Mental Health Awareness – feelings of isolation

I’m Nim, an international PhD student. Studying abroad sounds exciting but in reality, adapting to a foreign culture and overcoming the language barrier can be overwhelming. Often it may lead to anxiety and depression.

Language barrier and feeling out of place

I knew it was going to be challenging to follow the native accent but it was surprisingly difficult when I experienced it in the first place. The distinct British accent and the colloquialisms commonly used by native speakers often left me confused and hesitant to join in conversations. I felt anxious about getting along with others.

Everywhere I looked, people seemed to navigate life with ease, communicating freely and understanding each other without effort. I felt like an outsider, constantly struggling to understand them.  After a few cycles of self-doubt and anxiety, I found myself losing interest in activities I once enjoyed, and often procrastinating.

Finding support and rebuilding confidence

Even before I thought about reaching out to someone about my condition, my supervisor advised me to try to converse with every person I encounter without doubting my language. He appreciated my language skills saying that I’m better than most which gave me a spark of hope. He supported me by including me in informal discussions and inviting me to have lunch with him and some other colleagues.

Eventually I realised that as long as I keep company with people and get socialised, I will gain confidence in having conversations that in turn help me to become more familiar with the native accent, understand it better and speak out without anxiety. More importantly, having a group of people to share all my problems sounds like what I exactly wanted in this phase of life. I learned to be patient with myself, understanding that fluency takes time and that it was okay to make mistakes.

Reaching out to Student Services

It is recently that I found out that Student Services at the University is way ahead in thinking about students’ mental health. I read about an event organised by the student services team parallel to Movember to talk about men’s mental health and introduce Andy’s Man Club to the university community. During the event and hearing the stories about how this social movement helped out men like me, it felt like I found exactly what I wanted: some friends to talk anything with!

This experience taught me the importance of mental health support for international students who may struggle with feelings of isolation. The stigma of mental health keeps people from confronting their anxieties and seeking help. If you are an international student facing similar challenges, remember that there are people who understand and are willing to help you through. And it is quite common among people like us to have issues than not, so there’s no shame in taking it out of your chest. I discovered that, in those moments when you feel disconnected from yourself, the university’s student services is the perfect place to find support and guidance.