Studying abroad can be an intimidating and mysterious, albeit exciting, adventure. However, there are many steps you can take before and during your time abroad that can have a positive effect on your mental health and immersion in the culture you have chosen to experience. Studying abroad can be fast-paced and busy, but taking time for yourself is just as important as it is back home. The following are some choices I pursued in my time abroad that helped during my initial adjustment and curbed some of the homesickness that came to me throughout my time away from home:

Start a journal

Starting a journal is a great opportunity for self-care and reflection at home or abroad. Journaling abroad, however, presents a unique opportunity to log all the places you go, people you meet, meals you eat, and any other experience that is noteworthy to you. Not only could this method be beneficial while you are abroad but could also be a great way to get your memories down for…

The end of the academic year is rife with a variety of stressors. Students are often studying furiously for finals, wrapping up coursework, setting up internships for summer (and fall), trying to figure out their living situations for the next year, or even confronting life after college. Beyond the stress that is specific to college, students are also coping with national and global events while trying to maintain healthy relationships. During times of stress, with so many plates spinning, it is easy to get burned out or feel overwhelmed by emotions. 

Although it is tempting to reach for quick fixes such as drugs and alcohol or to slide down a YouTube rabbit hole to block out feelings for a while, these attempts at coping, especially when we are crunched for time, often end up making us feel worse and add to our list of challenges. Whether it be a hangover, behavior we regret, or several hours lost to TikTok that could have been spent finishing that final paper, there…

It’s Women’s History Month, and a time to pay homage to the ladies who helped shape therapy. Sure, we have all heard of Freud, maybe if you’re a psychology major you’ve heard of Jung and Wundt. But who are the women who contributed to the field of counseling psychology, and why is this important?

Many of these women were working against the odds of their time.

Mary Whiton Calkins wasn’t allowed a PhD from Harvard. Christine Ladd-Franklin was kicked out of Edward Titchener’s research lab since she was a woman, and she completed her dissertation at John Hopkins and still was not allowed to obtain her doctorate degree. 

Many of these women were also the firsts of their time.

Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman to get a doctorate degree in psychology. Mary Whiton Calkins was the first American Psychological Association’s president in 1905. Mamie Phipps Clark, who you may know from her work with the Clark Doll test and Brown vs. the Board…

Given the month and upcoming Valentine’s Day, I wanted to spending some time talking about relationship non-negotiables. Now the first words that come to mind when I think about relationship non-negotiables are boundaries and structure. Admittedly, not really words that make you think of love. Though as someone who has had her fair share of dating and experience working as a couples therapist, love and boundaries actually coexist far more than we have been led to believe. In fact, healthy relationships have both. 

Relationship non-negotiables are ways we are able to communicate our needs for a healthy relationship in which we feel emotional safety. This can apply to any and every relationship you have in your life, be it romantic, familial, or platonic. Relationship non-negotiables are helpful across the relationship monogamy/polyamory spectrum. Ultimately the only tricky part about them is recognizing what your relationship non-negotiables are for you. So here I am,…