Thread by @TaliaRinger

- give them pandemic-safe in person social interaction activities; stop pretending Zoom is a substitute

- prioritize people with severe depression in vaccination queues

- fund them for an extra year

- help them find group housing

- create more flexible deadline systems

https://twitter.com/RogerSoraa/status/1386916663883403264

- help them navigate job insecurity

- provide resources for dealing with grief

- provide confidential advocates for the upswing in harassment

- normalize taking about mental illness

- normalize talking about medication

- stop pretending therapy and wellness will fix everything

- recognize that when this many people are depressed, it means SYSTEMS are broken

- allow people with severe depression to come work in person in empty offices, so they have two buildings to go between

- adjust hiring expectations next year to account for a lost year; use CRA guidelines if possible

- adjust expected graduation timelines

- offer postdocs at the same institution if the student cannot find a job

- destroy the culture of overwork as a coping mechanism

- ensure that students have people to talk to about the impact of the pandemic on their romantic relationships, and their future prospects of marriage and having children while pursuing an already difficult career

- generally just be emotionally available and empathetic and there to listen if students are in pain

- don't take your stress out on students in any situation ever

- spend extra time making sure your reviews are kind and courteous and constructive, understanding that many authors may be suffering severely right now

- fund childcare

- fund fertility treatments

- fund healthcare more generally

- help students secure food for food insecure friends and relatives

- supply emergency funding for students to fly somewhere to, for example, care for the children of a sick relative

Seriously, this is like 15 minutes of brainstorming on my couch. The problem here isn't lack of ideas. Pick one and push for change at your institution.

And if you are severely depressed, I strongly encourage you to answer "yes" to "do you have a disability that impacts your ability to isolate?" Because depression is that.

I would personally define severely here as unable to take care of yourself, or having serious thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

I was really vocal about my history of suicidal ideation going into the pandemic, and as a result many friends who had never experienced it before contacted me to ask for help when actively suicidal.

Just letting people know what you've been through can be valuable.

It's awkward and embarrassing and, in my case, at one point made me extremely vulnerable to harassment. So I won't pretend it is risk free. But on the flipside, you can literally save lives.

Whoever saves a life, it is as if he saved an entire world.