know
your limits.
“If you are a member of our group for
multiple years, the chances that a life
situation (or multiple life situations) will arise
are fairly high. In these situations, the top
priority is taking care of yourself and dealing
with the situation.”
PUT IT IN WRITING
“The need for a written policy in this area
was borne from posts I was seeing on
Twitter from grad students and postdocs
who were worried their adviser might be
upset if they took time away from research
for self-care – things like going to see their
counsellor, taking a ‘mental health day’ to
prevent burnout, or leaving the lab during
work hours to go to the gym,” Heemstra
told Campus Review.
“While I talk often with my lab members
about the fact that we have flexible work
hours and that their health and wellbeing
come first, I realised that it would be much
more powerful to put it in writing.”
That this kind of policy is novel seems
contrary to human dignity. Shouldn’t we
all be entitled to redress our mental ills,
enjoy a work/life balance and take care of
our dependants?
Heemstra explained why students often
feel they can’t do these things: because
they’re not employees – they don’t have
wellbeing protections like personal or sick
leave that are afforded to other university
personnel. These protections are especially
critical for students, who are often under
immense pressure to succeed due to
in-built power structures, where their
career progression can depend on a single
individual. In this environment, students
often sacrifice their wellbeing for work.
Consequently, “there is a documented
mental health crisis among graduate
students and postdocs”, Heemstra said.
“I think many, if not most, advisers want
to be supportive of wellbeing, but aren’t
always sure how to communicate that
directly to students. In the absence of that
communication, the default for students
can be to assume it is not okay to take care
of themselves.”
This may soon change. The reaction to
Heemstra’s draft policy was “overwhelmingly
positive”, and she hopes that, for labs that
don’t currently have a policy, students
might be able to use the document as a
conversation-starter among themselves or
with their advisers.
Yet policies like these only work if they
are followed – by students and faculty.
“I realise that if I have this policy, I need to
‘walk the walk’,” Heemstra said.
“If someone disappears for three days,
I need to respond to that with trust, and
refrain from feeling frustration about the lab
work that didn’t get done.
“This may sound obvious, but it is a huge
battle against our human nature, especially
in the high-pressure context of academia.”
In her case, this also means looking
after herself. “My self-care right now
mostly consists of exercise, so I make
sure I give myself permission to do things
like leave work and go for an afternoon
run, especially if I’m feeling overwhelmed
or stressed.
“Rather than sneaking out of my office
and directly to the stairwell, I walk past our
lab and offices in my workout clothes so
that the group knows that I am also making
use of the policy by taking time for myself.”
Dr Sean Elliott of Boston University’s
Elliott Group – a chemistry lab – also
formally acknowledges the value of
self-care in the workplace; he consulted
to Heemstra on her lab policy. While his
lab doesn’t have a standalone wellbeing
policy, it has a live Google document that
all lab participants can contribute to. It
covers topics from ‘Core Values’ to ‘Group
Expectations for Success’.
As for why these need to be written down,
Elliott said that the trickle-down of values
“rarely occurs through anecdotal contact”.
“In the fairly recent past (say, the past 4–5
years) I’ve noticed that my own life only gets
more complicated, stress only increases. It
is important (if not essential) for my group
to have a document that describes not just
logistical things of how we work, but written
statements about why we work the way I
want to work,” he told Campus Review.
Other reasons for the document
include making expectations clear in the
#MeTooSTEM era, and hoping to better the
field overall: “I thought this might be one
small step forward.” ■
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