MCAA REFERENT pilot project - call for mental health mentors for ESRs
From our policy WG
Dear Chairs and board members,
We are contacting you because we are launching a new initiative in the form of a peer-to-peer mental health support network called REFERENT. For this reason, we are looking for experienced researchers who have faced issues such as depression, bullying, or harassment in their careers; and who are willing to mentor MSCA early stage researchers (ESRs) experiencing distress during their first academic experiences.
You will find more information about the program here.
We will give mentors a training to help them in their mission and match them with a young researcher who has a background similar to theirs. If they become a mentor, they will commit to talking with your mentee every six weeks for the duration of the academic year. They will also be asked to meet in person once, for instance at the MCAA General Assembly. They can also use your Chapter meetings to meet!
Volunteers can register here (link https://forms.gle/
Please help us spread the word by forwarding this information to experienced researchers (at least 4 years after their PhD) of your chapters / WGs.
Soon, a call for mentees will follow. We kindly ask you to wait that you receive information from us with a link for mentees to register before you mention this to young researchers.
If you have any question, please contact us at mcaa-mhpp@mariecuriealumni.
Kind regards,
Darragh McCashin and Stéphanie Gauttier on behalf of MCAA Policy WG
(forwarded by Fernanda Bajanca, chair of the Policy WG)