Seeking Support

It is important to be able to recognise when difficult emotions have impacted your ability to function in your day-to-day life. When this happens, it can be helpful to seek mental health support from our friends, family or a mental health professional.

It may be uncomfortable to ask for help, however no one can do everything alone, and no issue is too big or too small to talk about.

Seeking support from friends and family

Mental health can be quite a personal topic, this is why speaking to a friend or a relative can be a valuable way to seek help as there is typically already trust and comfortability built within your relationships.

If you are feeling nervous before talking with your friends or family, it may be helpful to first write down what you want to say or let them know that what you want to talk about is quite personal.

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Seeking support from your supervisor(s)

It could be that your course or studies are impacting your mental health. If so, it may be helpful to have a conversation with your supervisor(s) about it. Below, we talk more about how you can approach this conversation and what you can do if you feel uncomfortable talking to your supervisor about mental health.

If you are struggling with navigating supervisory relationships, we offer further information on our Navigating workplace culture and candidature page.

It is understandable to be nervous or intimidated when approaching a conversation about mental health with your supervisor. It is important to understand that your supervisor(s) are human – they likely have had their own experiences struggling or have knowledge on how mental health can impact one’s ability to productively work.
It is best to have this conversation with them in person. Below is an example of an email you can send your supervisor to arrange a meeting to discuss your current mental health:
Hello (Supervisor)

I hope you are well. I want to arrange an in-person meeting to discuss something personal with you. Let me know when you would be free to talk (on ZOOM / at location).

Kind regards
(Your Name)

If you are feeing nervous or anxious during your meeting, it is okay to preface the conversation by noting that this is a difficult topic for you to talk about. Try your best to be open and honest with your supervisor about your mental health. If you are unsure how to talk about it, here are some of the things that you can mention if you are comfortable doing so:
- Have you experienced this before?
  - How often does it emerge for you?
  - How long do you usually feel this way for?
- How is it impacting your ability to work
- What kind of support do you hope to receive from your supervisor?
You and your supervisor should collaborate on a plan so that you can complete your work in a way that impacts your mental health as minimally as possible. This can be done by communicating your needs in terms of supervisory support, and your supervisor communicating what support they can realistically offer you.
It is never too late to approach or revisit this conversation during your degree.
We acknowledge that speaking about your own mental health is a very personal topic. It is understandable to feel uncomfortable discussing such a sensitive matter with your supervisor(s).
If you feel your supervisors will not react in a productive way to this conversation, we encourage you to seek out other support first before choosing to approach them.
MGA advocacy often offers free and confidential support to HDRs who are struggling with their mental health and do not feel comfortable approaching their supervisors about it. They can assist you with making a plan to approach this conversation, or if it seems there is a more systemic issue causing these difficulties, they will advocate for your cohort to improve the situation.
Supervisors are required to work together with their students to make arrangements or adjustments for those who experience mental health challenges. If your supervisor has explicitly made it so that you are unable to open a dialogue about your mental health, you are able to approach a Senior Research Officer or someone in the Graduate Research Leadership team to discuss your concerns privately.

MGA Advocacy

Monash Graduate Association (MGA) offers advocacy for graduate students. MGA advocacy is not associated with Monash University and is completely confidential. Advocates can:

Give advice to the student regarding study related issues
Assist students in completing any statement, forms, or letters needed to be completed
Attend or help prepare students for any meetings related to their issue

Graduate students can make an appointment with an MGA advocate via email.

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Seeking professional support

Mental health professionals are available to provide you with emotional support and strategies to improve your mental health.

As a HDR student, you are entitled to free and confidential mental health services

While the source of your struggling may be related to your studies, this is not the only reason needed to access mental health support. Some reasons you may access counselling services are, but not limited to:

Anxiety, depression, or stress

Personal and/or family relationships

Grief and loss

Addictive behaviours

Eating or body image concerns

Struggles with self esteem

Sexuality or gender identity

Life transitions

What does confidentiality mean?

We’ve mentioned confidentiality a few times within this page, and while you may know the dictionary definition, what it means in practice may be unclear.

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When we say that a counselling service is confidential, we mean that:

The fact that you have sought counselling and anything you have spoken about within counselling is private and will not be shared by anyone, including anyone from Monash.
Your counselling service is prohibited by law from sharing your information with anyone else

The only reasons that permit a mental health professional to release your information to someone without your consent is to protect yourself, or others from serious harm or if they have been sent a court order to do so.

Where can you seek out professional support?

Monash Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

Monash CAPS is an internal, confidential, and free counselling service provided by qualified psychologists working for Monash University.

Monash students are entitled to six face-to-face or telehealth sessions. Call (03) 9905 3020 to make an appointment with a counsellor via telehealth or for an in-person session.

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Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

EAP is a free, confidential counselling service provided by mental health professionals independent from Monash.

Monash staff and their immediate family are entitled to six face-to-face or telehealth sessions for each issue they have. Students are entitled to one free session. Accessing EAP as a Monash employee will not impact your employment as your employer cannot access this information.

General Practitioners (GPs)

You can see a GP to talk about your mental health. If they have determined that you can benefit from additional support, they can write up a Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) for you.

For more information regarding MHCPs, click the relevant drop-down menu below.

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MHCPs are available to those who have a mental health condition. Typically, the individual would already have a diagnosis, however a GP may organize a MHCP for you if they suspect or diagnose you themselves with a mental health condition.
Your GP can write a referral to a local mental health professional who they believe will be helpful. However, you can do your own research on who you wish to see through the national psychologist database.
You may search psychologists based on what issues they specialize in and what area they are located. You may then let your GP know who you would like to see, and they can write a referral to them.
If your psychologist has already written you a referral to a specific mental health professional, you can take this referral elsewhere. It does not have to be used by the person it is addressed to.
You may access up to 10 individual and 10 group Medicare rebated sessions with a mental health professional per year.
For a 50+ minute session, you will receive a Medicare rebate of $124.50. Mental health professionals often dictate their own fees, so it is important that you ask the cost of a session before seeing the professional as you will have to cover any extra cost yourself.
Each referral you receive from your GP will either enable you to access 6 or 4 sessions at a time. If you feel you still need support after these sessions, you can make another appointment with your GP for a mental health plan review to organize more.

Monash Thrive HDR