AIFMRM’s collaboration with The Space Between Us
Many students arrive at university prepared for academic and technical training. But when they graduate, they enter a professional environment that demands more than technical competence. It also asks them to understand how they think, relate, cope, respond under pressure, and make meaning of their place in the world of work.
These psychological capacities are as central to a young professional’s development as technical expertise, says Keegan Rogers, a psychologist at The Space Between Us (TSBU). When students are given structured opportunities to explore identity, self-awareness, communication, self-regulation and resilience, they are better able to understand themselves within the academic environment and carry that insight into the workplace.
Since 2021, AIFMRM has partnered with TSBU to create a psychologically informed student-development intervention through a series of young professional programmes. Over the years, TSBU has developed workshops tailored to the needs of each AIFMRM cohort, with the core themes of identity, burnout and resilience emerging as central to students’ personal and professional formation.
#1 Identity: Understand yourself and your place in the professional world
Identity is one of the biggest issues for students from all backgrounds. “Almost every student asks: Why am I here? Do I deserve my place here?” Keegan says. “We call this imposter syndrome. It’s the belief that you’re not competent to be in a certain space.”
The first TSBU workshop creates space for students to examine this experience rather than simply push through it. The TSBU team invite students to reflect on their cultural differences, histories and personal narratives, and to consider how these shape the way they enter academic and professional spaces.
“The ultimate goal here is not only confidence, but psychological clarity about who you are. TSBU want students to be able to leave the workshop saying, ‘This is who I am as a person. This is what I can bring into this space’.”
#2 – Recognise burnout as a psychological warning signal
“Knowing who you are, remembering yourself, and learning to take care of yourself is critical,” Keegan says. “The opposite – forgetting yourself – is detrimental. This is what leads to burnout.”
Burnout was on the rise when TSBU and AIFMRM’s collaboration began in 2021. It was a time when COVID-19 and lockdowns still loomed large, and the TSBU therapists noticed that students who’d had to attend university online for the previous year were all struggling to keep up and stay motivated.
“The reason was that they’d lacked genuine human connection,” Keegan says. “When we’re isolated from each other, it’s far easier to forget to take care of ourselves.”
When students were finally able to participate in the workshops in person and simply be around one another, the intervention became a space for connection, reflection and shared psychological processing.
“For many of them, it was the first time they had discussed burnout and mental health in an academic setting,” Keegan says. “We urged them to take these discussions beyond the classroom, because these are the same patterns students will need to recognise and manage in professional life.”
#3 – Develop resilience through insight and support
Talking openly about mental health creates awareness and gives students an opportunity to develop healthier ways of understanding their internal responses to workload, pressure and change.
“What we mean here is resilience,” Keegan says. Resilience is less a lesson in itself than the result of a strong psychological foundation. The purpose of the workshops is to build that foundation by encouraging reflection, self-care and supportive habits. It is also important for students to know whom to approach for support and to understand that there is no shame in seeking help.
Changing stigma is a major part of psychologically informed student support
“At universities and in many professional environments, mental health is often immediately associated with mental illness, such as anxiety and depression. We try to get students to think of it as a spectrum moving from injured to healthy and thriving. That perception is key: consider physical illness, which prompts people to visit a doctor. If you’re struggling mentally, visiting a therapist should just be a normal thing to do.”
As a result of the collaboration with TSBU, AIFMRM has gone on to hire an in-house psychologist to whom all AIFMRM students have access. Students are also able to contact TSBU, which in turn can connect them with a widening network of therapists across the country.
“Ease of access is so important,” Keegan says. “Ultimately, prevention is better than cure. Knowing who you are, how to take care of yourself, and when to ask for help: that’s your foundation. You’ll take it with you everywhere, including into the workplace and through every stage of your professional life.”