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