Ph.inally D.one

My department does not require a dissertation defense, and so all I had to do was email my department's Graduate Administrator a giant .docx file for him to upload into the library's database. With my signature--and those of my committee, of course--I officially became Dr. Oren.* 

*The Dean went home early that Friday, technically leaving me in candidate limbo until Monday, April 10. 

The past month has been surreal. It's been a relief to finally get a break from the dissertation, and I've used the time to read novels, catch up on some personal writing projects, and spend quality time with friends. One dear friend even made my day by calling me from the office to catch up--when I asked how he was able to take a personal call at the office, he said he wrote "Conversation with Dr. Oren" on his calendar. Days later, and I'm still tickled by the story. 

I'm still unsure about what I'll be doing, professionally, after the summer. What I can report is that I will be co-editing the blog of the Urban History Association, The Metropole, and publishing more content here on my personal blog. I have some exciting posts coming up on both sites, so stay tuned.

Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout graduate school and the dissertation. I could not have done it without your generosity, affirmation, and love.

Chicago

Today I'm off to Chicago to attend the Urban History Association Biennial Conference. For the first time, I'm attending a conference without presenting my own work. Without the distraction of performance anxiety, I am especially looking forward to sitting in on a variety of panels and learning about the newest scholarship. It is also an opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends, and to make new acquaintances. I'm optimistic that it will be a worthwhile and fulfilling experience!

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Chicago from the 51st floor, looking south towards downtown from an apartment building in Lakeview. 

The Last Year

My goals for 5777:

1. Finish writing my dissertation
2. Graduate to Avigail Oren, Ph.D.
3. Publish an article

I promised myself that this will be my last year of graduate school, no matter what, so I really hope that I achieve goals 1 & 2. I am looking forward to new challenges and adventures, but I also want to savor and enjoy these last few months of this experience. 

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The Painted Ponies Go Up and Down

I prefer to set annual goals on the occasion of the Jewish New Year rather than on January 1, because it coincides with the academic year and the cycle of productivity that academia imposes. Last year, before Rosh Hashanah, I set three goals for myself: 

• Write 3 dissertation chapters.
• Get an article out for review.
• Visit a new place. Preferably a tropical island.

Well, I came close. I only submitted one chapter to my committee, though two more are almost finished. I wrote an article, but am still working on revisions and have not yet sent it to a journal. I slayed the final goal, however, by visiting two new places this year--Nashville and Croatia--and even if neither were a tropical island, Croatia was pretty darn close. 

When I set these goals, they felt very manageable--I was not trying to be too ambitious. And yet this year has taught me that I'm not very good at estimating what I can accomplish in a set time. Three weeks ago, I vowed to myself that I would finish the chapter (now chapters, plural) that I have been working on by tomorrow, the last day of September. I worked so hard, and so badly wanted to achieve this goal, but I did not even come close. It was not for lack of effort. This chapter has required more research and methodological rigor than I could have ever imagined, and it was time consuming work. I think it has all been worth it, but I need at least another week, or maybe even two, to finish writing, editing, and polishing the chapters before they're ready for my advisor to read. I set an overambitious goal, and I should not be disappointed that I failed to meet it--it still motivated me to do my best work. And that, after all, is the real goal of setting goals. 

Mental Health First Aid

Yesterday I attended a day-long training to become certified in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). This course teaches you how to support an individual in the midst of a mental health crisis until assistance arrives from an appropriate professional. The training also teaches how, in a less emergent scenario, you can facilitate a conversation with a person who is struggling with a mental health disorder. 

I was compelled to become MHFA certified for two reasons. Primarily, I believe it is vital that anyone who works with young adults be prepared to talk to them about their mental health. Too many times I have found myself sitting across from a student who is telling me about their stress or anxiety or depression, and I have had to try and help them without knowing any strategies to make the conversation successful. Secondarily, I have anxiety and seasonal depression. I believe it is important to speak more frequently and openly about mental wellness, to combat the stigma against people who live with mental health disorders and to encourage people to seek appropriate professional treatment.

The training was immensely informative. I learned that mental health disorders compromise an individual's ability to carry out daily activities, to enjoy life, or to have satisfying relationships (which we were told to remember with the schmaltzy but helpful mnemonic of "live, laugh, love"). The course then covered the characteristics of depression, anxiety, psychosis, and substance use disorders. We practiced a process called ALGEE for assisting and supporting individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. After Assessing their risk for suicide and self harm, the best thing to do is to Listen nonjudgmentally and Give reassurance and information. This means to calmly and genuinely express your concern for their feelings, and to accept and validate their experience. The last steps are to Encourage appropriate professional help and to Encourage self-help and other support strategies. The course provides ample opportunity to review the steps of ALGEE, to observe how it can be tailored to a variety of disorders, and to practice using ALGEE in a variety of scenarios.  

Having completed the course, I feel much more prepared to discuss mental health--both disorder and wellness--with students and peers. More specifically, I feel like I now have a framework and a set of best practices that will improve the likelihood that these conversations will be effective in planting a seed of encouragement for someone to seek appropriate professional help in moments of crisis. Just as with CPR, I hope this is a set of skills that I never have to put to use, but I feel much more responsible and prepared having learned to administer Mental Health First Aid.