Studying abroad is a wonderful opportunity and one of the most exciting times in a student’s college career! However, it can also be one of the toughest. I am familiar with this because this past year I studied abroad in Salzburg, Austria for eight months. This was one of the best times in my life, but I also struggled with feeling homesick and burnout–issues that I didn’t expect to experience during my time abroad.
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Often when students are studying abroad, mental health takes a backseat and these struggles are amplified because your usual support system is thousands of miles away. This is why the Salzburg Study Abroad Program here at UP decided to team up with the club Active Minds to create a satellite Active Minds chapter in Salzburg. For those who aren’t familiar with the club Active Minds, it is a national club with a chapter here at the University of Portland that focuses on spreading mental health awareness and ending the stigma surrounding mental health issues. It is run by students, for students, and is a place for everyone to come and discuss the important topic of mental health with their peers and friends.
While in Salzburg this past year, Gabriella Petrossi-Baughman, Joslin Torres, and I were the leaders of the first ever satellite Active Minds chapter for UP Study Abroad. We held weekly meetings to discuss topics that are especially relevant to students in a study abroad environment. These meetings ranged from discussing homesickness, to writing compliment cards for one another, to going on a reflection hike after our school trip to Mauthausen, a nearby concentration camp.
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It is my hope that other students will be able to have a similarly positive experience when they are away from home and need support and a space to focus on their mental well-being. For incoming Salzburg study abroad students, the second year of the Salzburg Active Minds club will be starting up this fall. The UP Active Minds leadership team on campus is continuing to work on growing the network of satellite Active Minds clubs. We are reaching out to more of the study abroad programs in the hope that all students studying abroad will have a space to address their mental health.
To learn more about Active Minder and its mission, visit activeminds.org. To keep up-to-date on the latest happenings of the UP Active Minds chapter, please follow ActiveMindsUP on Instagram.
Kylie Koney ’20, is the Active Minds Outreach Coordinator and is majoring in Biology. She was the Salzburg Active Minds Co-Leader during the 2018–2019 school year.