Adjusting to college is a stressful event for most students but it can be more so for students who have left their home country and support systems to learn and grow in a completely new environment. Navigating and adjusting to a new culture while adjusting to the academic environment requires immense mental strength and resilience for international students.
The aim of this workshop is to facilitate a dialogue around understanding the concept of mental heath and well-being. The workshop will focus on discussing various coping strategies that can be adaptive for international students to deal with multitude of mental health stressors such as visa & immigration related concerns, being away from family on cultural holidays, homesickness, etc. Additionally, the workshop will focus on increasing awareness of mental health and wellbeing resources available to international students while they are a student at UVA.
Did we mention we're serving lunch??
About the Facilitator
Pavani is a Doctoral Intern in Health Service Psychology at the Counseling Center. She is a Doctorate of Psychology (PsyD) student at George Washington University, Washington DC. Prior to this, she completed her Masters in Counseling Psychology from Christ University in India and worked as a Counselling Psychologist with a community mental health clinic based in New Delhi. She enjoys working with young adults and has obtained her training working with this population in different settings such as hospitals, community mental health clinics and schools. She has a strong interest in group therapy and has pursued training in group analysis in the past. She is also passionate about animal assisted therapy and interested in incorporating therapy animals in her clinical practice. Her therapeutic approach draws from relational psychodynamic while she is open to incorporating and learning from different approaches. In her spare time, Pavani enjoys yoga & meditation, dancing and walking in nature.