GradWell

How can viewing caregiving as teamwork change our experience with it?

In this episode, Dr. Courtney Polenick, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Social Work, and Dr. Amanda Leggett, Associate Professor of Gerontology and Psychology, share insight on how a more holistic approach to adult caregiving—particularly for loved ones with dementia—can benefit the well-being of everyone involved in the relationship. Listen in as we discuss how to enhance the adult caregiving experience and some great Michigan resources that can help you do so.

Resources

• Michigan Caregiver Connection
• Area Agencies on Aging Association of Michigan
• Maturity Matters Counseling
• Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
• Alzheimer's Association | Greater Michigan Chapter
• Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Center
• Michigan Caregiving
• Elder Care Resources
• Backup Care Resources
• Eldercare Locator
• Washtenaw Support Network for Caregivers
• Michigan Caregiver Support Groups
• Caregiving Resources

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to the Drs. with any questions: [email protected] and [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guests' Bio

Dr. Courtney Polenick

Courtney A. Polenick, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan. Dr. Polenick's research focuses on family relationships and caregiving in the context of complex care needs including dementia and multimorbidity. She is particularly interested in understanding family and social influences in everyday life that shape the health and well-being of older adults and their care partners. Her long-term goal is to inform interventions and policies that mitigate stress and promote resilience among older adults living with complex care needs and their families.

Dr. Amanda Leggett

Amanda N. Leggett, PhD, FGSA, is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Institute of Gerontology and Department of Psychology at Wayne State University and Adjunct Professor in the Psychiatry Department at the University of Michigan. She is also faculty in the Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. She currently co-leads Michigan's Dementia Coalition (a state-wide coalition of more than 300 individuals representing more than 65 organizations working together to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia and their families). She recently ended her tenure as Associate Editor of GSA's Innovation in Aging and is currently on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Research in Aging. She is a long-time Hospice volunteer.

How might throwing out the label of 'student' help us take better control of our finances?

In this episode, Emily Roberts, Ph.D., a personal finance educator for early-career doctoral students, discusses why finances are such an important part of well-being and how we can start taking control of them as Ph.D. students. We explore her numerous tips on budgeting, the specialized approach we need to take to taxes, and why investing even $5 a month will make a big difference in the long run. Listen in for her recommendations on how to get started today!

Make sure to sign up for Dr. Roberts' virtual workshop with us on April 8, where she'll walk us through how to approach a number of financial goals that will increase your net worth!

Resources

• Emily's Website - Personal Finance for PhDs
• Emily's Podcast - Personal Finance for PhDs
• Emily's Free Spending Tracker
• Emily's Tax "Cheat Sheet"
• FreeTaxUSA
• Free file through the IRS
• U-M Financial Education Resources
• U-M Food & Housing Resources
• U-MStudent Support Resources
• U-M Career Center Clothes Closet for business attire
• Financial Well-Being Resources (Human Resources)
• Resource Coach Program (Human Resources)
• Financial Empowerment Series (CEW+)
• Financial Wellness Resources (Michigan Law)
• Financial Education Resources (University of Michigan Credit Union)
• Modern Financial Literacy Tools (University of Michigan Credit Union)

Emily's Favorite Personal Finance Beginner Books

• I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• Get Good With Money by Tiffany Aliche
• The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins

Online Finance Courses

• Finance Courses (Michigan Online)
• Finance Courses (edX)
• Financial Literacy Courses (edX)
• Cash Course (free for students)
• Finance Courses (Coursera - free for students)
• Finance for Everyone (Michigan Online)

Make sure to register for Dr. Roberts' virtual workshop on April 8th, 2026 — How to Set and Achieve Financial Goals as a Graduate Student

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Emily with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Dr. Emily Roberts is a personal finance educator specializing in early-career PhDs. Through her business, Personal Finance for PhDs, she equips graduate students and postdocs to make the most of their money. She gives seminars at universities and for associations; interviews graduate students and PhDs on her podcast; and creates courses and workshops on taxes, investing, and more. Emily holds a PhD in biomedical engineering from Duke University and lives in San Diego with her husband and two children.

How can the University of Michigan best support its graduate students in their journey to greater well-being?

To wrap up the season, this episode will provide an overview of well-being at Michigan for graduate students with Elizabeth Rohr, Rackham's Well-being Advocate. Explore the behind-the-scenes approaches Rackham takes to graduate student well-being and what the future may hold for graduate wellness.

Resources

• Resources on the Graduate Advisor Relationship
• Resources on Cultivating a Sense of Belonging
• Michigan Doctoral Experience Survey
• Transition Points: Well-being and Disciplinary Identity in the First Years of Doctoral Studies - Paper based on Michigan Doctoral Experience Survey
• Okanagan Charter: An International Charter for Health Promoting Universities & Colleges
• Well-Being Collective

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Elizabeth with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Elizabeth Rohr is the Well-Being Advocate and senior manager of the Well-Being Advocate Program of the Rackham Graduate School, partnering with Rackham graduate program faculty, staff, and students to identify and address structural issues that impact graduate student mental health and well-being.

Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Social Work, with an emphasis in interpersonal practice and mental health. She also holds a BS in Sociology with a minor in History from Northwestern University.

Elizabeth has had an eclectic professional journey. She's worked in the private sector as a corporate project and event manager; was a Public Allies Americorp member in Chicago working with HIV+ women and children, an intimate partner and sexual violence prevention peer educator in San Francisco, and helped conduct research and develop new programs for nontraditional graduate students at the Center for the Education of Women (CEW+) here at U-M. Prior to joining Rackham, she worked directly with undergraduate students to develop their mindful leadership skills at the LSA Barger Leadership Institute for 5 years.

How could we better navigate our mental health if we thought of it as a spectrum rather than in absolutes?

In this episode, Dr. Patricia Deldin, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, shares insights from the alternative intervention to traditional mental health care that she created, Mood Lifters. Listen in and learn why a solutions-focused program works as an alternative to talking out our problems and explore strategies that can help reduce your anxiety, depression, and stress while in grad school.

Resources

• Indianapolis YMCA Mood Lifters - Virtual Program (Click drop-down menu under "Chronic Disease Prevention Programs")
  • The next cohort starts the first week of December 2025
• Granite YMCA Mood Lifters

Please scroll through the following pages to find resources on the various dimensions of well-being that Dr. Deldin mentioned in this episode

• Physical Wellness Resources
• Social Wellness Resources
• Social Wellness Resources pt2
• Resources on the Graduate Advisor Relationship
• Emotional Wellness Resources
• Resources on Finding Meaning and Purpose

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Dr. Deldin with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Dr. Patricia Deldin is a transformational and creative leader in the mental health space. After teaching at Harvard for several years, Dr. Deldin was hired by the University of Michigan to serve as both the Chair of the Clinical Area and Director of Clinical Training in Michigan's Clinical Psychology program. During her tenure at Michigan, Dr. Deldin also helped shape the structure of the University's Depression Center, formerly serving as its Deputy Director, and helped to launch the National Network of Depression Centers.

In 2014, she began to shift her research focus from understanding psychopathology to developing a new, more accessible, evidence-based mental wellness program, Mood Lifters. Since its inception, Mood Lifters has served over 2,000 people and worked with over 30 organizations. In December 2022, Mood Lifters was acquired by Color Health.

How can getting our needs met academically help us bring wellness to the other aspects of our lives?

This episode features Kat Nic, senior disability access coordinator for graduate students in the Services for Students with Disabilities at Michigan. Explore how taking a single step towards getting just one need met can put us in forward motion towards greater well-being. And learn how SSD provides exploratory support to help you find the resources and strategies that can best enhance your time in grad school, both inside and outside of official accommodations.

Resources

• Services for Students with Disabilities Office
• Accommodations through SSD
• Academic Support and Access Partnerships
• Scholarships, Awards, and Funding through SSD
• CAPS
• Uwill - video, phone, chat, and message sessions with licensed mental health professionals
• Wellness Coaching
• International Center
• Spectrum Center

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Kat with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Kat has worked in the higher education disability access field for six years. After several years of working in K-12 educational non-profits, all while grappling with their own disability identity after getting sick and being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses, Kat attended Bowling Green State University, where she was a graduate student assistant in the Accessibility Services Office for three years. Afterwards, Kat accepted a position at the University of Michigan, and just celebrated three years in the Services for Students with Disabilities office.

How can an understanding of the creative process benefit not only our time in graduate school but also the work we produce?

This episode features Ed Sarath, professor of music in the Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation and founder and co-director of the Program in Creativity and Consciousness Studies. Listen in and explore how the problems of our time can be seen as problems of creativity. We also discuss how a disconnect from consciousness harms our mental health and how expanding our understanding of where we can be creative can allow us to tap into our fullest potential.

Resources

• Sara Ramshaw -- Improvisation and Law
• Karl Weick -- Improvisation and Firefighting
• Program in Creativity and Consciousness Studies
• Ann Arbor Meditation Centers
• Institute of Noetic Sciences
• California Institute of Integral Studies
• Maharishi International University
• California Institute for Human Science
• Society of Consciousness Studies
• Creative Process Strategies - Michigan School of Art and Design

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Professor Sarath with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Ed Sarath is a composer, performer (flugelhornist), author/scholar, and change visionary whose work traverses wide-ranging areas within and beyond music. His compositions for large and small ensembles have been performed worldwide and interweave diverse genres and approaches to the improvisation/composition interface. His books include Music Theory Through Improvisation (Routledge, 2010), Black Music Matters (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018), Music Studies and Its Moment of Truth: Leading Change Through America's Black Music Roots (Routledge, 2023), and Improvisation, Creativity and Consciousness (SUNY Albany, 2012) - the first book to apply principles of an emergent, consciousness-based worldview called Integral Theory to music theory.

How can understanding the dynamism of resilience help us better navigate the successes and challenges in our lives?

In this episode, Sunghyun Hong, a Ph.D. candidate in social work and developmental psychology, discusses her research surrounding a strengths-based framework of resilience. Listen in to learn how to develop our resilience in a way that will help us better manage our stress, take care of all the parts of our lives, and give ourselves the grace we deserve.

Sunghyun also shares advice on how to find a therapist that can best help us navigate our academic journey.

Resources

• CAPS Counselor Embedded at Rackham
• CAPS Counselors Embedded in Michigan's Schools and Colleges
• Wellness Coaches
• CEW+ Virtual Mindfulness Sits
• Self-Compassion Group Therapy
• MARI at UMich
• Campus Mind Works
  • Wellness Groups
  • Wellness Resources
  • Well-Being Management Checklists
• Wolverine Support Network
• Mindfulness Videos (CAPS)
• Stressbusters app
• Nature Rx App

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Sunghyun with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Sunghyun Hong is pursuing her Ph.D. through an interdisciplinary lens that combines social work, developmental psychology, and neuroscience at the University of Michigan. She also holds a limited license in social work and is working toward full licensure by practicing as a therapist at a local nonprofit agency. Sunghyun is dedicated to translating her research into strength-based practices and policy strategies aimed at enhancing psychological well-being.

What are the tools that can help us manage impostor feelings in graduate school?

In this episode, Dianna Alvarado, a Ph.D. candidate in developmental psychology, discusses her research on the protective strategies that students of color utilize to navigate impostor feelings. Listen in and learn how to grow the abilities that can help us ease our doubt, calm our self-criticism, and expand our perspective.

Resources

Michigan-based

• Rackham Impostorism Workshop - available a few times a year - search Happening @ Michigan for its next occurrence
• Email us for the Companion Workbook for Impostorism Workshop
• Research-based Strategies for Combatting the Impostor Phenomenon in Higher Education
• CAPS Counselor Embedded at Rackham
• CAPS Counselors Embedded in Michigan's Schools and Colleges
• Wellness Coaches
• CEW+ Virtual Mindfulness Sits
• Self-Compassion Group Therapy
• MARI at UMich
• Campus Mind Works
  • Wellness Groups
  • Wellness Resources
  • Well-Being Management Checklists

Outside the university

• The Impostor Academy

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Dianna with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Dianna Alvarado (she/her) is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in psychology, specifically in the area of personality and social contexts. Her research focuses on how students from marginalized backgrounds navigate challenges such as the impostor phenomenon and institutional barriers, and how cultural assets can help them thrive in higher education. Dianna currently serves as vice president of Puentes, a U-M graduate student organization focused on fostering community and professional development among Latinx scholars. After completing her graduate training, she aspires to become a faculty member at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, where she hopes to mentor and train the next generation of scientists.

Why can it be easy to feel like a fraud in grad school?

In this episode, Danielle Rosenscruggs, a Ph.D. candidate in developmental psychology, shares her research on the impostor phenomenon in higher education. Listen in and learn how the energy we spend trying not to be perceived as an "impostor" keeps us from achieving our full potential in graduate school. Explore ways to reframe how we see success, failure, and everything in between, and the resources at Michigan that can support you on this journey.

This episode is part one of a two-part series on the impostor phenomenon.

Resources

Michigan-based

• Rackham Impostorism Workshop - available a few times a year - search Happening @ Michigan for its next occurrence
• Email us for the Companion Workbook for Impostorism Workshop
• Research-based Strategies for Combatting the Impostor Phenomenon in Higher Education
• CAPS Counselor Embedded at Rackham
• CAPS Counselors Embedded in Michigan's Schools and Colleges
• Wellness Coaches

Outside the university

• The Impostor Academy

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Danielle with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

Danielle Rosenscruggs is a Ph.D. candidate in developmental psychology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the impostor phenomenon in higher education, with a particular interest in applied strategies to support the mental well-being of doctoral students. For her dissertation, she designed and piloted a multi-week intervention for U-M doctoral students in partnership with Rackham Graduate School, integrating cognitive reframing, mindfulness, and self-compassion practices.

Danielle is the founder of The Impostor Academy, an independent consulting business that offers research-informed workshops, talks, and strategic support to individuals and institutions seeking to understand and address impostorism. She also facilitates Rackham's impostorism workshops, has served as a wellness coach with Wolverine Wellness, and mentors both undergraduate and graduate students.

How does our current sense of belonging shape our future professional endeavors?

In this episode, Dr. VaNessa Thompson, an academic program manager in Rackham, discusses research she has conducted on belonging—both in her dissertation and with U-M graduate students. Explore how seeing belonging as a relationship we need to tend can help us get the most out of our graduate experience, and the U-M resources that can help you do just that.

Resources

• Career Center
• Rackham Events
• Graduate Student and Program Consultation Services
• Graduate Students Happening @ Michigan
• Get Involved and Find Your Community
• Graduate Student Opportunities at the Ginsberg Center
• Connect2Community Portal
• Check out your department for programming and student community groups!

Rackham Student Groups

• Graduate Rackham International (GRIN)
• Students of Color of Rackham (SCOR)

Resources for Student Communities

• Students of color
• Parents and caregivers
• Students with disabilities
• Veterans and military services
• International students
• LGBTQ+ students
• LGBTQ+ student groups
• Undocumented and DACAmented students
• First-generation students

Visit the GradWell website for more!

Reach out to Dr. Thompson with any questions: [email protected]

Email us about the podcast: [email protected]

Stay in touch by joining Gradwell's MCommunity group!

Guest Bio

VaNessa Thompson (she/her/hers) loves the classroom. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Oakland Community College English department. She has also been an adjunct instructor at Lawrence Technological University, Oakland University, and the Engineering Society of Detroit. Through her appointments, she has taught a variety of topics, including professional communication, technical writing, and leadership. She completed her Ph.D. in educational leadership while being a CORE program coordinator for the Center for Multicultural Initiatives at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. VaNessa's love for social media (@heydrvanessa) is more than just a hobby. She is continually exploring new ways to utilize social media to connect with students both inside and outside the classroom.