OCTOBER 15, 2021 — Assistant professor John Harrichand of the UTSA Department of Counseling is one of the newest faculty members at the university. His clinical experience as a mental health counselor and supervisor involves working with community and college student populations.
UTSA Today spoke with him about his goal to improve services for the international student population and further ensure academic success.
Why do accredited counseling programs continue to have inadequate cultural competence when working with international students? Would you recommend that all counseling staff—at the minimum—take mandatory cultural courses or training of some kind?
Even in accredited counseling programs, international students are a minoritized group under the umbrella term of “minoritized people” that includes, but is not limited to, members of the LGBTQ+, immigrant, refugee and BIPOC communities. The minimization of the international student identity, which is also evident in our research literature, results in them being relegated as being less important within a counseling curriculum. Therefore, I am a strong advocate in recommending counseling staff actively and intentionally participate in professional development opportunities that specifically inform their knowledge and cultural competence working with international students.
You claim that issues such as racial discrimination and xenophobia are factors that impact international students. Can you explain this and why it became concerning to you? How has the pandemic exacerbated this?
Like native-born students, international students experience the challenges of higher education, like navigating school and studies without guidance from parents or guardians or forming and maintaining social groups and relationships. However, international students are additionally challenged by language barriers, culture shock, lack of resources and being removed from close access to social supports. Further exacerbating their lived experience in the age of COVID-19, international students are exposed to acts of racial discrimination and xenophobia, including social exclusion, travel bans and anti-immigrant sentiments that negatively impact their overall health and wellbeing, which can significantly affect their academic performance.
What problems have you seen as a counselor concerning racial discrimination and xenophobia? What is the most common issue that arises?
Regarding racial discrimination and xenophobia, some of the problems I’ve seen as a counselor include international students being afraid to move around in public spaces, especially students from the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, for fear of being targeted as spreading the “Chinese virus.” I have also witnessed concerned students being afraid of being deported after government policies were being implemented. These policies discouraged fully online learning at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when medical professionals were calling for social distancing measures to minimize contagion. Some of the most common issues international students experience as a result of systemic, institutional and cultural stressors and discrimination include: being bullied because of their accent, which often leads to social anxiety, exclusion, and suicidal ideation, all of which are and should be cause for concern.
Your work is based on two frameworks: critical feminist perspective and bioecological systems theory. Can you give us an explanation on these perspectives and what led you to use them as the basis for your research?
The critical feminist perspective recognizes the powerful role of social structures, such as national and institutional policies, and seeks to promote social justice through clinical practice and investigation. This perspective also acknowledges that our current social landscape is unjust in relation to the treatment of international students and their intersecting identities as linguistic, racial and ethnic minorities. To fully understand the impact of oppression on the international student, a systemic approach is warranted. The bioecological systems theory provided my colleagues and me with a visual representation of the multiple systems and environments that impact the mental health of international students, from their immediate surroundings, like classrooms, to international policies such as visa requirements. Together, these frameworks allow counselors to understand the ways in which their marginalized and privileged identities contribute to their social position and worldview when working with international students, and encourages them to empower, support and advocate for international students instead of contributing to their oppression.
What steps for advocacy do you recommend for universities to promote cultural awareness and equality for international students?
Universities can promote cultural awareness and equality for international students with several approaches.
One is education of the campus community (i.e., counselors, administrators, students) on the value international students bring and the challenges they experience in an effort create a more inclusive campus community. Institutions can also cultivate a strong sense of ethnic identity and develop on-campus ethnic interest groups, cultural festivals, and language clubs that honor their cultural heritage and fosters a sense of pride and belonging. There should also be efforts to dismantle white supremacy on campus and in the classroom by intentionally incorporating diversity throughout educational curricula and teaching practices. An example would be celebrating an international student’s accent as evidence of their resilience in learning English rather than a sign of weakness. There should also be proactive educational training opportunities to faculty and staff where they initiate check-ins rather than wait for students to show visible signs of distress before reaching out.
Work to change public policy related to visa regulations will also help. A single-entry visa inhibits students from returning home during long breaks, preventing them from reconnecting with family and friends. Educating university/college stakeholders on the visa process and implications for remaining in the U.S.—where they can find employment, how many hours they can work, options for employment post-graduation—would be a beneficial step.
Being attuned to any current events at the institutional, state and national levels and increasing communication between international student offices and faculty on campus would create a network of support that will pay dividends in having successful students.
A student’s mesosystem is their connection within their immediate environment, such as their college campus and roommates. Their macrosystem is their larger cultural context, and their chronosystem encompasses patterns and transitions over the course of time and development. Provided the opportunity, what ways could UTSA work to improve these systems for the students?
Drawing on the recommendations above, UTSA can continue to develop and/or strengthen relationships between the Global Initiatives Office and faculty, staff and students who interact with members of the international student community daily. The university can provide greater visibility on the value international students bring to campus—enriching the classroom experience with the different cultures and customs they embody. UTSA can also educate students and faculty on ways they can become allies for our international students, including providing more workshops, clubs and festivals to honor this minoritized, resilient, yet vulnerable community; and sharing this information across the university and its campuses to encourage greater participation.
Do you feel that these issues will still be as prevalent beyond the pandemic, or will they subside?
The mental health challenges international students face navigating life in the U.S. were present prior to COVID-19 and they will absolutely continue to be experienced by current and future international students. The pandemic served to magnify the challenges international students experience from day to day, allowing us to highlight this overlooked and often underserved community. Provided with that knowledge and awareness, my hope is that institutions of higher education will actively recruit international students and will invest the energy and resources to actively support them, too.
What is next for your research?
Currently, I’m examining the role of research mentorship for doctoral international counseling students, with the hope of informing counseling programs, administrators and faculty on how best to support their students’ development into future scholars and practitioners. I am also working with other scholars on training school counselors and interns to support refugee youths in schools. Both projects seek to amplify the voices of international students and refugee youths so they inform us how to better support them as they navigate the U.S. education system.
Finally, what’s your guiding mantra?
To serve well, one must lead from a place of wellness.
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