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Vernon Wall
You know, I try to not use the term life changing too much, because I believe that it’s different for everyone. I do believe that study abroad and. Um, international experiences impact us, but I also know that they’re very white centered and and doesn’t allow for students from historically marginalized groups to really, I believe, grow in the way that they would want to. And so I just want to make sure that we continue to decolonize our international programs that we really think about. How do we not center it on the United States? How do we not center it on whiteness? How can we broaden that in a way where people can really engage and no matter who you are, you have an outstanding experience and a very high impact experience?

Heather Shea
Welcome to Student Affairs NOW, the online learning community for Student Affairs educators. I am your host, Heather Shea today on the podcast, we’re discussing how to support students mental health and well being during Education Abroad Programs. This topic emerged from my first hand experience leading an undergraduate study abroad program earlier this summer, and I am so excited to learn with and from our three panelists today as we explore the unique challenges students face, best practices for support and strategies for faculty and staff to enhance mental health resources during our international programs. Student Affairs NOW is the premier podcast and learning community for 1000s of us who work in alongside or adjacent to the field of higher education and student affairs. We hope you’ll find these conversations make a contribution to the field and are restorative to the profession. We release new episodes every week on Wednesdays, and you can find us at studentaffairsnow.com on YouTube or anywhere you listen to podcasts. This episode is sponsored by Routledge Taylor and Francis. They can view their complete catalog of authoritative education titles at routledge.com/education and this episode is also sponsored by Huron, a global professional services firm that collaborates with clients to put possible into practice. As I mentioned, I’m your host for today’s episode, Heather, Shea. My pronouns are she her and hers, and I am broadcasting from the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabe, three fires, confederacy of Ojibwe, Ottawa and Potawatomi peoples, otherwise known as East Lansing, Michigan, home to Michigan State University where I work. So let’s bring everybody else, and I’m going to put on the gallery view. Welcome to the conversation today, we have three fabulous guests joining me are VernonWall. Back to the podcast. Vernon, welcome back. This is number three, I think a couple. So Vernon has expertise in lots of areas, but this episode in particular, Vernon’s gonna be talking about his recent role as the dean of students on a semester at sea voyage. Lead of the Semester at Sea care team on Vernon’s voyage was psychologist Dr Shayna Perry, coming to us from Boston College. Welcome Shayna.

Shayna Perry
Pleasure to be here. Thanks, Heather. Yeah.

Heather Shea
And finally, welcome Dr Matthew Rader, Associate VP for student affairs and dean of students at IES abroad, which stands for the Institute for the international education of students. Welcome, Matt.

Matthew Rader
Thanks so much. Great to be here.

Heather Shea
All right, so I’d love each of you to give us a little bit more of an intro. What is your connection to this topic? And if you have any experiences from your own backstory that drew you into international education, I’d love to hear them as well. So Shayna, we’re going to have you start us off.

Shayna Perry
Thanks, Heather. Yeah, pleasure to be here sitting with Vernon, who I spent quite a bit of time at sea with and Heather, and that all of your experiences you’re bringing in. I’m Shane. Is she her pronouns? I’m located on the ancestral land of Massachusetts. And, yeah, I think, you know, first I’m coming in with some experience in student life. So Student Affairs, my connection there about nine years of working as Resident Director, graduate director, through my education, in pursuing my doctor of clinical psychology. But I think to this day, the thing that keeps shaping my connection to this topic, more than anything, is my own personal experience studying abroad. So I was a high school exchange student, and then college and a little bit later, studied abroad in my graduate research. So I can’t, you know, I can’t help but believe that from the moment I studied abroad at 16 years old, my life trajectory, you know, shifted a bit. And, you know, my world opened up to a wider context. And I kept craving to keep it that way since the older me, I think, knows that there. Are so many learnings and personal changes that, like, honestly, didn’t quite stick or maybe come to fruition until a lot later in life, when I had other experiences, people kind of interact with those past experiences, and so I don’t necessarily know if study abroad is inherently life or behavior changing, and I am absolutely here in this conversation, because I wholeheartedly believe it has the potential, and I think in some ways, more than so many other experiences. So I, as a psychologist and both now community member in some of these international organizations, I’ve become curious to find ways of how can we create a more positive, impactful experiences for students and staff. And you know, anyone involved in these programs, in addition to maybe having, I mean, that might include a point person like myself or a care team. And so, as part of changing norms on a community level, I’m interested in, how can we make it more accessible in terms of mental health, and that also means, you know, the things that are inherent within that, including, you know, sociopolitical factors like FCS as a as a kid, my family and I would not have ever dreamed of me studying abroad financially, and Then I found Rotary International Club, and, you know, studied abroad in high school with them. And so I think trying to add to accessibility within my roles as a psychologist at organizations like seeds of peace and Semester at Sea has kind of brought me, brought me here, brought me to the topic.

Heather Shea
Thanks so much. Aina Vernon, tell us a little bit more about you.

Vernon Wall
Vernon wall hehim pronouns, I’m in Washington, DC, the ancestral homeland of many native and indigenous tribes, but primarily the Piscataway and the anacaustic. Yeah. I’m director of business. Well, actually now I’m a new I’m a new position at Leadershape. I’m Chief of Staff full time Leadershape now. So as I came back from Semester at Sea, so very excited about that. And Leadershape, of course, is a nonprofit that works with college students and leading with integrity. And I was the Dean of Student Life for the spring 2024, voyage, which was a tremendous experience. As always, it’s my second time I went in spring of 1998 and so really, for me, it’s, I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this to anyone. I never studied abroad until I did Semester at Sea as an undergraduate student. I never left the country. And there’s a story with that, but I can maybe tell that at another time. Oh, it’s just sort of the interesting dynamic of study abroad programs on college campuses and how students of color aren’t seen as people who can study abroad and so, but so that was really amazing for me to be able to go to 10 countries in four months, my very first time abroad, and so, and then, yeah, and then, now, after I’ve I agree with Shayna that I think it will take me a while to to really unpack everything that happened during that voyage, but I’m so happy to have this conversation with with all of you.

Heather Shea
Yeah, yeah. Vernon, I didn’t study abroad as an undergraduate either. And it wasn’t until I was a doctoral student and got to do a fellowship that I first had the opportunity to merge the international travel and the education abroad experience.

Vernon Wall
And now I have to go abroad every year. Yes, I have to. I just have to,

Heather Shea
yes, it’s an it’s an amazing thing. I’ve moved all kinds of things around in my life to make sure I can still make it happen. Matt, tell us more about you. Welcome,

Matthew Rader
sure. Thank you so much. Just a little bit, because not always everybody’s aware of is abroad, but I’ve been doing Student Affairs work now for almost 35 years, 15 of those in a US context, and the last 20 in an international context, with IES abroad. And so in my work, I help lead a global student affairs team of about 80 Student Affairs staff who deliver high quality health and safety programs and services, as well as developmental programs that help students grow in their intercultural competence. So if you’re not aware, is abroad is an academic consortium of about 275 highly selective and selective institutions. In the US, we operated 18 different countries and in 30 different locations within those countries, over the course of a year, we help educate about 10,000 students in traditional study abroad programs, but as well, internship programs and faculty led programs. And so in my time at IES, in particular, my staff and I have connected 1000s of students within country mental health resources to advance their success. And regretfully, I’ve also had to manage some mental health evacuations and such too as well, which is another thing that we’ll probably get to in this conversation. And so why do I do this work? Research shows that most students in the US typically live in very segregated communities, and I believe that one of the best ways to help students understand difference is by placing themselves in a place that’s different from where they are now, and international education helps most students better understand cultures, whether that’s the language, whether that’s the behaviors, whether that’s the ways of being, and so much more that are different from what they know or think they know. And through the experiential nature of study abroad, we can help students become more interculturally competent, both internationally and domestically. So in my role at is abroad, I take my knowledge of the US student culture and help students and our global staff and understanding each other so that all students can be successful within our mission, and then advancing Deia overall. So that’s a little bit about

Heather Shea
me. Awesome. This is a phenomenal panel. I am so grateful for all of you spending time with us today. And Shayna, we’re going to start with you as far as questions go, from your experience as a psychologist mental health professional, what are some of the most common mental health issues that students might encounter while studying abroad, and then how, of course, can Faculty and Student Affairs staff be better equipped to identify and support these students?

Shayna Perry
Yeah, I think, you know, when first hearing this question, I kind of feel myself on a jump into a list of, you know, some come up together with some sort of exhaustive list between us four and our experiences. I think that might prevent us, first and foremost, though you know, acknowledging that often students and higher ed communities are really bringing with them so much of what is already their struggles back home and home campuses and so this also means that we’re bringing our strengths as individuals, as communities, potentially subgroups. It feels humanizing and orienting to me. You know, we don’t have to think completely outside of the box here, to imagine what students might encounter or what students often encounter in study abroad experiences in terms of mental health, and, of course, absolutely, there are additional experiences as well as stressors that I think are unique to studying abroad that get me excited to, you know, have this conversation with you all on the way of getting to start and like, collate and understand some of these, the nuances of what shows up in in traveling and bringing with us what’s already there. So I think before maybe kind of offering some umbrellas and then seeing what people have to chime in with, I don’t want to get lost in some of those umbrellas or come the nuances of experiences, and what I find grounding is less so like, what are the upticks In our you know, kind of rigid, often formulaic, mental health diagnosis system and more so. You know, think to some of the clinicians and humans who talk about things on the level of like, what are our basic evolutionary needs or yearnings that we’re bringing with us we’re negotiating constantly in any given moment as home base to come back to within some of these more unique individual, individual factors for for studying abroad. And, you know, that’s kind of some of the work of Stephen Hayes, and some i. Psychologists, I won’t get too into mentors like Emily sandus and Kelly Wilson, but one I think when I picture the faces of the students and my colleagues and some of my staff who I’ve gotten to learn through their experience and sitting in times of difficulty or joy studying abroad, it comes back to for me, I think always this need yearning to belong, this need to feel, or, you know, entirely come into contact with our experience when we’re doing these, you know, wild adventures, sometimes heart wrenching adventures, and the yearning to be oriented. You know, we yearn to know where we are in terms of present, past, future. So I couch these umbrellas, you know, with that lens. Because no matter what, even as we talk about some of their nuances, I think we can always come back to that and in wondering what people might be encountering, as you know, the foundation underlying all of these things. So I guess unique, unique stressors kind of popped up as as I also kind of sifted through some of the research that’s out there, and people talking about their experience, and then, more than anything, looking to our own experiences. One usual supports are not as accessible, and I, you know, I think there’s all sorts of things we can talk about within that it’s especially time limited. So is, you know, college. So is any, maybe educational experience. And especially so I think when studying abroad, whether for a couple weeks or a couple months. And then there’s the gradients and culture shock that you might be experiencing or not, and the people next to you, as you’re traveling about with these new humans are also experiencing it at different rates or degrees, and then, you know, never underestimating. I think the impact that biological changes can have on on mental health and struggles and navigating some of these, you know, evolutionary needs. So I’m happy to, like, jump into some of those briefly, and kind of hear other people’s thoughts on some of those. But

Heather Shea
I think I would love for you to start with the the idea of support, because I think that’s definitely evolved too, right? I mean, I think while there’s a potentially a six hour or 10 hour time difference, the ability to pick up a phone is really different today than maybe it was the first time burden led, led his program. So maybe talk a little bit about some of the the supports of like, relations with people from home.

Shayna Perry
Yeah. I mean, whether you’re student or a staff member, frankly, on a program, we really don’t get to bring our idiosyncratic, culturally attuned supports, whether that be a person or a group of people. So I think not having as frequent contact, or in person contact, as we’re you know, our bodies are kind of in this constantly activated space, being in a new environment, 24/7, even when we come back to sleep at night. And so we don’t get that, like our body doesn’t get that reprieve of the familiar at the end of a at the end of a day, which might even be more accessible back at a campus. So yeah, thinking about Semester at Sea, you know a sailor’s life you can’t, you know, really readily, as readily call home, although sometimes you could pay, like, $17 and, you know, a minute or something, to do so. And so I think that can really impact pre existing struggles. Students can suddenly on these experiences, feel impacted in ways related to identity, for instance, or mental health, or just like coming in contact with the realities of the world in new ways and. Yeah, and maybe they’ve figured out how to navigate that back in a more familiar context. But then you take it into an unfamiliar context, and it can become really disorienting and kind of going back to that yearning to be oriented, to belong, some of those things are just not inherently there. I think a very concrete example that you know is not unusual necessarily, is if a student or staff receives a difficult news from back home or maybe an unforeseen event occurs, like the death of a loved one, for instance, and there’s no one familiar or for familiar realms to process or like help carry those feelings, at least not in person as readily. So I think that can be something people encounter that they may or may not be expecting and be really challenging.

Heather Shea
Matt, what would you add? Yeah,

Matthew Rader
I would. I would just add that we also need to think about students as we think about their mental health related to how much or how much structure do they need, and such on a given program. One thing that’s a little bit similar, I think, between I’ve never been on a Semester at Sea program. I know people who work on Semester at Sea programs, but you get students from all over the US that come and study with you on the ship, and we get students from all over the US that come and study with us too, as well. One of the things that might be comforting for students is they all come back to the ship, maybe at the end of the day, and there’s that cohort of students where they can count on for support, while there’s many things that will present challenges in that somewhat if a student, there’s different kinds of programs. So there’s like the Semester at Sea program. There’s the IES program, where we’re getting students from all over the United States and putting them in particular locations around the world too as well. And they can create a cohort that way too as well. But there are other programs where there’s direct exchange, like Michigan State with University of Freiburg in Germany, where students come back and they’re going through those universities independently, and some, based on their resilience or ability to manage, can manage something like that, whereas others, I might need to go on a faculty led program where I know Heather Shea, and she will be my kind of looking out after me and such. So some students and helping, not necessarily steer or advise students in particular ways, but helping them understand, if I know that I’m an anxious person, for example, what’s going to be the best program for me to help me through what I might experience when I go and study abroad or encounter this international experience, because some will have traveled before, some will have never traveled before. And so how do we accommodate? How do we best help students in terms of their success in these international kinds of experiences. So I would add that to what Shannon was saying. Yeah,

Shayna Perry
that’s great.

Heather Shea
Vernon, do you want to chime in? Share anything?

Vernon Wall
I mean, I think for me, I remember before I sailed the second time, I thought the term mental health is so broad, and our knowledge of mental health issues is varied. And with social media, with the internet, with just the engagement of of people we we use the term mental health, I think, too broadly sometimes. And so I loved how we really tried on our voids to narrow it down, to say, so what? What are we talking about? Are we talking about medications? Are we talking about anxiety? Are we talking about, what are we talking about? Because students will just mention mental health randomly, like they’ll say, Oh, this is not good for my mental health. No, no, tell me what exactly is a concern of yours. And let’s look at that. And I think family members also, too, have done that in terms of sharing while I’m concerned about my students mental health. Well, let’s talk about specifically what you’re concerned about, so we can then provide the service or the need, the services for the needs that you have. And so that’s the thing that I really learned most, is to really help people hone in on like so What? What? What support do you need? How can we be of support, and the fact that whatever, whatever dynamic students had before they came on the voyage, they have it on the voyage. And it’s even more sort of magnified with just the. Experience itself. So I think that it’s important for me for those two things to be present all the time.

Heather Shea
Yeah, Shayna, what else would you say?

Shayna Perry
Yeah, yeah. I think that to that magnification you’re talking about, Vernon, I think it brings it to that, you know, point of it’s especially time limited in nature. And so les McCabe, I think, talks about this an article, I think, Heather, you’re going to share with people, but, yeah, yeah, yeah, the social pressures to stimulate are, you know, do it quick and or else. And it gets at that yearning to be oriented, to belong, to feel. But the experience is only so long, usually, and as soon as I remember, as soon as you know, stepping abroad, there’s kind of this unavoidable awareness of this, like this nagging feeling of this clock that starts to tick behind you. And in addition to the societal, familial, maybe school or programs, messaging of potentially, this will be one of the greatest, most meaningful experiences of your life. And so as as a student, as a staff member, I don’t think we’re immune to it, either. I can, you know, remember that immense amount of pressure put on creating connections, making an impact, being impacted, and so I, I think it kind of exacerbates some of those things We’re negotiating and navigating in life, in in any point, and there can be disappointment inevitable in that there’s never enough time to feel or make contact with every every aspect of the experience or to do it, to fit it all in that can be so anxiety provoking at baseline, let alone if you already have experiences of anxiety or kind of run anxious, and there might be radical disappointment to given expectations that you have of yourself and also that you have of others, that you’ll be transformed, that they’ll be transformed, that that transformation will be happening at the same rate, or, you know, degree. And I think this can be a wonderful opportunity. Just as you know, not having regional supports accessible can also be a wonderful opportunity to, you know, have to look to other places within yourself, other groups, but it definitely adds some pressure to what might already be cooking.

Matthew Rader
If I could just add one thing onto what Shayna and what Vernon have already talked about, is something I’ve been talking about lately as I’ve done some presentations and such, which deals with that anticipatory anxiety I think that students often have, and when we think about the college experience for traditional college students, and that’s mostly what I have on my programs. Are traditional college students. When they go off to college for their first year, they tend to be kind of anxious sometimes, sometimes they’re really excited to be there, but I don’t know if I’m going to make friends. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to fit in this culture within the college or university and all of that. And what I really have found, especially sometimes with students who experience challenges as I work with them and their families and their schools, is if they had considerable anxiety or trouble adjusting and such during their first year, it’s usually happening when they study abroad, too, as well, and there’s a lot of repeat kind of that behaviors and concerns that sometimes come up. And that’s not because we’re not trying to do things that help them be successful, but we just need to do more and try to help make that transition as smooth as possible, using some of the same skills that we use as we transition first year students from the high school experience into the college experience, because they may be learning a new way of language. They may be dealing with all new peer group friends, just kind of how do I even do my laundry where the washing machine doesn’t work, like the washing machine in Germany or in Japan or whatever, these great frustrations that can then cause problems and make us not feel the best on our programs and such. So minimizing those things through I know we’ll get to probably the sometime along the line, but like through orientation programs and other things that we do to help students be successful in international environment. On your votes? Yeah.

Heather Shea
Vernon, I know these things have always been. I mean, mental health has always been. It’s not like these are brand new issues that we’ve seen. But I am curious about, after you have led this Semester at Sea program a couple of times, what changes have you seen, or what common concerns maybe were more present back in the late 90s versus in the in 2024

Vernon Wall
Yeah, Heather, I think for me, what I remember most about my first voyage in 1998 was that the focus was on alcohol. It was on the use of alcohol. What does that mean? How is that influencing students behaviors? I don’t even know if we even talked about mental health. I think maybe it leaned toward cabin made concerns in terms of, you know, not getting along, but not the broad stroke of mental health that we’re talking about now, and that’s what I remember most. And I think students behavior has shifted. I know it’s on the on this past spring voyage, yes, students do if they choose to consume alcohol, but now it’s much more connected to Airbnbs because now, when a student leaves our ship and goes into the into a city or into a country, they are there, and they can get an Airbnb with 10 people, and they can party up, and then when they get back to the ship, they’re usually exhausted. So you know, we alcohol in itself, was not, I believe, as strong of an issue as it was. It doesn’t mean that that students didn’t use or and sometimes maybe abuse alcohol. But it was, I don’t believe that that was the case. It was. It was that more, more, more than that. And you know, vaping is something that students tend to do more. And I know that our crew was really baffled by the fact that the smoking area, which of course, typically on the ship, is for people who are smoking. You know, tobacco is, or cigarettes, and they were, the smoking area was never, you know, a problem, because nobody would go there, because nobody wanted to smell like smoke. Now, on our voyage, everyone was hanging out there because it was the place where people socialize and vape. Nobody that was not on my bingo card, that that would be something that students would be connecting with. So those are, I mean, I think that we know that mental health issues were happening in 1988 Absolutely, but I don’t believe that we have the knowledge that we do now, and also too, I think that family members and caregivers are more aware of mental health issues, and so they’re more apt to talk about them and share them.

Heather Shea
Interesting. That’s super fascinating. I also had some experiences with vaping on my program too, and I was like, Wait, this is really interesting. I am we could do a whole episode just on vaping culture. I think, Matt, I’m really curious, based on what your programs do, I mean, it sounds like hundreds of programs all over the world, and I’m really curious about supports that you provide to students related to mental health, and in particular, related to any emergency evacuations like, I mean, those are really high stress, hopefully very rare circumstances, but I know I have had to send a student Home, not by their choice then, and it’s it definitely creates a dynamic and a stressor for everybody involved.

Matthew Rader
Fortunately, we haven’t had to spend too many students home based on their mental health. It has happened. We’ve had students hospitalized and then medevaced home and such, and that’s no fun for anybody. It’s not good for the student group that’s with the fellow student, but if there’s faculty members, my staff in particular locations, none of that is That’s happiness. But I do think that there’s some things that we can do as we lead programs abroad, or we work with students who are going abroad. And I kind of made a little list, if I could go through those just for a brief year, is the thing I think it always need to remember. And I think sometimes people forget is that whatever’s in your student body, on your campus, is exactly what’s going abroad. They’re not different students, even though students might feel that they’re different or whatever. What I’ve seen over my 20 years working at is abroad is increasing numbers of students who have been diagnosed with a mental health. Health condition, and that’s good. It’s really good to know that people are getting the help and sometimes the psychotropic medications in order to help them succeed and lead happier lives. That’s really great. Whereas earlier in my career, that might not be so much that you talk about, but we’ve socialized that really well in us, culture and education and such. So it’s not shameful or anything like that to talk about any kind of mental health concern that you’ve had in the past. But the other thing that I’d say is some of our students, unfortunately think that, because I’m going abroad, I’m not going to have my obsessive compulsiveness or my anxiety or my depression or whatever the case may be. Unfortunately, it still goes with them and needs to be managed in proactive kinds of ways, which I’ll talk about in just a second. And then the other thing I think it’s important for us to think about as we try to support students related to their mental health is particularly related to identity related issues, and if I’m the only person of a particular race or sexual orientation or gender or whatever, what impact those kinds of experiences will have on me in the location in which I’m studying or visiting or whatever, which can at times, be quite significant, and having those early conversations with students to socialize them about what life will be like, whether it’s on the ship, what Semester at Sea, or one of my program locations, or as A faculty leader, taking them to Europe or South America or whatever, having those real conversations with people, so that you’re forewarned, not for when it sounds negative, but you’re socialized to what life will be like on the ground. Because I think that that helps leap for more positive experiences, sometimes in a new culture. So I’m always the one to believe that being proactive is much better than being reactive to something that you never told me that based on my gender, for example, if I’m a woman, that I might experience cat calls or something like that in Morocco, for example, that’s not a fun thing to have to do, which also can impact my mental health. But one thing that we do, and I’m sure lots of other providers do, like is abroad and colleges universities do, is we require all students to complete a medical form for us in order to study with us. And on that medical form, it asks students if you’ve ever been through counseling, or you’re on a psychotropic medication or anything like that. And some students might be afraid, you know they’re going to say that I can’t go and study with this particular program because I listed that we do everything in our power to say we will do everything in our power to make sure that you’re going to go, but knowing that information in advance so that we can connect you with a counselor in the country that’s English speaking, if that’s your first language, so that they can be successful, that’s what we want to do, or that you can have the right amount of psychotropic medication for your entire time abroad, so there’s no time where you’re having to go without where it can change how you’re feeling and how you’re experiencing A culture or program or something is really, really important. And one of the ways that we do that, it sounds like it might be similar with semester to see, is we make connections with people that are at our program locations. And for us, people with pre existing conditions, which are both mental health and physical health, typically work out to be about 20 to 30% of our student body, so we’re contacting those students in advance of their going to say, Hey, would you like to work with a counselor while you’re abroad? We can get you set up with somebody in the city that can help you and get everything managed and such. And so that can be really that can be really good. Now, if you’re on a short two week program, or you’re doing a j term program or something, it makes it a little bit more hard, but for longer, experiences like what Semester at Sea is doing and what we do at is that can be really, really helpful. And then, in addition to just the medication that I was mentioning is confirming that that medication is available and or legal if they can’t bring enough with them, because a lot of the stimulant psychotropic medications in many countries are illegal, and you can’t even bring them into the country and helping students think about that in advance of their going, especially for students who have learning disabilities and such and are on things like Adderall, Concerta and those kinds of things, like in Italy, those medications are illegal. So how can we help the student work with their provider here in the US, to think about non stimulant drugs that might be able to be used in the country, that might do similar things, and it sounds similar to other organizations and such. It’s all about orienting students, giving them more information about. How To be successful, how to take care of myself while I’m abroad. And so we do a number of pre departure things, which I think is best practice too, as well. And our programs talking about that, we have staff that can help you get to see a mental health professional or a psychiatrist or a GP, or whatever the case might be, at the particular program location that’s English speaking, and that can also help you with a mandatory student health insurance policy that we have for our programs, that most college universities have, too as well, that covers mental health and that there’s very little, if any, out of pocket expense for a student, because sometimes our students haven’t been accustomed to having to pay for certain things. And in countries abroad, you have to pay to go see the mental health provider on the spot. Typically, it’s not going to work on something that just you pay a deductible, or they send a bill home, or something like that. That’s just not how it works. And helping students understand that, and I’m sure colleges universities are doing this for their semester long programs and other things, is vetting English speaking mental health professionals in the country that students would feel comfortable with. And in some places and in some countries, finding good English speaking or psychologists or psychiatrists can be quite challenging that are English speaking. And yes, our State Department in the US provides some of those kinds of assistance and help, but not enough. They’re not always, usually where you’re going to be with your students and helping them find those things and utilizing a good health insurance provider like one that we use can be quite helpful. But I guess two last things here is, I think the other thing that we have to do to try to help students be successful is to make sure that we’ve trained our faculty and staff who are going on our programs to identify students who might not be doing well. Are they becoming more socially isolated, withdrawn from the group? Are they participating in classes that we’re providing? Are they sleeping a lot burn was just talking about alcohol programs. Are they abusing alcohol? These are all the things that we kind of typically talk about in early alert programs in the US for first year students. All of those things, in my particular opinion, work perfectly well and extremely well for that matter, and study abroad programs. And the only other thing that I would say that really helps so that you don’t have to get to that medifact situation. I can talk about those too, if you all want to hear but they’re not so very fun and that kind of stuff. And we do a lot of these proactive, preventative things, we don’t usually get to that case, but Shayna coordinates a care team and such. And most colleges universities have care teams or behavior intervention teams, or both

Matthew Rader
making sure that your college or university taps into international too as well. About what do you do if a student is having some mental health challenges in the Netherlands, what are you going to do? How are you going to manage that? What are the resources that you can count on on the ground to help you through that particular problem? Because I have found in my years some schools aren’t very well developed in that particular area, and get concerned about what they should be doing if they think the students should be leading a program and protecting the student, but also protecting the college or university too as well. And what I found, unfortunately is many times, some schools do not have the appropriate mechanisms in to manage student mental health abroad. And what’s like if I’m in Argentina, for example, mental health is really Freudian, and it’s a way of thinking and such. And so getting somebody assessed for suicidal ideation is really challenging in Argentina get done quickly, where, in the US, they go through a basic kind of thing, and we might move them to some sort of CBT, and maybe it would help get them through the program and such. But you have to know these things on the ground too, as well. And I think that’s where we need to give some more thought to how we help students be successful. Sometimes, if they’ve had past histories of mental health challenges, that’s a long list. I’m sorry I was so long.

Heather Shea
No, that was, that was really helpful. And I was, I was reflecting up on my own experience, because I do think in a previous iteration of the program that I lead, I was paired with somebody who I don’t think was really prepared to deal and address and work through and support students, and I think that’s that last point that you made as far as training staff. In fact. Faculty how to identify and then having those resources and supports back on your campus is really, is really key. Like we need folks who have those well run not not just content area expertise in the discipline that the program, if they’re doing a faculty led program, not just that expertise, but also the understanding of the issues and challenges that might be impacting students. Shayna Vernon, anything you’d like to add to best practices.

Vernon Wall
I mean, I would, I cannot speak highly enough of the care team that we had on our ship. So whatever that looks like for an institution, there needs to be some, some group that reviews students of concern. I mean, that’s that was, I think, beneficial in us. We did not send anyone home during our voyage. For even, it’s even for discipline, which is unheard of on Semester at Sea. Now that doesn’t mean that students didn’t choose to go home because of difficulties that they were having on the ship. So I do want to separate the two that we did have several students leave just because it just wasn’t it just wasn’t good for them in the so I just want to make sure that folks campuses think about so what does it look like for every program to have some sort of support, because the person you know, the faculty or staff member that’s, you know, taking the students abroad, that should not be the only person that’s involved in mental health for students and their success. It should be more of a team effort, and what does that look like?

Shayna Perry
Yeah, I mean, I can’t I agree completely, and I think it’s a balance between Yes, knowing yourself as a student, and, you know, having those conversations with people you trust before you choose the program as you’re exploring programs, I think that also lands on the study abroad office at your campus as well, and helping you think through all the different dynamics. And it’s, I think, important for programs to know their students and their applicants. Prior to I saw some, you know, really wonderful things the counselors. We had three counselors on the ship that Semester at Sea, and prior to the voyage they made, you know, over 100 calls, just connecting with students who, like Matt you were talking about, maybe disclosed different a diagnosis or medication, or it just said, Hey, I’m thinking about my anxiety before I go on the ship. And they made those initial connections to even just raise some questions, not in the way of saying, Oh, sounds like you can’t come to this program, in the way of saying, okay, like tell us more about that. Here are the resources we imagine will be on the ship for you, what are you thinking of bringing along with you, whether that is sometimes a letter from their provider back in their home, you know, campus or state, that is, you know, advocating for them, for certain accommodations and in terms of the care team. I mean, it was just priceless to have multiple people across the program, from different apartment departments, talking about and advocating for students, because I just can’t even imagine having tried to do that alone, or, you know, the counselors, or the resident directors on the the ship, or Dean of Students, like, I can’t imagine people having to do that, Heather, to your point of, you know, kind of Being in the situation where maybe you were okay to try and navigate some of these things, but then you found kind of your CO or people around you weren’t necessarily ready for that. It is huge and so helpful for being more preventative than reactionary, or, you know, meeting the issue at the height of the crisis, which we know is just so much harder to navigate well.

Vernon Wall
And I’ll add to that, I love your comment chain around you know, having people from different parts of the institution, because if someone is not doing well academically, they probably are also then maybe having some concerns in with their roommate or and that was the key. We were able to talk to each other to know that, oh well, this person has missed two classes. Let’s find out more about what that is, because rarely is it. Does mental health impact only one act. Aspect of their lives. And so we can, we can understand more if we have more touch points. And so that’s, I think, was the key.

Matthew Rader
And I would just add one other thing too. The thing that always pains me most at the beginning of a program are boomerang students. They’ve made all the plans, they’ve made, all the arrangements. They get to a program location, and they get off the plane and they’re so anxious, or they just say, This isn’t right, and then on the next plane, back home, yep. And it just pains me they’ve invested so much time. There’s all these visas and forms you got to fill out and all these things you got to do, to study abroad, and then to have that go all that way, and then come all the way back home. I want to have make sure that we have few and few of those, and we have very few overall as an organization, but it still happens. I respect those students who know this isn’t going to work out. It’s just going to be too anxiety producing for me, or whatever the case might be, and it’s best for me in terms of my own mental health, to be back home. I respect that one immensely, but making sure that we’ve done everything that we can to lead to that student’s success, because we all have little bumps in the road from time to time, but usually with the appropriate supports that I’m sure Semester at Sea has that we have at IES, we can get over those hurdles, but you have to be a little bit willing to give it a try and such, and get yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone. And that can work out well for many students. But I just that’s the part that just really pains me. I think that what Shane and Vernon were talking about too.

Shayna Perry
Yeah, I think adding to that, Matt, in terms of some of the pre departure prep that can go into it, something I saw, you know, and I’ve been learning from my work at Seeds of Peace is prior to some of these international camps they send students off to. There’s so much in country programming for the months leading up to departure for sometimes, you know, like you’re speaking to Matt, the kind of prepping for like this is going to be anxiety provoking from maybe the moment you arrive. How might you show up for yourself in those moments? Or what are you going to need to then also that identity work that you were speaking to Matt, knowing that you know there’s going to be these gradients of culture shock and seeds of pieces based around really difficult intergroup dialog and facilitated peace dialog. And so the context of the program is so important in some of that prep work of you know, are you getting to explore who you are, your identities, prior to coming into whatever the program is, the context is, and know that people alongside you might, may or may not have done that work, and that’s going to be potentially really difficult, and have its own dynamics. And so anytime you can bring together a group that’s going to be traveling together prior to and I can’t emphasize it enough, in terms of staff and faculty as well, like Vernon, as Dean of Student, did this so beautifully for our department, in in student life, on the ship we were meeting, you know, months prior to the voyage, and so when we showed up, even though it was through zoom in these little boxes, when we showed up together as our immediate team, it felt really cohesive. And the students felt that from our Student Life team, I think throughout the voyage, and that felt really, you know, priceless, especially in moments for our student life teams, in terms of crisis or things that were unexpected on the voyage, or individual student mental health needs.

Heather Shea
Now let’s, let’s talk about that unexpected piece for just a moment, because, and then we’re going to get to the solutions, and then things we might want to incorporate into those pre departure meetings. But I am really thoughtful about the context. You know, we have multiple factors here. We have the students themselves. We have whoever’s potentially their support system, but then the environment in which they are traveling to, you know, could base a number of different disruptions or crises, you know, I mean, and then there’s the little everyday things, right, like you miss a train, or it’s pouring rain for three days, you know, those types of things that are. Completely beyond your control. I think worrying about those creates a lot of anxious anxiousness, and that’s the kind of thing that keeps me up at night, because I want to be able to control some of those factors. I learned a long time ago, you can’t control the weather. You can only control your clothing that you’ve decided to wear that day and make it make it work. Matt, do you want to talk a little bit about how there seems to be an increase in global travel disruptions as well as other crises that are affecting programs? What have you done to kind of mitigate those challenges?

Matthew Rader
Sure, yeah, Boy, I wish those things would stop, because then I could get a better night’s sleep, you know, and my team could get a better night’s sleep at night. But being aware of all of these things can happen, like in my time at is like we’ve had natural disasters like the earthquake in Fukushima in Japan and such and other locations around the world that happens that can make you anxious or keep you awake at night, that can be political unrest in locations like a coup attempt in Turkey or in Ecuador, and such terrorism like we’ve had in many places around the world, but more significantly with us, and in London and in Paris and such. Then there’s pandemics, when the pandemic finally broke out and such, and we had to bring almost 3000 students from all over the planet back home and get them back into the country and such. All of that is crazy nuts and makes everybody anxious and such, but unfortunately, they can’t be avoided. Life happens, as we say, right? But I think there are some things that we could do as people who work in this field, in international education and such as making sure that we’re thinking in advance about problems that can happen, whether they’re of a natural disaster or political unrest or anything like that, and having plans in place to be able to manage those things. And as sometimes we say, it is abroad, like having boots on the ground to help deal with these problems, so that students don’t get overly stressed or anxious about these things. And that gets into what all colleges universities, who are taking students abroad are working with providers like semester at C or is abroad to help them know what our plans are to where do you go? What do you do? All of that. Because the more you know, I tend to believe, the less anxious you are, the less concerned you are. So having those plans in place for every location where your students are is really, really important. But I think the other thing too is, do you have the means to let your students know what’s going on and communicating with them quickly? So what the State Department, the US, State Department, sends out messages and such to students where they’re traveling and such, but having other services that can help explain what’s going on that maybe the State Department has missed or might not have hit their threshold, but really is something that students are experiencing at a particular location is important, and one of the things I have the good fortune of is to have quite a few staff at each one of our program locations that help educate students and communicate with them and also with us Here in the States, because while the student might be anxious, their parent might be twice as anxious as their student, and so they’re calling me or calling their student to check in, which just increases everybody’s anxiety, or even the school. If they don’t know what’s going on in a particular location they’re anxious, then they can’t convey a sense of calm to the parent who can’t sense a sense of calm to their students and such, and it just becomes a big mess, if you will. So one of the things that we try to do within our organizations is be really timely about anything that’s significant that could make students anxious of all those various bad news situations that I mentioned when I first started, but having people also on the ground, and I’m sure on the ship, with Semester at Sea, that can help normalize at times what’s going on within the local community can be really, really helpful too, as well, or maybe not normalize, but say this is a really serious thing, and you need to be taking shelter, you need to be doing this batch, or whatever is really important too, as well. So those would be some things, but really in the grand scheme of things, making sure that you have good crisis plans. For those big natural disasters and such, but also for a student, maybe who has a significant mental health problem, has some sort of suicidal ideation, maybe, or is cutting, or is doing other kinds of things that are disruptive, maybe having a psychotic break, on the verge of schizophrenia. What are you going to do in that particular situation, so that you’re not alone, trying to figure this in a culture country that you may not be as familiar about who are your resources, who can help you with the student? Or also, how does the student know who to call, or the peers that they’re with know who to call to help them when these situations happen, fortunately, they’re not everyday kinds of things, but when they do, they’re usually pretty serious, and people need help. And I think that’s what we do in student affairs and what we do,

Heather Shea
yeah, so we are getting close on time, so I’m going to move us to the how do we prepare, faculty and staff. So Shayna, I’m going to have you tell us a little bit about some suggestions there recommendations and training and resources. And then Vernon, I’m going to have you speak a bit about how we can better prepare students, and also thinking about parents and supportive family members as well. I’m imagining this episode being something I might send to my students in the future. Share this with your parents. You know, just so you know, there’s some familiarity with these are challenges, and this are some of the possible ways that we can address so Shayna, what resources or trainings would you? Would you like to share?

Shayna Perry
Yeah, I mean, I think one even just naming and normalizing like you’re saying that some of these different things that might be encountered, whether you know there’s going to be unique biological changes on your program, mealtimes, types of food, you know, naming all of these potential things and becoming aware of them ahead of time, or those gradients of culture shock, or, you know, less accessibility to support. So even just putting that out into, you know, verbal form with students, I think, can be great, and making that more of a conversation in any way, where you’re not talking at them, you’re not giving them a pamphlet, you know, you’re having real conversations with each other. And maybe, I mean, all the better if you can bring students together in that if, if it’s a context where you’re going to be, you know, traveling together with a group who you don’t know yet, or you do know yet, in bouncing ideas off of each other. Because I think students are so often more resources to each other than anyone else, and can throw out ideas of like, Oh, I didn’t think about, you know that going into this. And so that’s a resource. So any way that programs and faculty or staff can be the facilitators of those spaces prior to knowing that people might need a, you know, place to jump off of, or some ideas to jump off of. And then with that, like I mentioned, Vernon and Matt was speaking to as well, getting faculty staff or anybody in the programs, whether they’re at land or, you know, in the US or whatever context going abroad as well, finding ways to get those people talking and make sure there’s really transparency around those crisis plans, what resources are in place, not because you’ll ever be able to foreshadow what’s going to happen, but even just for staff and faculties on understanding and peace of mind, like really training around identifying signs, and then what do you do with those signs? Who can you look to based on the program? Is there a care team? You know? Are there certain people in place seats of peace? You know, it was me and another mental health support person, and then all the individuals supporting each group from their designated country. So we were talking about that prior, and had, like, our lines of communication pretty transparent for when those situations arose. And, yeah, any pre work you can do to set things up for yourself, prior with providers, with people I have from the clinical psychologist, part of this, you know, I work with. Individuals in therapy, and have college students and others traveling abroad, and so we’re talking about in our individual therapy sessions what things might feel like, look like, and how they can take a piece of our work over with them. Are there medications in place? Advocating on an individual level for that as a individual provider too. So I think it’s important for student affairs or people in these programs to know that most likely and hopefully, if people have providers in place, there are hopefully willing and eager to work with a program, even if they can’t do therapy with someone abroad given licensure, they’re really open and and probably excited to work with a program to help put some things in in place, or advocate for their their clients or their patients as well. Yeah, great Vernon might have some to add to that.

Heather Shea
What else would you add to that? And then, what about students and supportive family members in their lives?

Vernon Wall
Yeah, I think that, I can’t speak enough about pre departure conversations, just whatever that looks like. I will also say too that it’s interesting that we typically use students who have studied abroad to be of support to students who haven’t studied abroad, but we don’t do enough of having families and caregivers who have sent students abroad to talk to other families and other caregivers. You know, how can we develop sort of a community of family members talking to each other and supporting each other during the time when they’re, you know, their student is studying abroad? So that’s something that I think we’re missing. I’d like to see more of that, and I felt more of that near the middle of the voyage of ours. I was like, wow, why don’t we have more family members talking to these family members, rather than me? Because, yeah, I’m the Dean of Student Life, but another family member saying here’s what I experienced would be even more impactful.

Heather Shea
So I think I’m imagining a parent Facebook group or something like that, something

Vernon Wall
where they can really communicate with each other. And yeah, and say, here’s been, you know, here’s been my struggles. Here have been my successes. Here’s what I’ve loved about the the program, when my student went through the program. So, yeah, absolutely. And then, of course, a process for students to, you know, share their mental health journey, whatever that looks like. I love what Matt mentioned earlier in terms of, you know, whatever the culture of your campus is like when Michigan State students go abroad, they’re still Michigan State students. And so the students, whatever their experience is on campus, like, if you felt marginalized on campus, you’re going to feel marginalized when you’re on the study abroad experience, or if you felt community and just joy about being at Michigan State, then you’re going to feel that when you’re Yeah, so I don’t think, I think we sometimes separate that. We think that, Oh, these students that are studying abroad, they’re not going to bring them, they’re going to be totally different people. No, they’re not. They’re going to be, they’re going to be who they are. Now, yes, there will be growth, there will be change, absolutely, and they’re going to be the thing.

Shayna Perry
And when you have those different cultures coming, you know, together or at from different places to the same program, you know, then that, in itself, is ripe for opportunities of, you know, difficult dynamics and and potential growth. And I think to Vernon to your you know, point in what we were talking about earlier with pre departure, I’m also realizing more and more how significant re entry, programming and discussions are because, you know, like I started out, my older self knows that so many of my experiences, initially studying abroad as a as a student, I really didn’t come to understand them. Or, you know, experience change from them, except through some of those re entry experiences. And I think any way we can, because mental health doesn’t, you know, stop or you know, like we’re saying, we come with what we’re already struggling with, while we also leave sometimes with those struggles and maybe new ones that we hadn’t encountered before. And so I think that’s equally as important. If we’re really invested in students, not just while they’re at the program, but if we, if we genuinely care about what the experience then means for them after the fact, I think we’ve got to figure. Out that reentry programming and support as well.

Heather Shea
Yeah, Matt, go ahead, and then

Matthew Rader
I just, I know that we’re running out of time, so I’ll be quick, but I can’t. I just have to really support what Vernon and Shayna said about utilizing students. We call them ambassadors with us, former participants on the program and how they dealt with their own mental health challenges or concerns when they were abroad to normalize that is really good. And I know a lot of study abroad offices on campuses these days allow students to post about things that have happened, and like on our website, students will talk about mental health, things that have occurred and such, which normalizes that it’s okay, it’s fine to talk about this, and that there are support systems and such. And this comes back from my days of being a associate dean at a small liberal arts college and such along that line. But I really see parents as partners in this experience, and I send a number of communications to students, well, to parents, excuse me, about what life is like for their student during the course of the semester. And so right before they go, I know, because I sent two of my own kids on study abroad experiences and things are a little anxiety producing at the house, wondering how things are going to go, all that kind of stuff. So I say this is probably happening in your house right now. You know, these are some things that you might want to talk about so that you’re less anxious when your child gets abroad, or your student gets abroad, and then a couple weeks after they get abroad, I sent out another campaign saying your students been Peter for a couple of weeks now. How they doing if they’re not doing so well, call me. Tell me what’s going on, because they’re my best eyes and ears of anybody. And then as it gets to be time for re entry, which Shayna was really nicely talking about there, there’s going to be challenges coming back to campus or coming back to the US. This isn’t as cool. This isn’t as fun. I like how things were in this country better than how things are here. How do we help students readjust and normalize back into the culture of origin? So I think all of those are real important things that we all need to be thinking about as we’re working with students and helping them with their mental health.

Heather Shea
Yeah, that’s that is great. I have employed for multiple years an assessment tool, but then as part of that, they can check if they want to come and meet with me, if they want to be a part of a larger group process. Some students don’t want to be a part of any of that, but we always do a reunion also, which I think is a good way to bring everybody back together. And I think you’re right, Shayna, it is about meeting, making right? How do you make meaning of this experience? And that might happen within the couple weeks after you return, but it might be years later. And I think that’s the that’s the data that hasn’t yet been really discovered yet on all of the high impact practices, is, how do we know that they have an impact 5, 10, 20 years down the road,

Shayna Perry
the joys and disappointments

Heather Shea
and the disappointments, right? Yeah, this has been such a fabulous conversation I’d love to end, as we always do, with our final thought, which is, this is the Student Affairs NOW podcast. So what are you thinking about, questioning, excited about now, and if you would like to share where people can connect with you, that would be great. And so, Verna, I think I’m going to start

Vernon Wall
with you. Yeah, I I remember when I my first voyage, when I came back, I worked at Iowa State as Assistant Dean of Students, and the first thing I did was develop a study abroad program in student affairs to take students to London for 15 days to investigate how leadership is viewed in another country. Because I wanted to make sure that specifically students from historically marginalized identities, had an opportunity to study abroad, and I did that for seven years, and I still look back on that and go, what an amazing time to take those students and to watch their growth and development, just just phenomenal students who never even been on a plane before, you know, from Central Iowa. So it was really kind of cool, and I that’s what I’ll always remember. I’ll always remember I’ll always remember that. And then this past voyage, you know, just navigating all the things that we had to navigate with a group of the most amazing and talented student life professionals I’ve ever worked with. I mean, I could not have, I don’t know if I can do this again, because I don’t know if I could ever pull together a group of people that were just phenomenal. And so what I’m leaving, what I’m leaving with, I think, is this thing around making sure that we are honest with our students about the experience. You know, I try to not use the term life changing too much, because I believe that it’s different for everyone. I do believe that study abroad and. Um, international experiences impact us, but I also know that they’re very white centered and and doesn’t allow for students from historically marginalized groups to really, I believe, grow in the way that they would want to. And so I just want to make sure that we continue to decolonize our international programs that we really think about. How do we not center it on the United States? How do we not center it on whiteness? How can we broaden that in a way where people can really engage and no matter who you are, you have an outstanding experience and a very high impact experience?

Heather Shea
Yeah. Thanks Vernon, so much, Matt. What about you? Final thoughts,

Matthew Rader
I love everything. Vernon just said, so Ditto. And yeah, it’d be really, I would really like to see us do more in the field in terms of decolonization. That would be really good to help the field and everything. But I guess if the thing as we focus on mental health specifically, I’m just hopeful that people will do who take students on international experiences will be thinking about their students mental health even more, and making sure that they’re the appropriate resources to help students be successful on the ground. I love faculty who do faculty led programs with us. I love faculty on campuses that I’ve worked on and such along that line, but unfortunately for many of them, they don’t feel as comfortable in this space in terms of helping students with mental health concerns and such, and that’s why we need to help train faculty who are taking students on these kinds of experiences, or, if I’m in a study abroad, office or doing something, taking students on a volunteer or service learning experience someplace, making sure that I’m fully aware of what I can do to help somebody who’s maybe having some challenges, because I don’t want anybody to feel left behind or isolated or make the situation worse, God forbid. So I’m hopeful that and that more and more work will be done to help with some of the mental health situations that are presenting our students today and making them successful. And within NAFSA and the Forum on Education Abroad, such, this is the number one thing that study abroad officers are concerned about with students.

Heather Shea
Yeah, for sure. Shayna, what about you? Final thoughts?

Shayna Perry
Yeah, I think in terms of mental health and building off kind of this idea of moving away from us centric lens, which I think can be at times pretty cognitive heavy. Really been excited about imagining how art, music, movement, storytelling can be brought in what it has to offer our communities, particularly these transient Study Abroad communities, when it comes to fostering getting more genuinely interested in each other’s well beings, not just, you know, checking off A box of, oh, yeah, we’ve got mental health resources. Like, really as a community, you know, of course, interested in teams, thinking of this as a care team, kind of dynamic. But time and time again, when I experience something like music or storytelling incorporated into a space, there’s a attending to mental health and well being on a collective level that feels profound in comparison to what a few you know, planted support people can provide, or even what one care team can provide. So you know, I saw this around campfire, sits at study abroad, Seeds of Peace. I saw this within some of the rituals and traditions groups of people came up with on the ship at Semester at Sea within the months we had together, and it felt different. And so, yeah, I’m really interested in more of that.

Heather Shea
I love it. I love it well. Thank you all so much for your time with me today and for sharing your experiences, and also for all the work that you have done to impact students and their success through study abroad. Before we wrap, I just want to give a shout out to our amazing producer, Nat Ambrosey, who does all this great behind the scenes work to make us look and sound great. Thank you so much, Nat for all you do, and also thanks to today’s episode sponsors, a little bit about them. So Huron is the global professional national services firm that collaborates with clients to put possible into practice by creating sound strategies, optimizing operations, accelerating digital transformation and empowering businesses and their people to own their future, by embracing diverse perspectives, encouraging new ideas and challenging the status quo, Huron creates sustainable results for the organizations they serve. Our second sponsor, Routledge Taylor Francis, is the world’s leading academic publisher in education, publishing a wide range of books, journals and other resources for practitioners, faculty, administrators and researchers. They have welcomed Stylus publishing into their publishing program, and are thrilled to enrich their offerings in higher education, teaching, Student Affairs, professional development, assessment and more. We are so grateful for their support of student affairs now, and you can view their entire catalog of education titles at routledge.com/education to all of our listeners if you’re tuning in today and haven’t yet subscribed to our weekly newsletter. Please take a moment to enter your email address on our website, and you can also stay in the loop with all of the latest episodes delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. And while you’re there, visit our archives. I think we’re over 215 episodes at this point. So once again, I’m Heather. Shea. Thanks to everybody who’s watching and listening. Make it a great week.

Bathke , A., & Kim , Y.-H. (Ryoka). (2016). Keep Calm and Study Abroad: The Effect of Learning Abroad on Student Mental Health. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 27(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v27i1.371

Lindeman,  B. (Ed.).  (2016).  Addressing mental  health  issues affecting  education abroad  participants.  Association  of  International  Educators. https://www.nafsa.org/bookstore/addressing-mental-health-issues-affecting-education-abroad-participants

McCabe, Les. (2005) Mental Health and Study Abroad: Responding to the Concern. International Educator; Washington Vol. 14, Iss. 6, (Nov/Dec 2005): 52-57.

Rader, M.S. (2014), The Role of the Dean of Students in Study Abroad. New Directions for Student Services, 2014: 69-75. https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.20092

Salko, H. (2023). Prepare Students with Mental Health Issues to Study Abroad.  United Educators.  https://www.ue.org/risk-management/enterprise-risk-management/prepare-students-with-mental-health-issues-to-study-abroad/