Senior Lecturer, PI, wife and mother, Dr. Jennifer Paxton, opened up about feelings of embarrassment, guilt, anger and acceptance in response to professional contacts seeing her home life in online meetings and lessons. She highlighted specific frustrations of being a parent in Academia. She also courageously opened up in the final 15 minutes about her decision making process for having a child. She, like many of us, was putting off major personal milestones because of the pressure of academia.

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

- Jennifer’s blog piece – ‘Return of the Mummy – the trials and triumphs of a life post maternity leave.’

- Paxton Lab website

- Jennifer’s lecturing profile

- Helpful health and wellbeing books

Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig

Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 10/09/2021.

Sound: Theme music is “Mindset” by Ketsa; podcast edited by DanPatricksAudio.