Volunteering with PhD Balance

 

PhD Balance is a safe space for individuals to share their stories, find community, and access resources. We engage with hundreds of people every day through comments, emails, DMs, etc. This is a community effort, led by current, future, and previous grad students around the world.

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Requirements at a Glance
- Agree to follow all community guidelines

- Commit to at least 6 months with the team.  Each sub-team meets approximately twice per month for one hour. Outside of this, we expect all team members to dedicate up to 4 hours per week, depending on the specific role.

- Complete Mental Health First Aid Training or equivalent (free version online)

- Sign onboarding agreement and NDA

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Applications
We are always looking for new volunteers! Please fill out this quick application and we will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss your best fit in our team.

 

Self-care Initiative

PhD Balance exists to support graduate students through their many challenges - this goes doubly for our team. We believe that everyone should be treated with empathy, first and foremost, and we agree to afford the same kindness towards others as we would wish for ourselves. Everyone on the team is expected to communicate openly and purposefully while assuming best intentions.

 

Constructive feedback

The PhD Balance Team is made up of imperfect humans! This means that there may be times where we mess up. Please give us feedback and help us correct ourselves. If you find yourself in disagreement with a community member and/or PhD Balance team member we ask that you create space for a dialogue whereby both parties are heard and respected. 

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The PhD Balance cannot provide advice and/or medical resources.
Our mission is to provide space to help graduate students and destigmatize difficult conversations, such as those around mental health. If we are unable to provide the help you are seeking, and we will suggest you talk with your university and/or local healthcare provider. Similarly, we require that all of our volunteers do not act to distribute professional or medical guidance through our platforms.