ABSTRACT

This book focuses on the lived experiences of higher education professionals working in the face of stress, pressure and the threat of burnout and how acts of self-care and wellbeing can support, develop and maintain a sense of self.

In considering the place of self-care in higher education, we are challenged with the tension that exists when it comes to the valuing of self-care and our individual and collective wellbeing. In Reflections on Valuing Wellbeing in Higher Education, authors present and explore the ways in which they manage and reframe their wellbeing and self-care, through mindfulness, compassion, connection to breath, ref lection, demonstrating individual and collective embodiment and resistance to neoliberalism and environmental destruction. Covering various contexts of higher education, such as learning and teaching, research, leadership and engagement, this book offers practical strategies grounded in literature and evidence-based research.

The self in self-care is relational. It is not just about self. We need others for inspiration, motivation and, indeed, the act. This book will be of great interest to professionals and researchers specifically interested in studies in higher education, wellbeing and/or identity as well as those navigating a career in higher education.

chapter 1|12 pages

Reforming our acts of self-care in higher education

Developing a sense of self individually and collectively

section Section 1|79 pages

Being present and non-judgmentally aware of self-care

chapter 2|13 pages

Yoga and the contemplative path

Placing meaning at the centre of self-care and wellbeing in university life

chapter 3|13 pages

Finding the spaces in between

chapter 4|12 pages

Wellbeing through self-reflexivity

Understanding our underlying motivations, gratitude, strength identification and support

chapter 5|12 pages

Self-care and environmentalism

Finding a socially just balance as an early-career social work researcher

chapter 6|14 pages

Tales from the soft-play fifth shift

Mother, teacher, mentor, academic and student

chapter 7|13 pages

A community of practice-educators as self-care

A sustainable strategy for both academics and practitioners alike

section Section 2|85 pages

Awareness in caring for self and others

chapter 8|16 pages

A systems pathway to self-care in academia

Me, We, and Us as avenues to integrated long-term self-care

chapter 9|14 pages

Cultivating wholeheartedness in the academy during a time of COVID

Insights from/within an inter-collegial friendship

chapter 10|20 pages

Peer reviewing journal articles

A duoethnographic exploration of emotion in the digitalised space

chapter 11|14 pages

Finding an audience who care

Examining research crowdfunding through a lens of self-care