Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First!
Recently, I had an opportunity to take a certification course for Mental Health First Aid. Later that week, I attended a webinar about international credential fraud. A few days later, I received an email reminding me that the professional organisations to which I belong can support members in career building. Three disparate events in an otherwise normal working week. But in reflection, they are connected.
The importance of self-care for international education professionals is unquestionable, but not often mentioned in any of the industry newsletters or updates I see every day. International educators may not be at the front lines, but we face the impact of every major natural and humanitarian disaster that happens. Ripples of the trials faced during the ongoing war in Ukraine and the recent earthquake in Türkiye and Syria are more far-reaching than we can imagine. Humanitarian and environmental crises, both well-publicised and lesser-known, mean that while refugees are in transit to safety, national economic systems and structures are in upheaval. And education systems, institutions, and credentials are caught in the middle.
As international educators, we are unwittingly exposed to a significant amount of trauma and disruption. I’m not trying to paint a dark and bleak picture – but I do think about the impact this trauma has on my international education colleagues. In between refining our skills to detect fraud, recruit students, and building connections between institutions, are we conscious of our mental health? As we build our skills and knowledge base in webinars and conferences, how do we promote self-care for each other? How do our organisations, our professional community, help us to support and nurture each other so that we can be not only good at our jobs, but also feel good while doing our jobs?
This may not resonate with everyone. I tend to take it with me and carry it around. There are always people I think about: The immigrant who is struggling to find a place to fit into their new environment with limited language skills; the student who will need to plan for more time to complete a degree because their coursework in one education system doesn’t transfer to another, the anxious family trying to gather funding for their child to study abroad…
Ideas about how we support our students and clients are what we are accustomed to seeing in professional development sessions for international educators. Certainly, we need these ideas to find pathways to success in our workplace. But what are the ways in which your organisation or institution promotes self-care and attention for the mental well-being of international education professionals? How do we begin to care for each other as colleagues working toward similar goals? Let’s be sure this conversation happens! Reach out to your colleagues and ask how they are feeling. Reach out to your supervisors and ask what support they offer. Plan a roundtable discussion at your professional organisation meeting. And let us at Bell-Wylie Consulting know how we can help you keep the conversation going.
Rebecca M. Murphy, Ed.D. has over 3 decades of experience with comparative international education credentials and systems. She has particular interest in research, adult learning, and creating bridges between culture and curriculum.
Before becoming professionally involved in comparative education systems and international credential evaluation, Dr. Murphy experienced international education from a personal perspective with study abroad at the secondary and university level, and as a United States Peace Corps volunteer teaching English as a foreign language. She’s held positions in higher education institutions and organisations in roles ranging from international enrollment management to international student advising. As the founder and director of Future Study International Education, she now provides global education credential advising, training and development opportunities, and conducts research and advocacy.
Rebecca has deep roots in the New England region of the United States, and has always been passionate about encouraging others to think about education with a global perspective. She completed a BA in Anthropology and International Studies at Dickinson College, an MA in Bilingual/Bicultural Studies at La Salle University and an EdD at Northeastern University. She has four children, a menagerie of pets, and attempts to knit at least one half of a pair of mittens each year.