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Jamie Robinson, Thomas Teague, Jeanne Walker
Tweet your questions to: #NAFSAemowellbeing
Issues 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.
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Promoting mental health and safety to support emotional
well-being:
o Pre-departure screening – Psychological pre-planning
o Best practices across the field
o Experiential mindfulness exercise
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Jamie Robinson, LMFT, RDT
o Mental Health Advisor, CEA
o Primary Clinician, University of California, San Francisco
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Thomas Teague
o Education Abroad Advisor, University of Kentucky
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Jeanne Walker, PhD
o Director, Student Psychological Counseling Services
o Chapman University
Tweet your questions to: #NAFSAemowellbeing
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Students with Mental Illness
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All students indicating psychiatric disorders or taking
medication should be contacted.
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Information is needed to best support accommodations for
students.
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This approach promotes student disclosure.
Emphasis will be placed on the Pre-Departure and While Abroad phases
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Anxiety
Depression: clinical, mild, major
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Eating Disorders
Bipolar Disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
1.
Assess for safety
2.
Assess for accommodations/needs
3.
Assess for students’ capacity to manage
symptoms
To help students consolidate their strengths and resources
before going.
NOT our goals:
1. Fix a student
2. Cure a student
3. Analyze a student
4. Pathologize a student
5. Diagnose a student
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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?
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What triggers your symptoms or episodes?
o Important for Bipolar, Panic Attacks, Eating Disorders, OCD
Who, what, and where is important in maintaining the
student’s well-being?
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What do you do to calm down, feel safe, etc.?
o Use the students’ language when they give you words
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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?
 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:
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contact with a known treatment provider
ways to cope with triggers
housing
sleep, eating, roommates, academics
communication with international staff about symptoms
access to treatment abroad
YOU DON’T HAVE TO MAKE THE PLAN WITH THE STUDENT
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Student Reflections & Strategies
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“You can look at pictures and such, but nothing will be the same
[when you] get there in person”
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“…I wish I had more time in-country to keep more of an emotion
journal…Emotion is important in reflecting.”
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“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.”
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“Sometimes it’s the students that have never undergone
counseling or treatment that sometimes need the most support”
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Emphasized goal and expectations setting in pre-departure
orientation
o Gave examples; Encouraged developing & sharing of goals in-person
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Linked orientation sections, infused culture, and provided
support resources (i.e. faculty, on-site staff, other contacts)
Goals &
Expectations
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Identity &
Background
Culture &
Cultural
Adjustment
Health,
Safety &
Expectations
Provided Pre-Departure and “While Abroad” handbooks,
reflection questions
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Using different language, ways of thinking
o e.g. Culture Shock; “U-curve model”
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Engaging students in activities to better understand
themselves and their colleagues
o 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 students
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Responses taken from a survey conducted via SECUSS-L in April 2014
If interested in obtaining full survey results, please email thomas.teague@uky.edu .
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Name your WAFs
Talk to others
Unanticipated WAFs
CONTROL IS THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION
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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, nonjudgmentally to things as they are”. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
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Mindfulness is:
o Intentional– acting with awareness
o Experiential– present moment focus
o Non-Judgmental– observing self vs. judging self
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Awareness– Requires attention
Separation– Impartial observer
Compassionate witness– Acceptance
Letting go and moving on– Self-regulation tools
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Examples:
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o HEAL
o WAF Busters
o ACT
o Wheel of Awareness
Have a positive experience
Enrich it
Absorb
Link positive & negative material
HARD WIRING HAPPINESS
Rick Hanson
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Demoting the WAFs
Physical exercise
Moving meditation
Teach breathing techniques
Guided imagery
Using humor
Thoughts are just words
Feeding the tiger
Driving your life bus
Get off your but(t)s
THE MINDFULNESS & ACCEPTANCE WORKBOOK FOR ANXIETY
(Forsyth & Eifert)
THE MINDFUL BRAIN
(Siegel)
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Breathe to Relax
Buddify
Calm
Zen
Meditative Music
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Tweet your questions to: #NAFSAemowellbeing
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NAFSA E-Book: Best Practices in Addressing Mental Health
Issues Affecting Education Abroad Participants
o www.valdosta.edu/academics/academic-affairs/international-
programs/dept/documents/study-abroad/mental-health.pdf
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Moving with Emotional Resilience Between and Within
Cultures (Janice Abarbanel, PhD)
o www.afs60.de/webcontent/files/MbM_Abarbanel.pdf