1st Edition

Prioritising Wellbeing and Self-Care in Higher Education How We Can Do Things Differently to Disrupt Silence

Edited By Narelle Lemon Copyright 2025
286 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

286 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

286 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book illuminates international voices of those who feel empowered to do things differently in higher education, providing inspiration to those who are seeking guidance, reassurance, or a beacon of hope. Doing things differently comes with an awareness and curiosity to explore what can be. Increasingly, more and more professionals in higher education are choosing themselves, happiness,... Read more

1. Unmasking Wellbeing: Voices Redefining Self-Care and wellbeing in higher education

Narelle Lemon

Part 1: The setting

2. Rethink: Rethinking Expectations in Academia: How Lowering Expectations of Ourselves and Others Improves Wellbeing

Louise Grimmer

3. Laughter: Flourishing in academia: Laughter as survival, self-care, solidarity, and resistance

Katrina McChesney and Kirsten Locke

4. Visibility: Queer visibility and self-care in academia: Exploring the contradictions of identity, activism and silence

Lauren Black

5. Place: Diversity Killjoy: The Places in Between

Raine Melissa Riman

Part 2: Repositioning learning and teaching for self and others

6. Confront: Confronting failure as self-care: Critical honesty as a springboard for

positive change in teaching and learning

Christopher Little

7. Awe: Finding Wonder and Awe Together in Higher Education

Linda Noble and Malgorzata Powietrzynska

8. Awareness: Beware the awareness gap: a novel support framework for design education

Shaun Britton

9. Hope: Doing things differently through the lenses of Gestalt philosophy and practice-based learning: A hopeful outlook on the benefits of co-creating with students to support wellbeing for the Higher Education community

Julia Ouzia and Estrella Sendra

10. Place: It’s about Place: Inside Indigenising the curriculum

Megan McPherson and Tiriki Onus

Part 3: Connection, interconnection, and companions

11. Heterotopia: Reflecting on university heterotopias and the need for spaces of hope and possibility in higher education

Sarah Barradell, Tracy Fortune, and Jeanette Fyffe

12. Balance: Balance: How A Unique Student Fellowship Model Enables Proactive Wellbeing

Mikayla Hunter, Jamie Pfau, Hera J. M. Casidsid, Stephaney Patrick, Emily Brownell, Anita Durksen, Nyla Comeau, and Jennifer E. Enns

13. Connection: Fostering an ecosystem of connection

Emily Rooney

14. Belonging: A cat named Jiji: belonging, identity, and navigating cultural displacement in academia

Bertha Chin

Part 4: Emerging Researchers, mentoring and finding one's self

15. Boundary: Listening to the stillness and darkness of academia: Boundaries that encircle international emerging researchers

Yue Xu and Yuqi Lin

16. Transformation: Cultivating a daily journaling practice for wellness, self-care and thriving in academia

Khairunnisa Haji Ibrahim

17. New: Does belonging affect wellbeing? A researcher experiences of transition from a conflict-affected country to Australia 

Abdul Qawi Noori

Part 5: Taking a closer look at leadership

18. Expansive: Expansive Education Leadership: Two viewpoints on learning, and leaning into, spacious leading

Deena Kara Shaffer and Alice J. Hovorka

19. Balance: The Reverse Bungee: Balancing Rapid Changes in Perception and Academic Leadership

Mark Freeman

Biography

Narelle Lemon, VC Professoriate Research Fellow at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, is an interdisciplinary scholar specialising in arts, education, and positive psychology. Her research focuses on enhancing wellbeing literacy in K-12 schools, teacher education, higher education, and community settings, emphasising evidence-based practices for proactive flourishing.