Supporting Students’ Emotional Well-Being

While Studying Abroad

Jamie Robinson, Thomas Teague, Jeanne Walker

Tweet your questions to: #NAFSAemowellbeing

Purpose & OutlineIssues of mental health and safety remain at the forefront as more students participate in education abroad. Students need to be prepared and supported for these experiences.

Promoting mental health and safety to support emotional well-being:o Pre-departure screening – Psychological pre-planningo Best practices across the fieldo Experiential mindfulness exercise

Presenters Jamie Robinson, LMFT, RDT

o Mental Health Advisor, CEA o Primary Clinician, University of California, San Francisco

Thomas Teagueo Education Abroad Advisor, University of Kentucky

Jeanne Walker, PhDo Director, Student Psychological Counseling Serviceso Chapman University

Tweet your questions to: #NAFSAemowellbeing

Pre-Departure Screening:

Psychological Pre-Planning

Students with Mental Illness

Best Practice Guidelines

All students indicating psychiatric disorders or taking medication should be contacted.

Information is needed to best support accommodations for students.

This approach promotes student disclosure.

Emphasis will be placed on the Pre-Departure and While Abroad phases

Common Medical Questionnaire Disclosures

Anxiety Depression: clinical, mild, major Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Eating Disorders Bipolar Disorder Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Relevant Concerns and Questions

1. Assess for safety

2. Assess for accommodations/needs

3. Assess for students’ capacity to manage

symptoms

Goals?To help students consolidate their strengths and resources before going.

NOT our goals:1. Fix a student2. Cure a student3. Analyze a student4. Pathologize a student5. Diagnose a student

Symptoms Questions Identifying the current impact of symptoms on the

student's life.o "How is depression affecting you right now in your life?“

o What are your depressive or anxiety symptoms?

o What led to your hospitalization?

o What is the impact of depression on your day to day life now?

o How has depression or anxiety affected your life recently?

What triggers your symptoms or episodes? o Important for Bipolar, Panic Attacks, Eating Disorders, OCD

Support SystemWho, what, and where is important in maintaining the student’s well-being?

What do you do to calm down, feel safe, etc.?

o Use the students’ language when they give you words

Who do you talk to or spend time with? Where do you feel safe? Who do you tell about these symptoms? Are you currently in contact with any treatment

providers?

Developing a Coping Plan

Have you considered making a plan for coping with these symptoms?

Who would you talk to about making a plan? Specific items for the plan include:

o contact with a known treatment providero ways to cope with triggers o housing o sleep, eating, roommates, academicso communication with international staff about

symptoms o access to treatment abroad

YOU DON’T HAVE TO MAKE THE PLAN WITH THE STUDENT

Preparing ALL Students Emotionally & Psychologically

Student Reflections & Strategies

Student Reflections “You can look at pictures and such, but nothing will be the

same [when you] get there in person”

“…I wish I had more time in-country to keep more of an emotion journal…Emotion is important in reflecting.”

“It was really good for us to have conversations…with someone that you feel you can be open with…just being able to talk about it…and having someone to bounce your ideas off of and ask them for feedback. It’s amazing what some feedback can do.”

“Sometimes it’s the students that have never undergone counseling or treatment that sometimes need the most support”

Support & Preparation in Action

Emphasized goal and expectations setting in pre-departure orientationo Gave examples; Encouraged developing & sharing of

goals in-person

Linked orientation sections, infused culture, and provided support resources (i.e. faculty, on-site staff, other contacts)

Provided Pre-Departure and “While Abroad” handbooks, reflection questions

Goals & Expectation

s

Identity & Background

Culture & Cultural

Adjustment

Health, Safety &

Expectations

Other strategies for support & preparation

Using different language, ways of thinking o e.g. Culture Shock; “U-curve model”

Engaging students in activities to better understand themselves and their colleagueso Personality-type icebreaker; Assumptions activity

Incorporating campus partners or past students Working with on-site partners and/or 3rd party

providers Utilizing supervised grad students in Psychology

to help support students while abroad– via Skype Mentor program on-site– each staff assigned to

studentsResponses taken from a survey conducted via SECUSS-L in April 2014If interested in obtaining full survey results, please email thomas.teague@uky.edu .

Experiential Mindfulness

Worries, Anxieties, and Fears (WAFs)

Name your WAFs Talk to others Unanticipated WAFs

CONTROL IS THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION

Mindfulness Mindfulness = observing and creating a wise

mind

“Mindfulness is not a special state you achieve through a trick or a technique. It is a way of being. Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally to things as they are”. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness is: o Intentional– acting with awarenesso Experiential– present moment focuso Non-Judgmental– observing self vs. judging self

Awareness– Requires attention Separation– Impartial observer Compassionate witness– Acceptance Letting go and moving on– Self-regulation tools

Examples:o HEALo WAF Busterso ACTo Wheel of Awareness

HEAL

Have a positive experience

Enrich it

Absorb

Link positive & negative material

HARD WIRING HAPPINESSRick Hanson

WAF Busters Demoting the WAFs Physical exercise Moving meditation Teach breathing techniques Guided imagery Using humor Thoughts are just words

ACT Skills

Feeding the tigerDriving your life busGet off your but(t)s

THE MINDFULNESS & ACCEPTANCE WORKBOOK FOR ANXIETY (Forsyth & Eifert)

Wheel of Awareness

THE MINDFUL BRAIN(Siegel)

Helpful Apps Breathe to Relax Buddify Calm Zen Meditative Music

Questions? Tweet your questions to: #NAFSAemowellbeing

NAFSA E-Book: Best Practices in Addressing Mental Health Issues Affecting Education Abroad Participantso www.valdosta.edu/academics/academic-affairs/internatio

nal-programs/dept/documents/study-abroad/mental-health.pdf

Moving with Emotional Resilience Between and Within Cultures (Janice Abarbanel, PhD)o www.afs60.de/webcontent/files/MbM_Abarbanel.pdf