Migration Help
6th November 2009, 08:13 PM
By
Dr Gurprit Ganda
The recent suicide of an immigrant Indian student is a grim reminder that there are systematic short comings in the system for students immigrating from India to Australia for further studies.
The lure of the western civilization and its amenities is attracting Indian’s in a manner akin to the ‘gold rush’ in America. Now-a-days hordes of Indian students are flocking to Australia looking for better opportunities and career prospects. Recent immigration statistics from Department of Immigration, Australia indicate that about 73,000 Indian students were in Australia at end of December 2008 and about 39,000 Indian students were given visa in 2007-08. The influx of Indian students from 2006-07 to 2007-08 increased by more than 30%. While such immigration provides rollicking business to the Australian Educational Institutions and boosts the Australian Economy, the going on the ground is very tough for the students. If your family at home is not well-to-do this further exacerbates the woes.
Most of the students are misguided by the immigration agents in India and misled to choose courses that fill additional dollars in the agents pocket and compromise on the students best interest. In many cases students are eligible to apply for a Permanent Residency but are instead guided by the agents to go a student visa in Australia.
Before their departure contrary expectations are set for almost every student in India. Each one of them expects to receive a pot of gold in Australia. They believe jobs are up for picking in Australia and the going easy. Further they expect their earnings to be enough not only to sustain their own expenses but also to provide for their family back home.
The situation in the ground is exactly opposite. The great influx of students has ensured that supply is outstripping demand for jobs and opportunistic employers are exploiting naďve and young immigrant students. Many of them are given the lowest levels of jobs at below market rates and to top it many are even not paid after they have put their hard work on the job. One is almost reminded of the scenario depicted in – “The Grapes of Wrath” by Noble prize winning novelist John Steinbeck.
After a few weeks of the arrival reality bites when the culture disparities become apparant and the seed money that they had brought from India dwindles to a trickle. Many students find it hard to give up the old ways and customs and to adapt themselves to the customs and culture of the Australian society. Under these circumstances students fast slide into the downward spiral of depression or end up having adjustment problems / issues. Their self-esteem becomes low and the future outlook appears grim. The factors that further affect the mental well-being of the students are the recent occurrences of racist attacks and lack of any type of emotional support from community.
The lucky one’s who have the emotional support or manage to find jobs quickly or are emotionally strong are able to wade through the circumstances. But for others who lack community support or are emotionally not strong tend to suffer from a depressed state of mind.
At times due to vain pride and other circumstances students choose not to let the families back know about their situation and hide their true status and extent of problems from them. Such isolation and adverse circumstances demeans one’s existence and forces the sentimental and unprepared to take such extreme steps such as suicide. Such occurrences can be prevented if the Australian government and the Indian community learns from the past and takes precautionary steps for the future.
Some such steps that can be suggested are:
Australian government to provide a reality check to every student as part of the visa and immigration. While this may not be right from marketing point of view but it is essential for grounding every immigrant student into reality before he / she departs from their country. The reality check should be a briefing about the general time gap before jobs are obtained by immigrant students, the hurdles they have to cross and an introduction to Australian culture for them to acclimatize to Australian way of life and work ethos.
Community Social Support Groups – Setting up of community social support groups to ensure that students are received and guided by communities right from the day they set their foot on the Australia soil. While this should be a community initiative, the seed capital for setting up such groups should be provided by Australian Federal Government. The community groups should provide guidance, mentoring, cultural briefings, do’s and dont’s of Australian Way of Life and other pertinent information. These groups should also act as key informants for any alarming behavior like suicidal tendencies etc.
Psychological Counseling Services – Catch them early is the keywork for any psychological intervention. If student low self-esteem and depression can be tackled earlier than instances like suicide are avoidable. Such interventions should be covered under the health plan given to students to support medical expenses. Psychologists have a variety of therapies to tackle such issues. These include Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Behaviour Therapy (BT), , etc. A greater description of these therapies is provided. They have been taken from “A Guide to What Works for Depression” published by BeyondBlue at http://www.beyondblue.org.au .
CBT – In CBT, a person works with a therapist to look at patterns of thinking (cognition) and acting (behaviour) that are making them more likely to become depressed, or are keeping them from improving once they become depressed. For example, depressed people tend to view things as either all good or all bad. Once these patterns are recognised, the person can make changes to replace them with ones that promote good mood and better coping. CBT can be conducted in individuals meeting with a therapist or in groups. Treatment length can vary, but is usually four to 24 weekly sessions.
IPT – IPT is a type of psychological therapy that focuses on problems in personal relationships, and on building skills to deal with these problems. IPT is based on the idea that these interpersonal problems are a significant part of the cause of depression. It is different from other types of therapy for depression because it focuses more on personal relationships than what is going on in the client’s mind (e.g. thoughts and feelings). Although treatment length can vary, IPT for depression is usually conducted over four to 24 weekly sessions.
BT – Behaviour Therapy (BT), also called behavioural activation, is a major component of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT, as mentioned above). However, it is different to CBT because it focuses on increasing a person’s level of activity and pleasure in their life. Unlike CBT, it does not focus on changing the person’s beliefs and attitudes. BT can be carried out with individuals or groups, and generally lasts between eight to 16 weeks.
There are a number of other therapies which some practitioners may choose to use. They include Acceptance and Committment Therapy, Art Therapy, Dance and Movement Therapy, Mindfulness based Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Family Therapy and Hypnosis.
Depression Helpline for students – Beyond Blue service is already in existence in Australia. However it is specifically designed for Australians. We need specialists who can empathise with student’s conditions, backgrounds and expectations and offer them the right counselling. Student’s native language should be used for communication with them and an atmosphere of trust and secrecy of information should be enforced.
The above issues and suggested solutions are not specific to the Indian Students. They are also salient for other migrants to Australia who have to rough it through the initial years. Migration is a high stress exercise and it is essential that Australian Government pays attention to the well-being and upkeep of the immigrants who not only invigorate its economy but also provide the essential human resources pool with which Australia can keep ahead in technological, scientific and economic growth.
It is now clearly visible that immigrants have added to the multi-cultural nature of the Australian Society and contributed to changing its work ethos making it more resilient and capable to thrive in a ever growing and changing global economy. No longer can any nation live in isolation and that includes Australia. Immigrants provide the tool to bridge the gap in culture between countries and make it easy for locals to understand the culture and values of other societies.
SOURCE: The Indian (http://theindian.net.au/2009/11/why-students-are-committing-suicides/)
MH
Dr Gurprit Ganda
The recent suicide of an immigrant Indian student is a grim reminder that there are systematic short comings in the system for students immigrating from India to Australia for further studies.
The lure of the western civilization and its amenities is attracting Indian’s in a manner akin to the ‘gold rush’ in America. Now-a-days hordes of Indian students are flocking to Australia looking for better opportunities and career prospects. Recent immigration statistics from Department of Immigration, Australia indicate that about 73,000 Indian students were in Australia at end of December 2008 and about 39,000 Indian students were given visa in 2007-08. The influx of Indian students from 2006-07 to 2007-08 increased by more than 30%. While such immigration provides rollicking business to the Australian Educational Institutions and boosts the Australian Economy, the going on the ground is very tough for the students. If your family at home is not well-to-do this further exacerbates the woes.
Most of the students are misguided by the immigration agents in India and misled to choose courses that fill additional dollars in the agents pocket and compromise on the students best interest. In many cases students are eligible to apply for a Permanent Residency but are instead guided by the agents to go a student visa in Australia.
Before their departure contrary expectations are set for almost every student in India. Each one of them expects to receive a pot of gold in Australia. They believe jobs are up for picking in Australia and the going easy. Further they expect their earnings to be enough not only to sustain their own expenses but also to provide for their family back home.
The situation in the ground is exactly opposite. The great influx of students has ensured that supply is outstripping demand for jobs and opportunistic employers are exploiting naďve and young immigrant students. Many of them are given the lowest levels of jobs at below market rates and to top it many are even not paid after they have put their hard work on the job. One is almost reminded of the scenario depicted in – “The Grapes of Wrath” by Noble prize winning novelist John Steinbeck.
After a few weeks of the arrival reality bites when the culture disparities become apparant and the seed money that they had brought from India dwindles to a trickle. Many students find it hard to give up the old ways and customs and to adapt themselves to the customs and culture of the Australian society. Under these circumstances students fast slide into the downward spiral of depression or end up having adjustment problems / issues. Their self-esteem becomes low and the future outlook appears grim. The factors that further affect the mental well-being of the students are the recent occurrences of racist attacks and lack of any type of emotional support from community.
The lucky one’s who have the emotional support or manage to find jobs quickly or are emotionally strong are able to wade through the circumstances. But for others who lack community support or are emotionally not strong tend to suffer from a depressed state of mind.
At times due to vain pride and other circumstances students choose not to let the families back know about their situation and hide their true status and extent of problems from them. Such isolation and adverse circumstances demeans one’s existence and forces the sentimental and unprepared to take such extreme steps such as suicide. Such occurrences can be prevented if the Australian government and the Indian community learns from the past and takes precautionary steps for the future.
Some such steps that can be suggested are:
Australian government to provide a reality check to every student as part of the visa and immigration. While this may not be right from marketing point of view but it is essential for grounding every immigrant student into reality before he / she departs from their country. The reality check should be a briefing about the general time gap before jobs are obtained by immigrant students, the hurdles they have to cross and an introduction to Australian culture for them to acclimatize to Australian way of life and work ethos.
Community Social Support Groups – Setting up of community social support groups to ensure that students are received and guided by communities right from the day they set their foot on the Australia soil. While this should be a community initiative, the seed capital for setting up such groups should be provided by Australian Federal Government. The community groups should provide guidance, mentoring, cultural briefings, do’s and dont’s of Australian Way of Life and other pertinent information. These groups should also act as key informants for any alarming behavior like suicidal tendencies etc.
Psychological Counseling Services – Catch them early is the keywork for any psychological intervention. If student low self-esteem and depression can be tackled earlier than instances like suicide are avoidable. Such interventions should be covered under the health plan given to students to support medical expenses. Psychologists have a variety of therapies to tackle such issues. These include Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Behaviour Therapy (BT), , etc. A greater description of these therapies is provided. They have been taken from “A Guide to What Works for Depression” published by BeyondBlue at http://www.beyondblue.org.au .
CBT – In CBT, a person works with a therapist to look at patterns of thinking (cognition) and acting (behaviour) that are making them more likely to become depressed, or are keeping them from improving once they become depressed. For example, depressed people tend to view things as either all good or all bad. Once these patterns are recognised, the person can make changes to replace them with ones that promote good mood and better coping. CBT can be conducted in individuals meeting with a therapist or in groups. Treatment length can vary, but is usually four to 24 weekly sessions.
IPT – IPT is a type of psychological therapy that focuses on problems in personal relationships, and on building skills to deal with these problems. IPT is based on the idea that these interpersonal problems are a significant part of the cause of depression. It is different from other types of therapy for depression because it focuses more on personal relationships than what is going on in the client’s mind (e.g. thoughts and feelings). Although treatment length can vary, IPT for depression is usually conducted over four to 24 weekly sessions.
BT – Behaviour Therapy (BT), also called behavioural activation, is a major component of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT, as mentioned above). However, it is different to CBT because it focuses on increasing a person’s level of activity and pleasure in their life. Unlike CBT, it does not focus on changing the person’s beliefs and attitudes. BT can be carried out with individuals or groups, and generally lasts between eight to 16 weeks.
There are a number of other therapies which some practitioners may choose to use. They include Acceptance and Committment Therapy, Art Therapy, Dance and Movement Therapy, Mindfulness based Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Family Therapy and Hypnosis.
Depression Helpline for students – Beyond Blue service is already in existence in Australia. However it is specifically designed for Australians. We need specialists who can empathise with student’s conditions, backgrounds and expectations and offer them the right counselling. Student’s native language should be used for communication with them and an atmosphere of trust and secrecy of information should be enforced.
The above issues and suggested solutions are not specific to the Indian Students. They are also salient for other migrants to Australia who have to rough it through the initial years. Migration is a high stress exercise and it is essential that Australian Government pays attention to the well-being and upkeep of the immigrants who not only invigorate its economy but also provide the essential human resources pool with which Australia can keep ahead in technological, scientific and economic growth.
It is now clearly visible that immigrants have added to the multi-cultural nature of the Australian Society and contributed to changing its work ethos making it more resilient and capable to thrive in a ever growing and changing global economy. No longer can any nation live in isolation and that includes Australia. Immigrants provide the tool to bridge the gap in culture between countries and make it easy for locals to understand the culture and values of other societies.
SOURCE: The Indian (http://theindian.net.au/2009/11/why-students-are-committing-suicides/)
MH