Abstract:
Mental health interventions can help mitigate the unique challenges that individuals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) face as they navigate these disciplines. We developed the \"Mental Health and Wellness: Our Community and our Identity in STEM\" workshop, which emphasizes leveraging our STEM community and promoting self-compassion, to foster a conversation among members of the STEM community on how to support mental health and wellness. This interactive workshop begins with a short lecture to define mental health and wellness and introduce evidence-based methods to increase self-compassion. Participants, who are often from diverse backgrounds and various career stages, then explore case studies that highlight experiences related to mental health across STEM career stages. Pre- and post-assessments of workshop participants suggest that participants had positive shifts in their ability to show compassion toward themselves as well as an increased comfort in discussing mental health within their STEM community. This workshop not only provided participants with practical tools and insights but also cultivated a supportive environment, underscoring the importance of mental health awareness and collective well-being within STEM fields. In this paper, we share tips on how this workshop was executed and lessons we have learned from our years of sharing similar workshops in the broader STEM community. We hope this paper serves as a valuable guide for potential facilitators to initiate conversations about mental health and wellness in their respective STEM spaces.
摘要:
心理健康干预措施可以帮助减轻个人在科学,技术,Engineering,和数学(STEM)面对这些学科。我们开发了“心理健康与健康:我们的社区和我们在STEM中的身份”研讨会,强调利用我们的STEM社区和促进自我同情,促进STEM社区成员之间关于如何支持心理健康和健康的对话。这个互动研讨会从一个简短的讲座开始,以定义心理健康和健康,并介绍基于证据的方法来增加自我同情。参与者,他们通常来自不同的背景和不同的职业阶段,然后探索案例研究,强调跨STEM职业阶段与心理健康相关的经验。研讨会参与者的前后评估表明,参与者对自己表现出同情心的能力发生了积极的变化,并且在他们的STEM社区内讨论心理健康时感到更加舒适。这次研讨会不仅为参与者提供了实用的工具和见解,而且还培养了一个支持性的环境,强调STEM领域内心理健康意识和集体福祉的重要性。在本文中,我们分享这个研讨会是如何执行的技巧,以及我们从更广泛的STEM社区分享类似研讨会的经验。我们希望本文可以为潜在的主持人提供宝贵的指导,以在各自的STEM空间中开展有关心理健康和健康的对话。