Zoë J. Ayres - Managing your Mental Health during your PhD: A Survival Guide

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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After writing my PhD thesis, I thought I would never write a book again, but here we are. If nothing else I now have two very elegant door stops. Thank you to those of you who have believed in me when I have struggled to believe in myself. I am only here today due to a whole host of people who have enabled me to get to this moment, including family, friends, and the online #AcademicMentalHealth community who have given me encouragement every step of the way. Thank you to my husband Jonathan, who always supports me in my endeavours, even if he thinks I do far too much (and is probably right). Thank you to my parents for raising me to believe I can do anything. Fluffy, thanks for keeping me company and for deleting a whole page of this book I will never get back because of your love of head scritches and keyboardsI am sure it was not essential anyway. To my therapist Amy, thank you for working with me and enabling me to reconnect with who I am and what I want. You have honestly changed my life.

Thank you to Miriam Latuske for taking a chance on me on publishing this book, as well as a big thank you to Alina Cepraga, Sabine Schwarz, Srinivasan Manavalan, Martina Himberger, Jana Yagnavaragan, and the rest of the Springer team for helping me get to this point. To Dr Petra Boynton, thank you for reaching out to me (a complete stranger) and guiding me through the book publication process, for setting the foundations of speaking out and up for academic mental health long before I was on the scene, and agreeing to edit this book. Thank you for providing your expertise during the editing process. Hana Ayoob thanks for bearing with me and my terrible sketches and bringing my book cover and illustrations to life. A big thank you to Heloise Stevance, Hugh Kearns, and Maria Gardiner for permission to adapt their excellent graphics.

My anxiety is already getting the better of me, in that I might forget to thank someone, so I am sorry in advance if I do. You are appreciated.

I have had some amazing friends and colleagues who have stepped up to give me honest, critical feedback about my book prior to publication, or simply been there for me when I needed support, despite their busy schedules. Thank you to Juanita Limas, Mick Staniforth, Linda Corcoran, Heidi Gardner, Kevin Bolton, Daniel Ranson, Louise Burton, Natrcia Rodrigues Lopes, Joe Ward, Ruth Patchett, Aya Abdalla, Christine Lockey, and the FOJs (you know who you are!). Thank you to Nkasi Stoll, Amy Zile, Rachel Charlton-Dailey, Zofia Beck Anchondo, Rachel Cholerton, Marissa Edwards, and the whole Voices of Academia team, as well as anonymous contributors, for helping me with queries, questions, and perspectives when needed. Thank you to those of you that I have connected with from all over the world through social media that remind me why I do the work that I do and support me.

To my longest friend Stevie, I am super proud of you for choosing yourself over completing a PhD. I think this book is a step above our first book The Ghost Story from circa. ~1997 we wrote together, but the clip-art game is nowhere on a par. Thanks for always being there.

To my PhD supervisor Julie, thank you for supporting me through my PhD, including the bits I found particularly difficult to navigate, and championing me well beyond having left your lab. To Tania, Liz, Jenny, and Rob (and everyone else who I did my PhD with) thanks for making it all that bit more manageable, largely through laughter, memes, snacks, and the occasional shoulder to cry on.

Thank you to all of you who stepped forward and trusted me with your accounts of discrimination and biasI do not think the book would pack as much punch without your contributions. Thank you for helping me drive for change and being living proof that anonymous stories help the tides of change as much as any other advocacy work.

Finally, I guess I should say thank you to past me. Thank you for persevering. Thank you for choosing to stay. I have never been more grateful or happier to be here. A lot can change in a few years. If this book helps even one person, it has been worth it. And even if it does not, I have realised somewhere down the road I am worth something anywaythat is more than enough for me.