At NYU Florence, we welcome college students from all over the world, with different nationalities, ethnicities and backgrounds. Around a third are eighteen years old freshmen, arriving directly from home. Excited but challenged, they face the reality of adulthood in a cosmopolitized world full of possibilities and risks (Beck, 2009). At this delicate stage, students must learn to become their authentic selves while being far from their lands, families, cultural references, social support and languages (Liotta, 2005). As international mental health counselors, we provide guidance and short-term psychological support to students during their adjustment abroad. When clinically indicated, we provide psychotherapy and coordinate an integrated network of mental health support in collaboration with local psychiatrists, specialized services, international insurances and local public hospitals.
Our effectiveness depends on embracing our own internationality and reflecting on how we enact our professional roles, so we can co-construct the sense of the experiences with the students (Morato, 2009). Through the therapeutic relationship, students can explore their identity from new perspectives and discover possibilities for growth and self-expression, even in a drastically changed environment. In a different context, to keep being myself, I am required to change — and this applies both to students and counselors. For counselors, this means cultivating self-awareness, openness, cultural humility, and reflective practice, as well as the flexibility to engage with diverse worldviews, fostering processes of growth and self-realization (Saldanha, 2006).
This presenter - an immigrant from South America trained in Italy in Psychology, Psychotherapy and Career Counseling - with extensive experience in mental health counseling, and international HR consultancy - will address the challenges faced by students at NYU Florence and show how both students and counselors need to evolve to support identity development, autonomy, and wellbeing far from home.