Series 7, Episode 6: What to do when you're experiencing feelings of guilt and anxiety during your PhD? With Dr Melissa Willis.

Dr Melissa Willis is the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Research Team Lead at Sellafield Ltd. Prior to this she was a PhD researcher in material sciences at the University of Manchester. Melissa shares her experience of guilt, low self-esteem and anxiety during her PhD. She shares advice about what helped and talks about how she handled her career change from academia to industry. Importantly Melissa discusses how she’s worked through these issues during her career transition and in her current workplace. She hopes that other PhDs in a similar situation will make use of the support available to them and her top tips: talk to someone and take real breaks.

King's PhD students can access support for their mental health and wellbeing.  Visit the new PGR Wellbeing Hub (internal) for easy access to all the support available including KCL counselling services: https://tinyurl.com/y25w75er

King's Research Staff can access support through visiting the Pathways to Wellbeing pages (internal) https://internal.kcl.ac.uk/staff/experience/wellbeing/index 

If you're a PhD student or member of Research Staff from another institution, please do contact the student and staff support sites at your university for local support.

More information about the NHS' Talking Therapies can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/nhs-talking-therapies/ 

If you require a transcript of this episode please email careers@kcl.ac.uk citing CinYE Series 7, Episode 6.

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