PhD Mental Health and Peer Support Group

What we do

The peer mental health group organizes events, runs surveys to help inform activities and resources, and acts as a general source of support for graduate students.

Student events

  • Fall panel for 1st and 2nd year students on transitioning to research and connecting with faculty members
  • Spring panel on mental health, aimed at facilitating open conversations on mental health and department culture
  • Workshops on other aspects of wellbeing, such as procrastination and sleep

Connecting with students as peer support

  • Serve as a direct point of support or as a liaison to help navigate other resources
  • Organize 1-1 coffee chats with all first year students during their first fall semester

Mental health survey

  • Conduct a survey on mental health and department culture every two years and share aggregated results with faculty and students
  • Occasionally run one-off surveys for the department, for example, on proposed changes to program requirements

Contact

Our volunteer group consists of Louis Becker, Dhruv Gaur, Jimmy Lin, Sarah Moon, Pedro Sant'Anna, Ian Sapollnik, and Jenny Wang. You can reach us at the contact form below.

Please feel free to share general questions and suggestions or let us know about areas where you would like support. 

If you or someone you know needs immediate help, please call or text 988 to connect to the 24-hour, confidential Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Contact form

MIT Resources

A non-exhaustive list of potentially useful Institute and resources, plus concrete examples of the types of support available. Please reach out via our contact form for help navigating these services.

The cornerstone of getting access to counseling and therapy. It is generally totally free for students (see below) and has been an excellent resource that many, many past students have found supportive during their time at MIT.

They offer both regular and acute services (and can help with referrals to off-campus resources)

  • They directly offer counseling on-campus (or online)
  • Regular hour-long sessions with an in-house counselor or psychiatrist, which must be scheduled in advance.
  • They also have 20-30 minute urgent care sessions, available immediately and 24/7!
  • They can also help you with referrals to off-campus counselors

You can call (or have them call you) to make an appointment

  • You can fill out this online form, and they will call you back to set up the appointment.
  • You can also just call directly (617-253-4481, option 2)
  • The waiting time for a first appointment is usually around two weeks

Most likely, all financial costs of therapy are covered

  • The MIT student health insurance covers 52 hour-long sessions free of cost for all counselling at MIT Health and at in-network providers.
  • The MIT student health insurance also covers some of the cost of an out-of-network provider (up to an “allowed amount”). Here are the Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance details.

There is plenty of support to find a provider that works for you.

  • Typically, the MIT counselors have availability to be seen twice a month, although you can arrange more frequent sessions during critical periods. 
  • Many students who are interested in more frequent (for example - weekly sessions), long-run counseling eventually transition to an off-campus provider. MIT Counseling can help navigate this!
Student Mental Health Counseling website

IDHR handles Title IX-related issues of sex-based discrimination. They are an official means to discuss, report, and log incidents. 

  • Anecdotally they have been quite responsive and supportive in resolving issues for students in our department – and they work with you to figure out what action might be taken next. 
  • For example, you can go to IDHR with a concern about something that has happened in the department, and they can then notify and work with department administrators or faculty about the incident so that you can remain anonymous. 
  • Another example is that you can simply flag an incident and have a formal record of that event, without necessarily opening up further action or notification. Their FAQ can be helpful for understanding more about your options.
IDHR website

VPR is meant to be a touchpoint for any student who has experienced interpersonal violence – or is trying to support another student who is dealing with violence. Issues can include incidents like sexual harassment, assault, stalking, or other violence, and these do not necessarily only span a campus context. 

Their role is to check in about an issue and then connect students to relevant counseling or resources. You can set up an appointment by filling out an online form, or they have a helpline during standard business hours.

VPR website

Department resources

The First Year Guide is an overview of department life and resources that is put together by older students.

If you’re dealing with something, going through hardship, feeling worried – hopefully you feel comfortable talking to at least someone in the department, whether that’s students, staff, or faculty. Some other ideas for people around the department you can reach out to  – whose roles explicitly include being here to support you – include your faculty GROs, your advisors, and the chair of the department.