Identifying and Overcoming the Effects of Imposter Syndrome

Successful academic research careers require sustained effort and achievements in the face of common experiences such as critical feedback, frequent rejection, and isolation. These experiences can occur in a milieu of institutional, cultural, systemic- and sometimes interpersonal- racism, sexism, ableism, classism, heterocentrism, ageism, and other "isms". Among academics, especially those from minority and/or marginalized groups, this can culminate in imposter syndrome: the pervasive feeling of not belonging, feeling like a fraud and fearing that one's "deceit" will be found out by others. Imposter syndrome can be crippling and undermine potentially successful endeavors. If left unaddressed, imposter syndrome can result in poor professional outcomes including unproductivity, burnout, leaving academia, and inadequate professional networks.

This interactive workshop is geared towards social work scholars across the academic lifespan from doctoral student to full professor. The workshop will be multimodal, including activities, and discussion--as well as provision of supplementary information and material on the knowledge base about imposter syndrome--regarding who is at increased risk of imposter syndrome and how it shows up distinctively within different people, contexts, including an exploration of the different types of imposter syndrome and its manifestations. We will also discuss strategies that some have found to be helpful in coping with imposter syndrome at the individual level. In addition to individual approaches, we will discuss organizational and institutional ways to address and redress imposter syndrome.

Mirroring the emphasis on different career stages and diverse identities, the workshop will be facilitated by a team consisting of a doctoral student, a postdoctoral fellow, a tenure track professor, and a tenured professor; collectively, the facilitators bring represent multiple and intersecting marginalized identities. These workshop leaders will share their personal experiences navigating imposter syndrome while facilitating activities and discussion to address participants' own experiences with imposter syndrome. Panel participants will provide perspectives as colleagues rather than as a group of experts.

Participants will leave the workshop with multiple strategies to combat imposter syndrome individually, with and among their colleagues, and in their larger academic research communities.