Tag: ClaartjevanSijl

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Emotional well-being at work

Emotional shadows: overcoming inner obstacles in the PhD journey by Dr. Claartie van Sijl

Doing a PhD can be a rollercoaster of emotions. It happens often that a PhD candidate experiences negative feelings. It’s important, yet difficult to know what to do.

In this on-campus workshop on “Emotional shadows: overcoming inner obstacles in the PhD journey”, Dr. Claartie van Sijl focused on disarming those “have-to’s” and “should-nots”, as well as those moments of inner doubts and other hindering emotions. The workshop started with PhDs sharing and discussing with peers about their own inner obstacles. Then, they were guided to identify and transforming the disastrous convictions in them. For example, “I want everything to be just right before I can start” was transformed to “I began making one tiny, little start”. Next, PhDs played an interactive game with peers on how to use resources (e.g., social connections, on-line resources, professionals, co-workers) to lighten our emotional shadows.

In this way, participants gained some insights about the role that those negative feelings play in their life and work and developed easy tools to lighten our emotional shadows.

You can read more about dr. Claartie van Sijl at https://vansijl.com/

“Very fun and informative workshop.”

Anonymous participant

“It gave me not just the encourage but also the tools to face with and solve the emotional problems I have.”

Anonymous participant

Categories
Emotional well-being at work

Recognizing and neutralizing stress and burnout #2 by Claartje van Sijl

As an academic, we all want to be productive and achieve results while enjoying what we do with a clear outlook on a purposeful and fulfilling career. However, the reality is often different, and too many of us are being hindered by the increasing amount of stress we experience.

We all know the feeling of being stressed and express it in a variety of different ways, yet not many of us know how to deal with and neutralize stress to ensure it doesn’t result in negative effects. This second session of ‘Recognising and Neutralizing Stress and Burnout’ with Claartje van Sijl touched on the topics of stress and burnout (or boreout), raising awareness about the different stages of stress and when they are a cause for concern. After providing an overview of the mechanisms behind stress, Claartje taught us practical skills on how to recognise our stress signals and consequently take action on to prevent and lower our stress levels.

You can read more about Claartje at http://vansijl.com.

We fully understand that these past couple of months have been extremely stressful for many, and want to point out that there are multiple sources of support available should you feel the need to speak to someone about what you have been feeling.

  • You can speak to your fellow PhD candidates/colleagues, they can often provide informal support and the mere sharing of how you feel can already feel like a huge relief.
  • Discuss your feelings and needs with your surpervisor so that they can support you through the process.
  • If you would like to talk to someone outside of your department yet still within the VU, you can contact the Studentenombudsman; Lies (E.J.) Poesiat. Email: studentenombudsman@vu.nl. Phone: 020 598 5313.
  • You can also contact the HSE Front Office to arrange seeing a social worker, the company Dr. or a Psychologist. Email: secretariaat.amd@vu.nl. Phone: 020 59 89008.
  • Lastly, you can also go to your GP (huisarts) should you wish to speak with someone not affiliated to the VU.

If you need further help or guidance, please don’t hesitate to contact us as well via forumyoungscientists@vu.nl.

“I liked that the audience was from like-minded people, who think alike and are struggling with similar problems”

Anonymous participant

“Very useful input, tailored towards early career academics, nice sense of community (despite the online format)”

Anonymous participant

Categories
Emotional well-being at work

Recognizing and neutralizing stress and burnout by Claartje van Sijl

Being a researcher can be very stressful nowadays: you have to conduct high-level scientific research in a given time, as well as writing academic papers, dealing with one ore more supervisors, having to teach courses, just to name a few tasks. Throughout this intense journey, you may have learned to develop tools to handle the associated pressure, but at times the stress seems to reach levels that do not allow you to work properly. Maybe you begin having trouble sleeping or perhaps you start feeling physical pain. These are important signs of stress and there are simple techniques that we can use to prevent it.

In the interactive workshop ‘Recognizing and neutralizing stress and burnout’, Claartje van Sijl created awareness of these personal stress factors that can vary between each person. She also showed us practical resources to help us regain a better balance. The workshop focused on three main elements: stress and burnout prevention, recognition of burnout and, finally, information on what to do in case you are facing burnout in your personal work environment.

You can read more about Claartje at http://vansijl.com.

“What would you like me to deprioritize?’ is a phrase I’ll definitely try to use!”

Anonymous participant

“It was good to hear that others also deal with the same issues”

Anonymous participant

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