About
This initiative is a peer support network for people doing science. A safe space where anyone can turn to when they need someone to talk. We want your voice -your journey with mental health during and after the iGEM experience - to be heard. Story sharing has the power to influence and inspire people and such an initiative will not only encourage conversation about the necessity of mental health and balance in research but also will serve as a way to bring people closer together by sharing universal human experiences.
Goals
- Helping the iGEMers and other people doing science to navigate their challenges that might affect their work.
- Creating a platform to share experiences and collaborate with professionals
- Providing resources to learn about research-life balance.
Initiated in 2021, we had covered some mental health-related topics in virtual sessions. Each session was done with a moderator sharing about a topic and continued with sharing and discussion from the audience. Topics that were covered previously:
There will be more development this year in order to provide resources in the form of videos, social media contents, and podcasts. Beside sharing stories, there will also be workshop series that provide tools for the participants to acknowledge their condition and to manage certain situations related to mental health.
Program
Workshop series
Interactive session that gives the participant an opportunity to learn psychological tools to be applied in managing their situation as people doing research.
Video & Podcast Series
Videos and podcasts are created by interviewing the iGEMers and professionals about their personal experiences with mental health and coping strategies for stress. There will be an episode released in each month on different topics.
Live Sessions
Similar to the previous live sessions, a guest speaker is invited to talk about certain topics in mental health on zoom and potentially at the Jamboree.