Reflections on Valuing Wellbeing in Higher Education: Reforming our Acts of Self-care

205 Pages·2022·5.276 MB·English

by  Narelle Lemon

Ref lections on Valuing Wellbeing
in Higher Education
This book focuses on the lived experiences of higher education professionals
working in the face of stress, pressure and the threat of burnout and how acts
of self-care and wellbeing can support, develop and maintain a sense of self.
In considering the place of self-care in higher education, we are challenged
with the tension that exists when it comes to the valuing of self-care and
our individual and collective wellbeing. In Ref lections on Valuing Wellbeing in
Higher Education, authors present and explore the ways in which they manage
and reframe their wellbeing and self-care, through mindfulness, compassion,
connection to breath, ref lection, demonstrating individual and collective
embodiment and resistance to neoliberalism and environmental destruction.
Covering various contexts of higher education, such as learning and teaching,
research, leadership and engagement, this book offers practical strategies
grounded in literature and evidence-based research.
The self in self-care is relational. It is not just about self. We need others
for inspiration, motivation and, indeed, the act. This book will be of great
interest to professionals and researchers specifically interested in studies in
higher education, wellbeing and/or identity as well as those navigating a career
in higher education.
Narelle Lemon is an interdisciplinary researcher in the fields of education,
positive psychology and arts, holding the positions of associate professor in
education and associate dean (education) for the School of Social Sciences, Media,
Film and Education at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne,
Australia.
Wellbeing and Self-care in Higher Education
Editor: Narelle Lemon
Healthy Relationships in Higher Education
Promoting Wellbeing Across Academia
Edited by Narelle Lemon
Creating a Place for Self-care and Wellbeing in Higher Education
Finding Meaning Across Academia
Edited by Narelle Lemon
Creative Expression and Wellbeing in Higher Education
Making and Movement as Mindful Moments of Self-care
Edited by Narelle Lemon
Ref lections on Valuing Wellbeing in Higher Education
Reforming our Acts of Self-care
Edited by Narelle Lemon
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Well
being-and-Self-care-in-Higher-Education/book-series/WSCHE
Ref lections on Valuing
Wellbeing in Higher
Education
Reforming our Acts of Self-care
Edited by Narelle Lemon
Cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Narelle Lemon; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Narelle Lemon to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lemon, Narelle, editor.
Title: Reflections on valuing wellbeing in higher education : reforming our
acts of self-care / Edited by Narelle Lemon.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Series: Wellbeing and self-care in higher education | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022007763 (print) | LCCN 2022007764 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032081526 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032081496 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003213161 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: College teachers—Psychological aspects. | College
teachers—Mental health. | Self-care, Health. | Well-being.
Classification: LCC LB2331 .R422 2023 (print) | LCC LB2331 (ebook) |
DDC 378.1/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022007763
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022007764
ISBN: 978-1-032-08152-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-08149-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-21316-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003213161
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of images vii
List of tables ix
List of contributors x
Series preface xvi
Acknowledgements xix
Review team xx
1 Reforming our acts of self-care in higher education:
developing a sense of self individually and collectively 1
NARELLE LEMON
SECTION 1
Being present and non-judgmentally aware of self-care 13
2 Yoga and the contemplative path: placing meaning at
the centre of self-care and wellbeing in university life 15
AJIT PYATI
3 Finding the spaces in between 28
MARNI J. BINDER
4 Wellbeing through self-ref lexivity: understanding
our underlying motivations, gratitude, strength
identification and support 41
ANUJA CABRAAL
5 Self-care and environmentalism: finding a socially just
balance as an early-career social work researcher 53
MICHELLE NEWCOMB
vi Contents
6 Tales from the soft-play fifth shift: mother, teacher,
mentor, academic and student 65
AIMEE QUICKFALL
7 A community of practice-educators as self-care: a
sustainable strategy for both academics and
practitioners alike 79
MIM FOX
SECTION 2
Awareness in caring for self and others 93
8 A systems pathway to self-care in academia: Me, We,
and Us as avenues to integrated long-term self-care 95
REBECCA J. JARDEN AND AARON JARDEN
9 Cultivating wholeheartedness in the academy during
a time of COVID: insights from/within an inter-
collegial friendship 111
MONICA GREEN AND SHERIE MCCLAM
10 Peer reviewing journal articles: a duoethnographic
exploration of emotion in the digitalised space 125
KAY HAMMOND AND NARELLE LEMON
11 Finding an audience who care: examining research
crowdfunding through a lens of self-care 145
JONATHAN O’DONNELL
12 “Ding!” Co-creating wellbeing in a Friday online
research writing group 159
KAY HAMMOND, JULIE TRAFFORD, AMIRA HASSOUNA,
LJILJANA JOWITT, AMANDA LEES, PATRICIA LUCAS, NICOLA POWER,
AND CAROLINE STRETTON
Index 178
Images
2.1 Namaste 16
2.2 The Tree of Contemplative Practices 22
3.1 Interlude 1 (Photograph by author) 28
3.2 Interlude 2 (Artwork by author) 30
3.3 Interlude 3 (Collage by author) 33
3.4 Self-care rituals (Photograph by author) 34
3.5 and 3.6 Interlude 4 (Photographs by author) 37
4.1 Centering in myself 41
5.1 Resilience of the forest 54
6.1 The Magic Soft Play Circus 66
6.2 Gender performativity meets work performativity for a
female academic 70
7.1 Curriculum co-design on whiteboard 1 85
7.2 Curriculum co-design on whiteboard 2 85
7.3 Pre-recorded case study where a social worker discusses a
complex pediatric case 86
7.4 Pre-recorded role-play of social worker and client who has
just received a terminal diagnosis 87
8.1 Me, We, and Us levels of wellbeing in organisations 98
9.1 Kitchen-table colleagues 111
9.2 Feeding and nourishing us as academic collaborators,
partners and friends 123
10.1 The partitioning of people in the review process through
digital interfaces 127
10.2 Emotional aspects that can enter the review process for the
reviewer 129
11.1 Jennifer Daniel is a $15 patron of the Lingthusiasm podcast 145
11.2 The continuum of personal and professional support for
crowdfunding campaigns 154
12.1 Online screenshot of our writing group chapter authors 162
12.2 Meeting to create our book chapter 163
viii Images
12.3 Amanda with wellbeing assistant – Apollo 165
12.4 Interactions between colleagues, emotions, and productivity 170
12.5 Word cloud of our online writing group ref lections 174
Tables
12.1 The online writing group structure (morning session) 162
12.2 Strategies for our supportive and enduring group 173