How do you know when a student is struggling - "Do these classes count towards my grades?"

Students suffering a mental break after culture shock

Covid

undiagnosed things coming to surface in the stress in new environment

Struggling to make friends in new environment

Asking for confirmation for the same answer multiple times

I had a student currently abroad requesting an appointment with our counseling center here on campus, but they would not talk to the student because they were abroad. Does this happen anywhere else?

Yes, we have come across that as well, it has to do with counseling license issues

Deya - Yes. Due to board licensing issues, this comes up often, unfortunately

Deya, our counseling center takes the same stance (I'm in VA)

Hello Deya, Great question. This is very common in the U.S. (I'm sure we can ask Kim about it later). Essentially, many state boards do not allow for counseling to be offered across state lines (including international)

Reaching out can also take energy someone doesn't have (due to depression/anxiety)

Will this presentation be share after? These are great questions!

Hello Jamie - yes we can share it after. It's also being recorded if you want to circle back to it later as well.!

I only work with outgoing students, so, as an education abroad advisor, I do not notice if any of these happens while they are abroad, unless the student lets me know. I am wondering how to be proactive to find out if I need to address this when my students are abroad. I am not sure if I am explaining myself clearly here 🙂

Hi Deya. I definitely think that's a concern for a lot of EA professionals. It's a great question. Hopefully we can sk and discuss other's strategies here later.

I have found that a few check-ins during the semester (particularly if you already have developed a relationship with the student) via email or another tool (WhatsApp, if you're comfortable for example) can give a student who is having difficulty a window/opportunity to express themselves to you.

We have a student worker in our office who reaches out to the students who are out of the country periodically. Sometimes our students have felt more comfortable sharing with a peer than with me.

That's a great idea, Sarah!

Hi Deya, Coming from an advising background myself, your role in expectation setting for students and introducing them to the support they can receive while abroad is so critical! In advising your outbound students, it can still be helpful to address any personal needs your students may face while abroad and informing them that, while yes, study abroad can be life changing in a wonderful way, there are many stressors that come with being an a new location, not knowing anyone at the beginning, perhaps not knowing the language, etc. If you advise them to expect certain stressors that can cause anxiety, you can also help those students think about what are ways they can cope with these additional stressors on program and remind them that they have an excellent support system through your office, here at ISEP, and at their host university.

We cover that in our pre-departure program - our Counseling Center does a session on culture shock and other situations.

Boundaries are so so so important. You can be supportive and provide empathy without draining yourself

I also think that it's easy for us to think about students having a crisis while abroad, but we may see signs and be able to assist and get them help before or after they go abroad. It certainly can be difficult to catch these signs when we aren't on campus with a student, but sometimes we can see warning signs before they go abroad, and we can make sure we are following up with them and checking in with a host coordinator to see how they are doing.

Thank you so much !

This was excellent! Thank you!

Thank you!

Feel free to put questions in the chat or unmute yourself with a question!

Thank you again!

Thank you, Kim!