The Counseling and Wellness Services (CWS) in the Student Health Center at New York University (NYU)'s NY campuses offers comprehensive care in mental health for students' wellbeing. As a leading host institution of international students in the U.S. (Institute of International Education, 2024), NYU's CWS supports international students with diverse international, cultural, and racial backgrounds to meet their clinical needs. Students have access to these comprehensive mental health care in the structured psychological services (e.g., short-term individual counseling, group counseling, single session counseling, urgent counseling in crisis, wellness workshops for skill building, and psychiatric services). To enhance their utilization of psychological services and to prevent them from premature termination in mental health care, clinicians at CWS make an effort to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health for international students.


The presenters will share their issues and challenges of serving students with marginalized backgrounds including international students in the U.S. campuses by emphasizing the needs of psychologists and practitioners to provide support spaces for the need with marginalized international backgrounds to incorporate their reflections on cultural identity, intersectionality, social/racial justice and advocacy in professional practice (Goodman et al., 2004; Marshall-Lee et al., 2020). Particularly, the second presenter, a Global Wellness Counselor at NYU Washington, DC, highlights the importance of holding an awareness of ever-changing immigration regulations, which has a significant impact on the mental health of students and staff. The Global Counselor must provide a safe and welcoming space for students to grow and process this new, and at times hostile environment. The Global Counselor must possess self-awareness, cultural humility and understand the range of perspectives and levels of mental health literacy of the cohort.