Planning: positive mental health in the geosciences

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Integrative Activities awarded a $199,657 Project Grant to the Geological Society of America, Inc. (GSA), a non-profit scientific society, for a two-year "PLANNING: POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GEOSCIENCES" project. This grant, funded under NSF's Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), supports a collaborative effort between social scientists and geoscientists to explore the intersection of mental health and the geosciences. The planned activities include a one-day in-person convening to gather experts, share evidence-based approaches, identify community needs, and create a foundation for addressing mental health in the geosciences in a comprehensive way. The outcomes will be used to develop resources for the geoscience community, with the goal of orienting the community towards a coordinated proposal to develop a comprehensive program of mental health support and training. This project aims to contribute to retention, improved wellbeing, and professional development for a wide variety of groups, including those historically excluded from the geosciences.

Abstract

Geoscientists at all education and career levels experience mental health challenges, and are frequently isolated during fieldwork, in the laboratory, and in learning environments. Covid and the use of virtual lessons and meetings removed geoscientists from their support networks and normal daily structure, leading to negative impacts on the wellbeing of the community. The intersection of mental health and the geosciences is a relatively unexplored area of study. This planning effort will support a gathering of social scientists and geoscientists, who will engage in a dialogue and review materials created over a two-year time period, which will result in new knowledge about mental health in situations specific to the geosciences and will situate these within the broader stem mental health context, and within the context of structural racism and other bias. By directly addressing both how to change institutional cultures around mental health and how to support geoscientists? Mental health resilience, the proposed work is intended to contribute to retention, improved wellbeing, and professional development for a wide variety of groups, including those who have been historically excluded from the geosciences. These outcomes could ultimately lead to a stronger geoscience workforce that appropriately represents the communities most affected by climate change and environmental injustice. The current interdisciplinary approach involves social scientists, experts interested in improving educational and workplace culture in the geosciences, and participants whose expertise may come primarily from lived experience. To create an initial community around mental health, a one-day in-person convening will be supported to gather experts from psychology and geology to share evidence-based approaches and lived experiences, discover community needs, and create a foundation for addressing mental health in the geosciences in a comprehensive way. This planning effort will be organized by the geological society of america (GSA) and facilitated by the science education resource center (serc). Outcomes will be used to develop resources that will be widely disseminated through publications, presentations, and professional development activities for the cohort of participants. Through these efforts, the project seeks to create change agents in order to orient the geoscience community toward a coordinated proposal to develop a comprehensive program of mental health support and training. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.