“I had no idea that I was such an asshole to myself.” – Improving researchers’ mental health and resilience with Nonviolent Communication.

A lot of the stress researchers experience is inherent in the academic system: short-term contracts, limited financial resources, pressure to finish papers and to publish, competing with many other talented people, constant (self-)evaluation and (self-)criticism, high dependency on your supervisor/PI (for better or worse) or the next stage of funding, holding another job on the side, dealing with visa restrictions, you name it, and you already know it. But some of the stress is inherent in our thinking and ways of interacting with co-workers and the system at large.What if there was a way for us to use this portion of the stress as a superpower? A door to our and our colleagues’ needs? What if we learned to understand needs as something beautiful that points us in the direction of better mental health, more caring relationships, and a healthier academic system? What if we could retrain our thinking so that we can also communicate in a way that makes it more likely that we and everyone else gets what we need to make our lives more wonderful?Sounds a bit too woo-woo to be true? Come and find out for yourself. In this talk, I will share experiences and learnings I had as a trainer of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). You will gain a basic understanding of what NVC is and how it might serve you as well.