Your Role with Mental Health as a Student Affairs Professional Abroad

Mental health is a concern

Imagine if one out of every five adults you encounter during the day has a mental health condition.  If the statistics were evenly distributed across the adult population, that imaginary scenario would be true for all of us (Mental Health America, 2018).  Depending on the person’s social milieu, though, that proportion is higher; People belonging to various minority groups, lacking social support systems, and lower socioeconomic status can easily make this their reality (Mechanic & McAlpine, 2002). 

Especially among college students

And, college students.  Estimates are that mental health professionals have treated and/or diagnosed one in every four college students within the past year (National Alliance on Mental Health Statistics, n.d.).  Add to that number the students who have endured a mental health concern without the involvement of mental health professionals and we begin to realize that our concern should be more on the present mental health issues of our students than the future leaders they will become.   The students learn to cope using mechanisms that fall on a spectrum from healthy to deadly, and we administrators or student affairs professionals rarely know about any of them. 

Now bring them abroad

And now, more and more students are going abroad, which inevitably means more and more students with previous diagnosed and undiagnosed mental illnesses are going abroad.  Students might see going abroad as a chance to get away from their troubles, take a brake from main campus’ academic rigors, or let off steam.   Consciously or an unconsciously, students’ hopes are that the study abroad experience will leave them with a lifetime of happy memories. 

Even a highly successful and vigilant study abroad program, however, comes with a host of challenges to the strongest of mental constitutions.  Friend groups are split up, if only temporarily, as individuals chose or are obligated to stay at their home campuses.  Routines are shaken up.  Students often feel lost, either literally or from not understanding how to navigate a new culture.  The long runs that previously benefited them can now be dangerous to engage in or gym facilities might not exist.  Time differences make calling loved ones a difficult exercise in shifted scheduling.  Expectations of the relief that time spent abroad would bring don’t pan out.  The extra money spent on the experience has adverse effects on the student’s family, own bank account, or both.  Prescription drugs are sometimes not allowed in the host country, or the maximum allowed prescription might not last for the duration of the stay.  Prescription or not, the drugs that made them feel better on their home campus are now difficult to get their hands on.  Feelings of guilt crop up as loved ones get sick or die and the student is not physically present for them.  The student’s own injuries and sicknesses are accompanied by questions of insurance, translations, and fears about the quality of health care in the host country. 

And this is in addition to the work load that is being put on them because this is, after all, an academic experience. 

What mechanisms are there?

So what coping mechanisms are there?  There is, of course, what many study abroad administrators spend time trying to warn students to stay away from or addressing its impact when their warnings aren’t heeded: Alcohol.  And it makes sense; Often more widely available, obtainable at a younger age, and more socially accepted, alcohol is often what students turn to as a first line of defense against mental health issues creeping in. 

But this isn’t enough, exacerbates the situation, or otherwise doesn’t work for a lot of our students studying abroad.  And, in my admittedly limited experience, the services that are currently out there for these situations are inadequate.  Many campuses lack consistently offered, English-speaking counseling services.  At a campus with 12-hour time difference to main campus, I’ve been told by an on-call counselor that I had to wait until he got into work two hours later (9AM his time, 9PM mine) before he helped me with a potentially suicidal student.  I’ve changed a protocol at a study abroad campus where students were required to go through school administration to schedule time with a counselor, and the bills sent back to the administration from the counselor had the students’ names on them (which is against standard best practices set up by the major counseling associations because it could deter students from reporting problems).  I’ve been on study abroad trip to locations that were so remote that none of the standard mental health resources were available within a practical period of time.  And people with little or no mental health counseling background end up being on the ground to address many of these concerns with little means to contact the appropriate parties in the U.S. in a timely manner. 

Conclusions

We need to be focusing more on study abroad and how it impacts the mental health of our students, and here’s what you can do:  Offer multiple ways for students to seek help, especially ways that don’t require going through employees of the college.  Dive into the details of how to find help during and after orientation.  If your program employs the use of host families, teach them how to recognize and address mental health issues.  Explicitly say, loud and often, that it is part of your job to support students’ mental health and you take that part of your job seriously.  Be honest and frank, with yourself and with the students, where your competencies end and what your legal obligation is as it relates to the Clery Act to report what they say to you, and that a professional, confidential counselor might be a better fit for their situation.  And never, ever make someone feel like they should be ashamed for having a mental health concern or that you are uncomfortable because they’re confiding in you.

Because remember, if the statistics are true of your study abroad campus or program, a surprisingly small percentage of the student population you help oversee won’t benefit from this message. 

Cody Rosenbarker first started in the field of international education by befriending the exchange students at his rural New York state high school.  He became an exchange student himself and spent his first significant experience abroad in Belgium, where he fell in love with exploring cultures and sharing experiences.  Since then, he has sought out opportunities to continue interacting with and learning from people of different cultures.  Some experiences include teaching English in China and the rainforest of French Guiana, directing a Summer camp in France, and working in student affairs in Hong Kong.  Most recently, Cody worked in southeast France at a study abroad campus helping students navigate and appreciate cultural differences.  Currently, Cody works as the Sustainability Learning Coordinator at Dickinson College helping create a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable environment.

Cody will be presenting a Webinar, sponsored by our Commission, on Friday, Nov. 9th at 11 AM EST titled, "Rooming with International Students: The Psychological Impact on Host National Students. For more information, go here: http://www.myacpa.org/events/rooming-international-students-psychological-impact-host-national-students