The Foreign Service Journal, December 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2022 77 Megan Norton is a third culture kid (TCK) author, consultant, and researcher focused on supporting cross-cultural individuals. Growing up as a U.S. diplomat dependent, she lived in six countries and has lived in four more as an adult TCK. Megan is the podcast host of A Culture Story , co-founder of a nonprofit for TCKs, and a writer at www.adultthirdculturekid.com. EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT A cosmopolitan perspective and resilience notwithstanding, Foreign Service young people face challenges that can be daunting in the transition to college. BY MEGAN NORTON Transition to College S arah, the daughter of a Foreign Service officer, attended international schools her entire upbring- ing and returned to her passport country—the United States—for university studies. During her first residence hall fire drill, she dropped to take cover for what she thought was an air raid warning. Her room- mate laughed and dragged her outside. She experienced similar confusion later when her professor marked her down for turn- ing in an assignment a little past midnight on the due date. She had lost track of time talking to a friend in a different time zone, halfway across the world. Sarah continued to have cultural mishaps and felt out of place, even though she used to pride herself on her adaptability. Misunderstood by peers and sometimes professors, she began to lose her sense of belonging and purpose for being in college. She needed support. Many factors can contribute to anxiety, depression, stress, and related mental health issues among students during their freshman year of college. From managing new academic workloads to socializing in different student clubs and organi- zations, and from pulling all-nighters to handling their per- sonal finances, students should be equipped to know how to approach these life changes and responsibilities before they step foot on campus. For third culture kids (TCKs) like Sarah, returning to their passport country (or “home” country) for college, the transition can be even more complex than for their peers who are mov- ing to campus from another county or state. It is useful to look ahead to what expectations and realities a TCK will face fresh- man year as supplemental challenges may make them particu- larly susceptible to mental health issues. Prepare your teen for mental health and transition challenges before they enroll. Openly Discuss Mental Health with Your Teen Parents, caregivers, mentors, and counselors all play vital roles in safeguarding teens’ mental health. To connect with your teen on mental health, begin to build trust and safety around the conversation by modeling emotion management. Use descriptive emotion words to describe how you feel in different situations and demonstrate helpful ways to process strong emotions. One way to value feelings is to acknowledge the truth of a current emotion and then to state what action to take to move through it: • Even though I feel devastated and I need a do-over with you, we’ll continue to communicate and figure out how to move through this together. Supporting Third Culture Kids’ Mental Health ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/VISUALGENERATION