Composition Forum 54, Summer 2024
http://compositionforum.com/issue/54/

Fostering the Wellbeing of Graduate Student Writers Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Embodied Contemplative Pedagogy

Katharine H. Brown and Annie Small

Abstract: While graduate students’ struggles with isolation, self-doubt, low self-esteem, imposter syndrome, anxiety, depression, and burnout are well-documented (Morrison-Saunders et al.; Stachl and Barranger), few writing programs directly address their emotional wellbeing (Russell-Pinson and Harris). Drawing on our backgrounds as a therapist and a writing and yoga instructor, we adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), contemplative practice, and embodied pedagogies to develop WriteFest, an intervention program that supports graduate students’ wellbeing while writing. In WriteFest, we developed a supportive community and deepened students’ mindful awareness of the physical and mental experience of writing. Through CBT, we built on this foundation of awareness to help students identify and reframe unhelpful belief systems, recognize strengths, and develop self-efficacy (Beck). Our theoretical frame and curriculum are valuable for readers in multiple contexts, as our materials could become a unit within a course or a workshop series offered by a graduate school, student counseling center, or academic support unit.

Introduction

Beyond challenging students to grow in disciplinary knowledge, graduate school taxes students’ wellbeing, particularly their psychological and emotional health (Jonas and Hall, 2022). To foster self-efficacy and address wellbeing, we developed WriteFest, a free, semester-long writing intervention program for graduate students offered by University Writing (UW), a writing across the curriculum program and writing center. WriteFest, which is not credit-bearing, meets bi-weekly, four times per semester, for two hours per session. We have offered WriteFest each semester since fall 2020, and average enrollment is over 40 students per semester.

Drawing on our backgrounds in writing instruction, yoga, and clinical mental health counseling, as well as our own experiences as graduate students, we developed a curriculum informed by contemplative and embodied pedagogies and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Our goal was to promote students’ wellbeing within a supportive community in which they could discuss their writing, explore their embodied experiences, reframe harmful cognitions, and write alongside peers. The curriculum, which can be adapted for a variety of contexts, has improved students’ writing self-efficacy and wellbeing.

Positioning WriteFest

UW is a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)/Writing in the Disciplines (WID) unit at Auburn University, an R-1 research intensive university. UW’s vision statement emphasizes “empower[ing] the Auburn community through diverse, equitable, and inclusive writing and instructional support” (University Writing). To work toward this vision, UW offers programs and workshops designed for faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students across disciplines.

UW is administered by a collaborative team of five full-time administrators, up to ten graduate assistants, and two undergraduate assistants. When we developed WriteFest, we were both graduate assistants. Katharine H. Brown was a doctoral candidate in English education and a yoga teacher with over a decade of experience as a college writing instructor. Annie Small was completing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. As we envisioned WriteFest, we drew on our disciplinary backgrounds to address graduate students’ wellbeing more comprehensively than UW had in the past. We sought to empower WriteFest’s participants by helping them to reframe distorted cognitions around writing and to develop self-efficacy, which in turn would support their success. Our inter-disciplinary approach strengthened UW’s WAC/WID positioning and allowed innovation.

While developing WriteFest, we reflected on our experiences as graduate students and our backgrounds in yoga teaching and counseling. In some ways, WriteFest’s topics reflect the challenges we faced as students. In particular, Katharine struggled with self-doubt throughout the dissertation writing process, and she saw a need to emphasize wellbeing through mindfulness while writing. Annie struggled to start writing projects, feeling anxious and frustrated over the foreseen tiresome process of completing a project, which she often attempted in minimal sittings. After identifying our challenges through supportive dialogue with each other, we turned to the literature to learn more about graduate students’ struggles and began developing the curriculum. Both of us appreciated the free rein UW’s administrators gave us while developing the program, as this empowered us to explore how our unique backgrounds informed the development of a writing program.

WriteFest contributed to our wellbeing as students and growing professionals, bolstering our self-efficacy. Furthermore, WriteFest’s focus on wellbeing aligns with our vision statement’s emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Making a claim to wellbeing is a privileged positioning, and we recognized that identity-based oppressions and our institution’s status as a predominantly white institution would impact the wellbeing of our students. Thus, we addressed linguistic diversity and identity during each session of WriteFest.

Research on Graduate Students and Stress

Nearly 50% of doctoral students fail to complete their degrees during the dissertation phase, and self-efficacy is an attrition factor (Huerta et al.). Self-efficacy, defined as belief in one’s ability to succeed, has four domains: the outcome of one’s performances; comparison with how others accomplish their tasks; positive and negative messages from others; and anxiety and stress (Bandura; Pajares). Each domain influences how individuals approach tasks and their persistence (Bandura).

Graduate students often describe writing as an experience of overwhelming stress (Russell-Pinson and Harris), impacting their self-efficacy as they struggle to think of themselves as smart, successful, independent, and confident (Stachl and Barranger). Sources of stress include being pressured to write as scholars before developing a scholarly identity and a lack of explicit writing instruction (Berdanier). Students may face imposter syndrome, a phenomenon in which they feel that they do not belong, and at any moment others will come to the same conclusion (Clance and Imes).

Graduate students’ stress is further exacerbated by isolation. Students may fail to recognize opportunities to learn with peers, and they may believe they are the only ones struggling while others excel (Belcher). They face a reduced sense of belonging when comparing their publication records with scholars who have published more, and they describe writing as an emotional rollercoaster that includes emotions such as excitement over a new project, satisfaction over the work achieved, boredom related to the slow process, guilt when not writing, fear and anxiety over the writing process, and depression (Morrison-Saunders et al.).

Often, graduate students are encouraged to focus their energies on scholarly output and suppress or hide their emotions; this, combined with isolation, enacts a white racial habitus that impacts students, especially minoritized students (Cirillo-McCarthy; Inoue). Minoritized students face a reduced sense of belonging (Stachl and Barranger), partly stemming from microaggressions on campus. Sense of belonging impacts academic engagement (Clark et. al), and attrition is higher for minoritized students (Wittstock et al.).

Recognizing these obstacles, we created a program that built a community in which students experienced peer support and validation. During each session, we acknowledged the stressors experienced by minoritized students. We worked to help students develop realistic, individual goals and identify the optimal conditions under which they write (Tremblay-Wragg et. al.). Through mindfulness, students cultivated awareness of their cognitions around writing, and we utilized cognitive reframing techniques to support self-efficacy.

WriteFest and its Theoretical Framework

WriteFest combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with contemplative and embodied pedagogies to address graduate students’ wellbeing as they write. Combining CBT and contemplative and embodied pedagogies helped students identify connections amongst emotions, cognitions, and scholarly output while building self-efficacy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Therapists utilize counseling theories as they work with clients, such as Beck’s CBT, which takes a “top down” approach to focus on individuals’ cognitions. CBT postulates that clients’ belief systems guide automatic thoughts, also known as cognitions, and behaviors. In turn, thoughts and behaviors strengthen belief systems (Beck). When individuals engage in distorted and self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, they develop and reinforce unhealthy, maladaptive belief systems. When individuals engage in healthy behaviors and thought processes that encourage wellbeing, they develop and strengthen healthy internal belief systems, building self-efficacy and resiliency (Beck).

Through CBT, individuals identify and acknowledge thoughts and behaviors while creating habits of positive thinking (Hofmann). This process is facilitated by interventions such as thought logs, in which individuals identify their negative thoughts and develop more positive, factual thoughts; thought stopping, in which individuals determine if their thoughts are factual; and inner critic work, in which individuals identify negative thoughts and beliefs to set boundaries with their inner critic. CBT has been shown to help anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, and more (Butler and Forman; Hofmann et al.).

Often, especially when working with trauma, CBT therapists combine a “top-down” approach that addresses cognitions with a “bottom-up” approach which focuses on bodily awareness of sensations, as sensations and feelings are typically recognized before cognitions (van der Kolk). With both “top-down” principles of CBT and “bottom-up” considerations, individuals can work on their thought processes while feeling safe in their environment (van der Kolk).

A new model of CBT, Culturally Adaptive Multiplex CBT, was developed to work with minoritized individuals, refugees, and non-Western populations. Multicultural counseling recognizes that individuals have experienced trauma through racism or biases against their identities. Its combination of “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches may help individuals to not only feel safer in the environment but also acknowledge the impact of racism and multicultural issues on their cognitions and internal belief systems. Multiplex CBT uses emotional regulation and sensory processing to address somatic symptoms of trauma, such as shortness of breath or pain (Acarturk et al.; Jalal et al.). We utilized Multiplex CBT to address cognitions and embodied experiences, accompanied with explicit acknowledgement of the impact of enrollment in a predominantly white institution.

Contemplative and Embodied Pedagogies

CBT is designed for a therapeutic setting, and we turned to contemplative and embodied pedagogies to adapt CBT for WriteFest. Through contemplative pedagogy, we invited students to develop awareness of their thoughts about themselves as writers, a “top down” approach. Through embodied pedagogy, we explored sensory experiences, a “bottom up” approach. These pedagogies, in combination with CBT techniques to change cognitions and belief systems, allowed us to effectively address students’ wellbeing.

Contemplative pedagogy adopts an inward focus. Educators utilizing contemplative pedagogy introduce mindfulness-based wellbeing strategies, emphasize deep listening and reflection, and acknowledge students’ emotions, particularly academic stress. Through mindfulness practices, educators encourage students to develop present-moment awareness, or kairos (Peary). Kairotic composing allows writers to recognize their strengths and adopt a growth mindset, rather than a self-critical one that contributes to anxiety and writer’s block (Peary). Writers are encouraged to separate themselves from memories of past, negative writing experiences and apprehensions about future outcomes to improve the felt experience of writing and work toward the goal of radical self-acceptance (DeLuca; Peary). However, critics of contemplative pedagogy argue that its investment in personal wellbeing limits opportunities for critical community engagement (Kaufman and Murray).

We turned to embodied pedagogy to account for this limitation. Contemplative and embodied pedagogies are closely related; both seek to unite the body and mind in the experience of learning and center bodily perception as a source of inquiry and knowledge. However, embodied pedagogy emphasizes relationships, such as a writer’s relationship with writing and with others, and explores opportunities for critical community engagement (Dixon and Senior). Writers are asked to be curious about knowledge held by the body and recognize the presence of emotions beyond academic stress that may signal inequitable relationships (Benesch). Through its relational emphasis, embodied pedagogy creates opportunities to use DEI as a lens to engage with others while exploring identity and agency (Latta and Buck; Mitchell and Reid).

Through contemplative and embodied pedagogies, we put CBT into action in WriteFest. By integrating CBT with an embodied form of contemplative pedagogy, we asked students to identify and reflect on bodily sensation and cognitions and introduced cognitive reframing techniques. Thus, we combined CBT with an embodied contemplative pedagogy to deepen student support.

Curriculum Overview

To support graduate students’ self-efficacy, we developed a curriculum with four units: 1) Setting Writing Goals; 2) Writing Regularly; 3) Writing Mindfully; and 4) Sustaining Progress. These topics strengthened students’ positive writing approach. We defined writing approach as the mindset, practical habits, and skills that aid writers of long projects, especially those cultivated through mindfulness and cognitive techniques that increase self-awareness, manage stress, and build self-efficacy.

Each session featured a writing warm-up, instruction, and writing time interspersed with discussion. Warm-up prompts highlighted writers’ sources of knowledge, strength, and support and asked them to write self-affirmations, a coping mechanism that encouraged perseverance and resilience. For example, one warm-up asked students to complete the following statements:

• My writing shows strength in the areas of…

• I have seen myself grow as a writer in how I…

• I am prepared for the challenges of this project because…

Following warm-ups, we transitioned into instruction, which we detail in the following sections. Finally, we concluded with writing time structured using the pomodoro method. During writing breaks, we drew on embodied pedagogy and encouraged students to stand up, stretch, and check-in with their bodies to observe any tension to release, a “bottom-up” approach that laid groundwork for gaining awareness of cognitions about writing, such as resistance or negative self-talk. We invited students to share their writing goals and accomplishments to mark the beginning and end of each writing session.

Each session, we shared a linguistic diversity statement that was developed by UW in response to the murders of Black Americans by police across U.S. history, especially George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others during 2020. The statement is as follows:

Today’s workshop will feature academic writing conventions, which have been shaped by and contribute to systems of power and privilege in our society. These formal characteristics of writing may not be explicitly taught but are typically expected and valued by U.S. academic institutions. University Writing realizes that this style is one way—not the only way—to write and communicate. We value linguistic diversity, global Englishes, and your diverse experiences with writing, including code-meshing, or the use and combination of other dialects. We welcome discussion about linguistic diversity in academic writing.

In their verbal responses to the statement, participants expressed appreciation, and we hope our acknowledgement of the connections of writing standards to racism and our efforts to enact antiracism increased participant safety and reduced stress experienced as a consequence of racist writing norms.

Unit One: Setting Writing Goals

During the first unit, we introduced WriteFest’s structure and goals, and we collaboratively developed participant agreements. Participant agreements are often utilized in group therapy sessions, and they can help establish a brave space (Arao and Clemens) for vulnerable discussions. Initially, we shared the following agreements:

1. I agree to participate in each session, reflecting on my experiences and discussing my progress.

2. If someone shares personal information about their writing experiences or outcomes, I agree not to share that information with anyone.

3. I agree to attend all 4 sessions and stay for the full session.

We then invited participants to make suggestions for additions and revisions. Following a participant’s suggestion, we added an agreement that emphasized our value for DEI: “I agree to listen mindfully to others with awareness of different backgrounds and identities.”

After establishing community standards, we introduced SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goal setting for project management. Goal setting accompanied with ongoing self-evaluation of progress can increase motivation and self-efficacy (Bandura), and therapists utilize goal-setting to bolster outcomes (Renger and Macaskill). We encouraged students to set both project-based and habit-based goals; students who create project-based goals identify a pathway to meet their writing goal, and students who set habit-based goals begin to cultivate a regular writing habit. Our emphasis on goal setting was inspired by Annie, who created daily writing goals, setting aside work time in which she would buy a latte for self-care and work toward her goals. At the end of the day, she would see a crossed-out list with pride. Through goal setting, we hoped to empower students to identify and track the steps required to progress in their projects; further, we wanted them to cultivate awareness of the time required to complete tasks so they would begin writing well before deadlines to reduce stress as deadlines approached.

We emphasized approaching long- and short-term goal setting with a mindset of self-compassion and a willingness to adjust goals. Missed goals can result in writers feeling frustrated or hopeless and impact project management decisions and self-trust (Bandura). On the other hand, when students practice self-care and adjust their schedules as needed, motivation remains high (Bandura). Thus, we prioritized short-term goal setting and adaptability over rigid, semester-long planning, and we emphasized practicing self-care and celebrating successes to sustain energy and reduce stress. By asking students to consider their wellbeing alongside goal setting, we drew on embodied contemplative pedagogy in a “bottom up” approach. To support students’ goal achievement beyond WriteFest’s sessions, we created a shared document in Box, a cloud storage system, in which participants recorded their goals and self-care plans, wrote reflections on their progress, and encouraged peers by responding to their updates. Through these virtual check-ins, students regularly evaluated their progress and sustained their motivation while building self-efficacy within a supportive community (Bandura).

Unit Two: Writing Regularly

Our second unit encouraged students to assess their commitments and schedule short intervals of writing frequently, even daily, at a time when their productivity would be optimal. We began with a writing prompt that asked, “Think about the last writing project you completed. How would you describe how you wrote it? Did you write it in a few long sessions? Did you struggle to meet your deadline?” As they discussed their answers, writers shared their sense of pride and relief upon completing their projects. Others reported frustration and dissatisfaction with slow progress, as well as avoidance of writing due to anxiety and perfectionism. In our responses to students, we sought to normalize experiences of struggle. Normalizing is a therapeutic technique in which a therapist shows a client that their emotions are commonplace and manageable; once the client realizes the universality of their emotions, the therapist assists the client in building an action plan to address their circumstance (Svinhufvud et al.). Feeling isolated in the experience of writing a dissertation, Katharine had formed a writing group with other graduate students in her doctoral program. At different points, each group member shared that participating in the group showed them they were not the only student struggling with writing. Based on Katharine’s experience, we sought to show WriteFest’s participants they were not alone in their struggles.

Following this conversation, we explained how a writer’s approach to a project can impact both the experience of writing and its outcome. We shared that academics who write for long, unstructured periods of time may report higher stress and lower-quality work, while those who write frequently for short, structured periods of time may report lower stress and higher-quality work (Silvia; Sword). Through additional reflective writing and discussion, we encouraged writers to gain awareness of their writing habits and mindsets, thereby scaffolding toward unit three’s introduction of cognitive reframing. We prompted students to consider their embodied experiences during a past, productive writing session, a “bottom up” approach: “Did you write alone or in a group? What was the time of day? Did you write using a computer, notepad, or other? Where were you? What did you do before the session? Did you take breaks?” We then discussed helpful factors and asked writers to create a writing schedule as an action plan for the next week. We encouraged writers to take their writing appointments with themselves as seriously as any other events on their calendars, and to keep their writing sessions short, frequent, and oriented toward achieving goals and celebrating successes.

Unit Three: Writing Mindfully

Our third unit introduced mindful writing practices that helped writers connect to the present moment, calm stress, recognize thought patterns, and externalize inner critics. We began by asking, “When you think about your writing project, what do you feel? Share the first three words or phrases that come to mind.” Students noted excitement, pride, anxiety, perfectionism, dread, and other emotions that described an emotional rollercoaster (Morrison-Saunders et al.). Our emphasis on mindfulness was inspired by Katharine’s regular practice of mindfulness and meditation while writing. Through meditation, Katharine managed her writing anxiety.

Given our sociocultural location of the Southeastern United States, we suspected that some students may be suspicious of mindfulness practices based on religious views; thus, we presented mindfulness as a research-backed practice that supports academic success. We defined mindfulness as awareness of the present moment facilitated through practices such as meditation, deep breathing, or gentle exercise. We shared that mindfulness can reduce writer’s block and academic anxiety (Horwitz, et al.); that it supports growth in coping mechanisms and improves emotional regulation (Frank et al.; Schonert-Reichl and Lawlor); and that it increases self-compassion (DeLuca). We discussed the “relaxation response” produced by mindfulness practices, in which practitioners feel calm and in control in the midst of stress (Benson et al.), and we described its reduction of the stress hormone norephinephrine (Deckro et al.; Elder et al.).

After anchoring our discussion of mindfulness in research, we introduced mindfulness practices such as meditation, the writer’s breath (Wenger), gentle exercise like yoga or walking, and observing nature. We connected mindfulness to the context of writing through creative writing and freewriting exercises that distanced writers from fear of future judgment. Techniques we shared included creating a ritual with which to begin and end writing sessions, taking regular breaks and wellbeing check-ins while writing, and addressing the inner critic to develop self-efficacy.

We then transitioned into our CBT-informed activity, “Externalizing the Inner Critic.” The inner critic serves dual functions: it can help writers recognize opportunities to improve their writing, but it can also become overly harsh, leading to writer’s block, lowered self-efficacy, and lessened resilience. Writers struggling with a harsh inner critic should (1) recognize the voice of the inner critic, (2) externalize it, (3) set boundaries, and (4) work to silence it. Our activity prompted writers to creatively compose a dialogue between themselves and their inner critic that illustrated their thoughts about their writing. We encouraged writers to portray the inner critic as a character from a movie or play, giving the critic a name, distinct appearance and personality unlike their own, thereby externalizing it. For example, Annie’s inner critic is named Patricia; Patricia wears a power suit and tight bun, and she is extremely stern. Next, writers evaluated their dialogues to determine whether the inner critic was serving a beneficial or harmful function. Writers then set boundaries with harmful inner critics by writing empowering statements that contradicted their inner critic’s claims, effectively composing an argument against their inner critics. Finally, we led a guided meditation to help silence the harsh voice of the inner critic.

Unit Four: Sustaining Progress

Our fourth unit focused on sustaining students’ motivation and confidence to write after WriteFest concluded. To shift students’ belief systems and cognitions so they saw themselves as learning academics, rather than novices, we introduced a metaphor activity inspired by Sword. This activity asked students to complete metaphors about their writing process or their project, such as “getting a negative review is” and “getting started on a new project is.” During the first round, students’ metaphors were more negative, such as “getting stuck is hitting a brick wall.” When tasked to re-write their metaphor through the process of CBT-informed cognitive reframing, students created more positive metaphors that focused on learning gained and progress made, such as “getting a negative review is a trampoline to reach new heights.” With this activity, we addressed the cognitions and negative associations holding students back from confidence.

We continued with a discussion about the importance of celebrating successes, as this impacts levels of motivation (Bandura). Annie’s clients often see their current struggles and do not see their growth, and she regularly asks clients to reflect on how they’ve grown. As students would no longer have WriteFest as an external source of motivation and accountability, we focused on strengthening their internal motivation by increasing their pride and excitement over the growth of their project and themselves as writers. In our discussion, we addressed reasons to celebrate success, such as increasing self-efficacy, but also ways to celebrate successes, such as writing themselves an appreciative letter, creating a list of accomplishments, and rewarding themselves. We provided a handout for them to do this work, as well as time to write themselves an appreciative letter, a strategy Annie utilized with her clients.

Conclusion

Our unique theoretical frame and our partnership as a writing and yoga instructor and a therapist allowed us to effectively address students’ self-efficacy through an embodied form of contemplative pedagogy and CBT. WriteFest’s first two units raised students’ awareness of their writing experiences, project planning, and cognitions; the final two units utilized mindfulness and cognitive reframing to build self-efficacy. CBT deepened our focus on wellbeing beyond what is typically offered within graduate student writing support programs. Through CBT, students reframed harmful thoughts and set boundaries with their inner critics, thereby fostering self-efficacy, wellbeing, and writing progress. We have scaffolded the topics of mental wellbeing and cognitive reframing in a manner that anyone can share without expertise in CBT.

WriteFest’s curriculum, which serves students across disciplines, can be adapted for a number of contexts. WriteFest’s handouts are published in UW’s Open Educational Resource, where they are licensed for reuse and adaptation. Faculty members who mentor and teach graduate students in any discipline can support their students’ degree progress through these topics. Academic units can adapt these materials for programs such as a writing retreat or utilize them within peer writing tutoring sessions. Additionally, therapists can present these materials to anxious graduate student clients to normalize their experiences and introduce mindfulness techniques.

Each semester, we used surveys to assess WriteFest’s impact on students, particularly their growth in self-efficacy. In their responses to the open-ended question, “How did you see yourself change as a writer from the work you’ve done throughout WriteFest?,” students described growth in their writing approaches and improved confidence. Several student responses are shared below, with Institutional Review Board approval:

• “This program helped me think about the writing process differently and in a less daunting way that encouraged me to write more.”

• “I am more motivated and I feel more capable.”

• “I would say that I’m more mindful of my mood entering into a writing session and analyzing what I am able to get done during that time. I think I also gained more confidence in my ability to actually sit down and write.”

• “Previously, I used to sit for long hours and still wasn’t able to write much. However, when I practiced mindfulness strategies, I could progress more on my writing project.”

These responses indicate these students grew in self-efficacy, particularly their belief that they could succeed in their writing projects. These responses are only a small sampling of the survey data we have collected, and we will continue to study it to be responsive to students’ needs and to improve our program.

Furthermore, both of us experienced professional growth as a result of WriteFest. Katharine’s experience developing a successful writing program allowed her to transition into the role of Associate Director of UW, where she directs four graduate writing programs and supervises the current staff of graduate assistants. Annie, who is now working as a therapist as a Provisional Licensed Practicing Counselor (PLPC), grew in her understanding of mindfulness and meditation. She uses mindfulness during therapy sessions, especially when educating clients about the somatic symptoms of anxiety and stress.

As we continue to offer WriteFest, we remain responsive to students’ changing needs based on current social stressors. In response to the pandemic, as well as the impact of isolation on graduate students’ wellbeing, we emphasized building a supportive community. As we move forward, we will responsively assess and restructure WriteFest, especially with attention to the embodied experiences of students with marginalized identities. Racism poses a challenge to mental health, and graduate students with marginalized identities face additional stressors. Our linguistic diversity statement opened conversation about linguistic oppression. However, a statement is only a beginning, and more innovation is required to actively participate in antiracism. Additional research on promoting graduate student success through antiracist praxis is needed.

As a program successfully combining contemplative and embodied pedagogies with CBT, WriteFest offers a unique model for supporting graduate students. Additional research on how CBT supports graduate student writers in a classroom context is needed. Collaborations between graduate student programs and college counseling centers can lead to deeper understandings of the cognitions and behaviors behind writing, as well as the creation of new methods to reframe students’ beliefs and build self-efficacy. Finally, although WriteFest addresses graduate student success, pressures are placed on writers and academics from a very young age. Through years of reinforcement, students acquire anxiety at school. Future research should address ways to support students at all levels, determining how to adapt writing interventions for different ages. Furthermore, by addressing the pressures faced early in school, educators may be able to move from intervention into proactively addressing the writing process while normalizing struggle so that it does not result in anxiety and self-image problems.

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