The Foreign Service Journal, January 2012

ees heading overseas and their spouses to develop resilience. (These include “MQ500: Encouraging Resilience in FS Children” and “MQ803: Realities of Foreign Service Life.”) This is a posi- tive step, for making employees and family members aware of emotional factors and stressors a transition abroad may trigger will help them manage is- sues when they arise. Instituting pre-departure emotional health checks, and subsequent regular examinations by independent thera- pists hired by sponsoring agencies, would engage Foreign Service families and other expatriates and encourage them to seek help as needed. But breaking down the entrenched stigma, the “tough it out” mentality expats so often exhibit, has to come first. “I grew so weary of hearing people say ‘we’re fine, we’re fine’, when they aren’t fine,” laments Robin Pascoe, the author of several books on expa- triate life. She points out that in many overseas communities, expatriates silently battle anxiety and depression on their own even when mental health support services are available. Expat culture often makes that critical step more difficult than it should be. But, as Pascoe comments, “Sponsoring agencies can make it much easier, either by offsetting the costs of therapy, or making rigid con- fidentiality agreements so that expats feel safe using a therapist. And the sponsoring agencies need to get lots and lots of information about available services out to their overseas employ- ees and families as often as possible, not just in pre-departure trainings.” You Are Not Alone Slowly, the barriers around talking about mental health and the emo- tional issues faced by expats are com- ing down. But agencies that send people abroad still need to do more to ensure that employees and their fam- ilies are offered appropriate care, pri- vately and conveniently. Encouragingly, State recently began tracking mental health medical evacuations, and calculates that about two-thirds of officers who receive mental health treatment return to 44 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2 An individual’s response to moving abroad may change over time, or vary from post to post.