‘How PhD Supervisors can support student mental health’ Webinar summary and recording
As PhD supervisors, we have a unique opportunity to shape our students’ research journey and play a key role in supporting their mental health.
This webinar will help you build confidence in recognising when a student may be struggling, opening up supportive conversations, and creating an environment where doctoral researchers feel valued, understood, and able to thrive.
We will explore the current landscape of PhD mental health, share evidence-based ways to foster openness and trust, and discuss how to respond effectively to concerns while maintaining your own wellbeing.
By the end of the session, you will leave with practical strategies you can integrate into your supervisory approach, helping you to support both the academic success and the personal well-being of your students.
Understanding the PhD mental health landscape
Over the past decade, research has consistently shown that doctoral researchers experience significantly higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than the general population, and even more so than other groups of students.
To understand why supporting PhD student mental health is so important, it is key to reflect on the big picture.
Talar cites many academic sources to highlight the increase of students impacted by poor mental health, a rising demand for well-being and mental health services on a global scale, and finally, the unique pressures and challenges faced by PhD students.
Key risk factors for mental health
Structural risk factors
PhD candidates face specific challenges due to the nature of being a researcher.
Talar reflects on three risk factors that can contribute to poor mental health that are part of the PhD process.
- Academic pressures
- Supervision dynamics
- Academic culture
Academic pressures related to strict deadlines, limited funding opportunities, publication expectations, and the high-stakes nature of the viva and thesis evaluation.
Supervision dynamics can also play a role, due to unclear expectations, poor feedback and an incompatibility of working styles.
The wider academic culture can be a risk factor as the normalisation of overworking and unclear working futures due to the competitive nature of academia is prevalent.
Personal risk factors
Talar then lists precipitating and personal risk factors not related to the PhD process that could affect student mental health.
- Life events such as bereavement, relationship difficulties, and challenges due to relocation or migration.
- Financial strain due to the rising cost of living, lack of funding/scholarships, the need to work part-time or accumulating debt.
- Personal circumstances like health conditions or caring responsibilities.
- Identify factors like gender, ethnicity, neurodivergence or being an international student.
These circumstances often go undetected unless they are explicitly shared with supervisors, and so can easily be underestimated.
Talar highlights how these factors rarely occur in isolation.
They often interact with the structural risk factors, which means the academic pressures are felt more strongly.
Why supervisors matter
It is important to reflect on why supervisors matter when it comes to protecting students’ mental health.
PhD supervisors are in a front-line position with the students and are often the first to know something is wrong, as they interact with the students so much.
These observations and early check-ins can prevent issues from escalating.
Supervisors are also a safe space for students to share concerns by fostering open communication and trust.
They play an important role in normalising conversations about well-being.
Finally, supervisors are role models for students and can make a huge impact by protecting their own mental health and engaging in sustainable working practices, de-normalising the overworking of academic staff.
Recognising warning signs
It is key to note that every student is an individual, and how one person shows stress and poor mental health could be very different to the next.
Talar goes through some subtle and overt warning signs that you can look out for, while also highlighting the role personal factors play in the presentation.
Subtle indicators
- Reduced engagement
- Missed or delayed deadlines
- Social withdrawal
- Heightened perfectionism or self-criticism
None of these signs on their own means a student is experiencing serious mental health problems; they might reflect normal PhD stress.
However, if they persist or escalate, they can be an early indication of distress.
Make note of any changes and gently check in every so often to see if these changes are indicative of distress.
Overt indicators
- Noticeable mood shifts
- Sudden drop in academic performance or attendance
- Direct disclosure of mental health struggles
- Signs of crisis
Recognising signs of crisis is critical as a supervisor, as immediate action might need to be taken.
Signs can include extreme fatigue, talk of hopelessness, or references to self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
It is important to know your institution’s emergency protocols in this situation, and where the student can get support, either through counselling or more immediately through a GP or emergency services.
Diversity and indicators
Gender and cultural differences can affect the way stress manifests.
Talar highlights how, for some backgrounds, poor mental health might present more often in physical ways like headaches.
Neurodivergence can mean stress presents differently to a neurotypical counterpart; what could be a healthy coping mechanism for one could be a warning sign for another.
One size does not fit all.
Tailor your approach; you must observe the individual and not the stereotype.
Creating a supportive supervision environment
Why the supervision environment matters
A strong, supportive relationship with a supervisor is one of the most powerful protective factors identified in research.
Studies consistently show that when students feel supported by their supervisors, they experience better mental health, greater satisfaction, and a higher likelihood of completing their degrees.
Clarity reduces stress.
A significant proportion of stress for PhD students comes from uncertainty.
Whether about the process or expectations.
Being transparent from the beginning and regular communication reduces this uncertainty.
Belonging builds resilience, whether this belonging is to you as the supervisor or to the wider academic community.
This can be fostered by regular check-ins, including the candidate in lab activities or showing genuine interest.
How to foster a supportive environment
- Setting clear, realistic expectations
Have an early discussion about roles, responsibilities, and your supervision style.
Establish clear expectations through written supervision agreements or meeting plans.
When setting goals, find the balance between ambition and achievability.
- Encouraging open conversation
Regularly check in with the student on their progress and how they are feeling. This normalises speaking about their mental health and creates an open space for talks.
It is important to respond with empathy and not judgment.
Try not to rush and solve the problem, listen and let the student feel heard.
- Modelling healthy boundaries
Supervisors do have influence on the wider academic culture, and students will take cues from you.
Engaging in healthy work practices such as taking annual leave, disconnecting from work, and modelling reasonable working hours shows students that these behaviours are supported and encouraged.
- Fostering belonging
As mentioned, feeling part of a community is a protective factor for mental health.
By integrating students into group/lab activities, facilitating peer support & mentoring opportunities, and connecting students with the wider academic network, all support this sense of community.
Responding to mental health concerns
Starting supportive conversations
Talar mentions that one of the hardest parts of supporting a student is knowing how to start the conversation when you are concerned.
It is key to choose a private and unhurried space to allow the student to open up.
In-person meetings are better than online, as you can pick up on body language better.
Using ‘I’ve noticed’ statements allows you to mention observations, so you don’t come across as assuming and makes the student less likely to get defensive.
For example, ‘I’ve noticed you’ve seemed quieter in meetings lately’ rather than ‘you are quieter’.
Express care and not judgment.
Tone and language are very important here.
The goal is to show concern and a willingness to listen, and not to diagnose, criticise or disagree with what they’re feeling.
Talar uses the example of, if a student’s performance has dropped, not to phrase it like ‘you’re not pulling your weight lately like you used to before’.
Instead, use an ‘I’ve noticed’ statement like ‘I’ve noticed you seem less engaged recently, and I want to check how things are going for you.’
Active listening & validation
Once the conversation has started, there are three things you need to do.
- Listen more than you talk
- Validate feelings
- Avoid minimising
As a supervisor, you will be used to giving lots of feedback and advice; in this situation, the student should be talking more than you.
Ask open-ended questions to encourage conversation, and often allowing silence encourages the student to share.
When validating feelings, it is good to acknowledge the reality of what they’re experiencing.
This can be accomplished through simple phrases like ‘that sounds really tough’ or ‘I can see why you’d feel that way’.
This shows empathy and helps reduce the fear of judgment.
At the same time, it is important to know what not to say.
Avoid phrases like “everyone struggles” or “that’s just part of a PhD”.
This can feel dismissive, invalidating and shuts down future disclosure.
Signposting & following up
As a supervisor, you are not expected to be a mental health professional, and you need to know where your role begins and ends.
If a student needs further support, ensure you are familiar with counselling, student support, occupational health, and crisis pathways.
When encouraging professional help, give reassurance that getting help is a good thing and normal.
Finally, it’s important to document and follow up sensitively.
Keeping a short record of your concern, but also what actions you took, protects you as well as the students.
It is equally important to check up after the student has accessed supports, how they are getting on with it and if it is helpful.
Sustaining your own well-being as a supervisor
Maintaining and protecting your well-being as a supervisor is critical, as you cannot support others if you are not supported!
It is good to be aware of your own risk factors.
The pastoral side of supervision is often overlooked, but is a key element in effective supervision.
This can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, blurred professional boundaries.
This then leads to a drop in supervisor quality.
How to help this is by ensuring that student well-being is a shared responsibility; it is not solely up to you as the supervisor to take it all on.
Lean on your institution and access resources to support you.
On an individual level, support yourself by seeking peer supervision, use mentoring networks and take advantage of training.
Takeaway toolkit
Talar provides a toolkit covering the topics discussed and the key messages.
Recognising warning signs
Reduced engagement, missed deadlines, withdrawal, and perfectionism.
Conversation openers
“I’ve noticed you’ve seemed quieter – how are you doing?”
“How are you managing your workload at the moment?”
Helpful responses
Listen > Talk
Validate feelings (“That sounds tough”)
Avoid minimising (“Everyone struggles”)
Know where to signpost
Your university’s counselling/well-being service – GP/occupational health.
National helplines (e.g. Samaritans).
Look after yourself
Boundaries matter; you’re not a therapist.
Use peer supervision/mentor support.
Q&A
- What are the supports available for PhD supervisors’ mental well-being?
- There are often barriers, such as financial constraints and housing concerns that are major factors to poor PhD health. How can supervisors assist in situations like this?
- How to cope with suicide ideation by students feeling distressed and alone in a foreign city?
Meet the Host
Dr Talar Moukhtarian
Dr Talar Moukhtarian is an Assistant Professor of Mental Health at Warwick Medical School and the Psychology department. She is a researcher specialising in digital mental health interventions.
Her work focuses on developing and evaluating early and preventative approaches designed for delivery outside traditional treatment settings such as the NHS, with a particular focus on workplaces and schools.
She has led and collaborated on projects addressing sleep, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, securing competitive grants as Principal Investigator and working closely with industry partners to translate research into real-world impact.
Talar holds a PhD in Clinical Psychopathology, where she explored emotional dysregulation symptoms in adults with ADHD and borderline personality disorder. She has extensive expertise in mental health and psychological interventions, systematic reviews, feasibility and randomised controlled trials, and co-production methodologies with individuals with lived experience.
She also leads the national Women in Academia project, a mixed-methods study addressing retention, progression, and well-being among early- and mid-career women in UK Higher Education. This work is closely tied to her broader commitment to improving research culture and advancing gender equity.
Alongside this, she has contributed to projects supporting neurodivergent individuals. Across all her work, Talar’s approach bridges rigorous research with practical application, ensuring that findings deliver meaningful change in the settings where they are most needed.
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