Doing a PhD or a postdoc can be very demanding and stressful at times. It is therefore very important to keep your mental fitness at a high level. And good to know that if you are facing problems at work, that there are several ways of getting support that will enable you to solve the problem or make it more manageable.

A good PhD guide to read at the start and throughout your PhD time is Managing your Mental Health during your PhD: A Survival Guide by Zoë J. Ayres. It contains chapters on e.g. mental health, self-care, how to thrive instead of survive, managing expectations and your supervisor, impostor feelings, the publish or perish issue, and putting your academic skills into a broader context. You can download the PDF via your own university library access.

A useful online guide about (mental) health and wellness with information and exercises is HelpGuide.org.

Are you familiar with the Dutch academia? Here you can find a very good introduction that hopefully helps you to find your way.

If you are a PhD candidate and feel that you would like to talk about your PhD trajectory with somebody outside your own work environment, please do not hesitate to contact the PhD advisor for EPS, Susan Urbanus, or find local support at your university in the list in below.  Alternatively, you can also contact the EPS PhD Council or have a look at the PhD Council page for more information and upcoming activities.

If you are a postdoc and are experiencing a problem at work, please contact the postdoc advisor for EPS, Juliane Teapal or find local support at your university in the list below. Alternatively, you can also contact the EPS Postdoc Council or have a look at the Postdoc Council page for more information and upcoming activities.

If you are a supervisor of a PhD candidate and are experiencing problems in the supervision of your PhD candidate, please do not hesitate to contact the PhD advisor for EPS, Susan Urbanus, or find local support at your university in the list below.

If you have doubts about whether the issue is big enough to involve another person, please remember that it is easier to solve an issue when it is still small and that all information will be treated confidentially.

Below you can find a list with links to webpages concerning support and mediation at different universities associated with EPS, where you can also find the contact information for local counsellors and confidential advisors.

Leiden University
Mental fitness
Confidential counsellors

Radboud University Nijmegen
PhD Organisation Nijmegen – PhD welfare
Confidential advisors for PhD candidates

University of Amsterdam
Social safety – University of Amsterdam (uva.nl)
Psychologists

University of Groningen
PhD support

University of Utrecht
Support and confidential counsellors

VU University
Help, support and advice for PhD candidates

Wageningen University & Research
Social safety & wellbeing (link only for WUR members)
Support & Mediation (link only for WUR members)
Parents Support Group