For many International students studying away from home can be difficult. You might feel homesick or miss your friends and family. You might be experiencing culture shock in ways you may not have imagined before you came here. You might be feeling unsettled and isolated, with a sense that no one understands you. You might be feeling under a lot of pressure because of high expectations from your home country. These feelings are entirely normal and usually become less intense after a while, when you have settled down and found a network of people to talk to.
Sometimes the unhappiness or anxiety does not go away or new problems emerge. It can be hard for people far away from home to find the help and support they need. The Student Counselling Centre provides several services to help International Students get the help and support they may need to deal with the emotional pressures of studying abroad.
A therapeutic consultation will be offered to you when we receive your on-line Self Referral form. This is an opportunity to meet with an experienced counsellor for about 50 minutes to discuss in more detail the issues you outlined on your Self Referral form and then decide the best way of helping you resolve your difficulties. The counsellor may be able to tell you about self help resources or workshops that could be useful for you, or give you information about a specialist service you could access. If you both feel counselling is the best way forward, the counsellor will refer you for a series of counselling sessions at the Student Counselling Centre. For some people, a therapeutic consultation might be all they need to help them get back on track, although the counsellor will usually suggest a follow up session to review how things are going.
Individual counselling gives you the time to explore issues important to you such as relationships, homesickness, fear of failure, bereavement, academic difficulties, anxiety and depression. Counsellors will not be able to give you immediate solutions but will listen carefully and respectfully to your concerns and hopefully, in time, help you to have an increasing awareness of yourself and your choice of possibilities.
We run workshops on subjects such as exam stress. There is also one especially for Post Graduate Students on managing the stress of doing a Research Degree.
For more information or advice on being an International student in Leeds, you may also like to visit the International Student Office. They offer a range of practical services from organising social events to offering help with immigration or finding schools for your children.