WHY UNCANNY?

Okay, let me explain. If we skip over the supernatural bit, 'mysterious, weird, uncomfortably strange or unfamiliar' describes academia pretty damn well. Unwritten rules, obscure expectations...

 

Apparently, we should know how to write, study, teach, research, publish and more... all just by watching other people and figuring it out? It's like being sent on a quest with a cursed, half-sketched map and a list of required quest items that changes every few months for no apparent reason.

 

The Uncanny Academic is a place where you can find academic support for the rest of us: those of us who are anxious, chronically ill, struggle with attention and executive function or cringe at the words 'productivity' and 'hustle'. Think of me like your fairy godmother, only instead of getting you to the ball and back by midnight, I help you get your degree completed on your timeline with as little upset as possible!

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If you've gotten this far, you might be thinking, sure, but why The Uncanny Academic?

 

If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a bit weird and unusual myself (and I'm not sorry about it). There are a lot of messages about who and how you have to be to make it in academia, and I disagree with a lot of it. Sure, the reality is that we all have to suck it up and perform sometimes, but when it's just you and your dissertation...why do it the way you've been told you have to?

 

For years, I've been helping other students succeed through one-on-one advising, coaching and mentorship, as well as writing, planning and dissertation workshops. However, putting all this apparently 'coded' advice for neurotypicals into practice for myself was another story. I'm the first person in my family to get a university degree, let alone three (oops, I'm starting a fourth in 2023). I'm also an anxious ADHDer who was only recently diagnosed (i.e., I was doing life on hard mode with no idea). There are a lot of things I wish I'd known and done differently, so I get how hard it can be to have all the answers and still feel lost.

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I have extensive experience recovering from wrong turns and hacking down the tough bramble bushes that block the way to the final quest marker—graduation! How can I guide you to the other side of the forest?