Callie Rouse, CGIS health 
and safety assistant, and Annie 
Haroun, director of Active 
Minds, a student-led mental 
health advocacy group, hosted 
a panel at the Hatcher Graduate 
Library Thursday to discuss 
the effects of study abroad on 
mental health. 
Among 
University 
of 
Michigan 
students, 
anxiety, 
depression, 
self-esteem, 
academic 
concerns 
and 
relationships are the leading 
mental health concerns, the 
panelists 
said. 
Rouse 
and 
Haroun discussed the pressures 
study-abroad 
students 
face 
and how they impact existing 
mental health conditions. 

“Students are dealing with 
things 
like 
different 
laws, 
languages, 
diets, 
cultural 
norms, 
social 
expectations, 
living situations, that they’re 
new and unfamiliar with and 
these can be stressors for 
people,” Rouse said. 
Rouse also noted there is an 
ideal surrounding study abroad, 
which can be misinterpreted 
as a “magic cure” for people 
with 
mental 
health. 
While 
study abroad may help, Rouse 
said people still have the same 
mentalities abroad they do at 
home. It takes time and effort 
to adjust to new environments, 
according to Rouse. 
“You don’t leave yourself 
at home,” Rouse said. “It’s 
important to be really mindful 
about how you’re going to 

handle your mental health, it 
may be a new environment, but 
there’s still new challenges that 
come with that environment.”
Haroun 
emphasized 
the 
importance of studying the 
attitudes toward mental health 
in different countries before 
going there. She elaborated 
that, in her own experience 
abroad in Prague, mental health 
was not openly discussed in 
conversation, and she wished 
she had known that prior. 
“Just because (a) particular 
country 
doesn’t 
talk 
about 
mental health, that doesn’t 
mean that it’s not important 
and that you should be hiding 
it,” Rouse said. “It’s all about 
realizing 
that 
people 
are 
going through similar things 
to you, and you shouldn’t be 
afraid to practice mental 
health even though you’re 
abroad.” 
Rouse also stressed the 
importance of scheduling 
medications 
beforehand, 
especially since different 
countries 
have 
varying 
laws pertaining to which 
drugs are allowed there. 
Therefore, she said it’s 
important to get enough 
doses prior, as well as 
to talk to a therapist or 
physician about a mental 
health plan to prepare for 
challenges that may arise 
abroad. 
Rouse then addressed 
how 
one 
can 
prepare 
for 
study 
abroad. 
She 
mentioned that managing 
one’s 
expectations 
is 
one way of making sure 
stresses 
are 
handled 
properly when things don’t 
go as well as anticipated. 
Haroun cited different 
resources 
that 
students 
can and should access, 
such as CGIS, friends, the 
LSA Health and Safety 

team and counseling on site.
“For me, the biggest resource 
I used was friends,” Haroun 
said. “Although it can be really 
tough to ultimately confide 
in people because you’re in a 
totally different environment, 
I think it’s really important 
to note that everyone’s in the 
same place as you.” 
Rouse introduced a number 
of panelists to speak on their 
experiences abroad. 
LSA 
student 
Graysen 
Colpaert, 
who 
studied 
abroad with Global Course 
Connections in Japan, said she 
felt a little unprepared going 
into her program, but she 
utilized the resources available 
and had a good experience 
overall. 
“I 
didn’t 
realize 
what 
impact study abroad has on 
your mental health,” Colpaert 
said. “But there are resources 
available there for you to use, 
and that was a big part of 
getting through it for me, and 
it was ultimately a really good 
experience, and I wouldn’t 
trade it for the world.”
Haroun said one of the 
challenges she faced abroad 
was the pressure to make a 
routine for herself that fit 
absolutely 
everything 
she 
wanted to explore in Europe. 
She said social media worsened 
the pressure she felt because 
she found herself comparing 
herself to her friends.
“Although 
social 
media 
shows that everyone is happy, 
that’s really not the case,” 
Haroun 
said. 
“Everyone’s 
having ups and downs abroad, 
especially your friends, and it’s 
just the fact that your friends 
aren’t the ones that are talking 
about those hard times while 
they’re abroad.” 

2 — Friday, November 22, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

VALENTINA HOUSE 
For The Daily

Event examines obstacles to emotional wellbeing faced when studying out of country

Student panel highlights mental 
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during 
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TUESDAY:
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THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk

FRIDAY:
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WEDNESDAY:
This Week in History

MONDAY:

Looking at the Numbers

BE HIND THE STORY

Every Friday, one Daily staffer will give a behind the scenes look 
at one of this week’s stories. This week, LSA sophomores Barbara 
Collins and Ben Rosenfeld reported on community backlash 
surrounding a fraternity’s Larry Nassar-related banner displayed 
during a football game against Michigan State University.

“I think it had a very big impact on the University and its students 
as a whole. As a student newspaper, our core priority should be to 
be reflecting student opinion and voices, and this was definitely 
something that was being talked about on campus. So, having the 
opportunity to share that, I think it’s a very important issue to bring to 
light.”

Barbara Collins, Daily Staff Reporter

ALEC COHEN/Daily

QUOTE OF THE WE E K 

“
When someone has been sexually assaulted, they feel a sense of 
powerlessness and that’s one of the big reasons why people report: to 
take back their power and stand up to their perpetrator. When a 
university allows a perpetrator to cross-examine their victim, the 
university is in effect allowing that perpetrator to have power over the 
victim again and I consider that to be cruel.”

LSA sophomore Emma Sandberg, speaking during a protest of the University of Michigan’s interim Title IX policy

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

