Here at the University of Bradford,
we’ve been awarded catalyst funding
by the Office for Students
to develop a peer support network for
our postgraduate researchers.
Specifically, what we're doing is we are exploring the
theme that researchers can benefit from
a strength of community and a sense of belonging
that can counterbalance and mitigate against the
sense of loneliness and isolation that they
can sometimes feel due to the unique way that
they study and work.
So we have worked very hard to develop a model
that reflects the promotion of mental wellness,
in contrast to what we tend to do which is
to support a crisis approach to mental illness,
and to develop a way of helping researchers to
share their experiences day-to-day
in terms of their life as researchers.
And that's not only benefitting them as individuals,
but it's creating a ripple effect for
everyone around them as well. So we're seeing that
issues can be de-escalated and nipped in the bud by
the fact that they are able to share with each other
rather than issues escalating up to people who feel
sometimes overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with
mental health issues such as supervisors and
other people who are not qualified
to deal with those things.
So its been beneficial right across the whole of the
PGR community – we’re seeing a real cultural shift.
So over the past 8 months that we’ve had
the peer support model up and running we’ve
developed a network of four peer support groups
with five trained facilitators,
and that’s enabled us to pilot the model and
check that it's robust,
and over 2018/2019 we are looking at embedding that
now into our teaching and learning and training
programmes for the whole community.
So it's really exciting now that we are going to see
this model grow, we're seeing researchers take
hold of it as a real peer-led model and
seeing them becoming much more empowered and
feeling a real sense of community.
I trained as a peer support group facilitator
through the PGR Connect training model.
With the skills of group facilitation and
the coaching skills, I was able to provide
a safe and comfortable environment for
students to share their experiences without
having to compromise their confidentiality.
We are also able to provide support
through a group that’s outside of your supervisors
and outside the other academic
services available to students,
which allows us to normalise our
day-to-day activities as researchers,
but also our daily life.
It also provides a confidential space
and environment for students to
be able to voice their concerns, but also
their victories to other students who are
going through the same thing they are every day.
Over the past few months, the PGR Connect has
made a huge difference to me
and the important part is that I have never felt alone.
The sense that you are with others who get
what it means to be a researcher
and the unique challenges I am experiencing.
The PGR Connect group has been really beneficial.
I think within… as a researcher being in my
first year, it's helped because having someone
who knows and has been there beforehand, knows
what to look for and gives you hints and tips,
I think it's also about talking about your work life
balance as well, so you know, it's not just
about the PhD side of it, I think it's also about
getting to know them as a friend
and that’s been a real benefit for me, especially
because of being in the University in a different
environment because it is different from my undergrad.
[Melissa] In our group discussions,
we've come across some skills that we’ve
been able to develop and some of them are
a positive coping mechanism for when things
go badly or not the way we want.
And also it's been really great as well
because share those small victories
among your peers, which can be really uplifting
especially if you are having a really bad
and tough time.
It can be something that you’re just able to
have, and it's been actually really fun
because being a final year researcher I’ve
developed certain skills and had certain
experiences that most students don’t
and so I’ve been able to pass on my knowledge
to the next generation of PGR students.