The PhD Coach Kit: A coaching tool for PhD students

Pursuing a PhD can be highly stressful for PhD students. With challenges such as publication pressures, struggles to maintain a healthy work-life balance, and insufficient support, PhD students’ well-being and mental health are at risk. To address well-being in academia, particularly for PhD students, individual-level interventions such as coaching, stress management, and peer support may have promise. However, access to these resources remains limited in academia. In response, we developed the PhD Coach Kit, a self-coaching tool designed to provide accessible, on-demand support for PhD students. Featuring reflection cards that cover 10 key topics, this tool encourages self-reflection and solution-focused thinking to help PhD students navigate the diverse challenges encountered throughout their PhD journey.