Culture Shock

Culture shock can be described as, ‘a mix of emotions when moving to a new cultural surrounding.’ The feeling of sadness, loss, anger, confusion, stress and anxiety all comes from the challenge of new cultural surroundings.

This is a common and normal reaction to not only joining this new culture but also the separation from your friends and family back home. Although culture shock can be upsetting, it is usually a temporary experience that you can work through until your new environment becomes more familiar and you actually start to appreciate and enjoy the differences.

Culture shock can be seen as a great opportunity for you to learn about yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? How can you overcome these in order to thrive in your new environment? Remember, this is an experience and it will have highs and lows, it may be scary but that's also what makes it exciting!

The Stages of Culture Shock

Most people experience culture shock in stages and many go through different phases of this process a number of times, however, the stages may not necessarily happen in this order.

What to look out for?

There are some typical symptoms to be aware of. These include:

Practical advice and tips

Here are a few things you can do to help with your culture shock:

Support within the University

College Welfare Contacts

You can contact the College Student Information / Experience staff in your college who can offer you practical advice, guidance, and signposting to appropriate services. They can also discuss the extenuating circumstances process with you should you need to use this. You can find a list of the contact details for College Information / Experience staff here.
You can read more about the extenuating circumstances process here.

Listening Service

Faith@CampusLife's listening service offers a listening ear to whoever needs it – irrespective of religion, if any.  These chats can happen via phone or video calling, whichever you feel most comfortable using. If you would like to speak to a particular member of the team then please indicate who that is when you contact them. To access this service please contact Listeningservice.campuslife@swansea.ac.uk

Wellbeing

Swansea University’s Wellbeing Service provides mental health and autistic spectrum condition (ASC) guidance and support to students: this includes one-to-one support with mental health and autism practitioners, mentors and counsellors, academic adjustments and self-help resources and courses. You can view the range of support available here. You can also request support by completing the Wellbeing Support Request Form. The Wellbeing Service can be contacted by email at wellbeing@swansea.ac.uk

CONNECT

CONNECT is a wellbeing project which aims to reduce loneliness and isolation amongst students. Their vision is that all students will feel, and will be, connected within the institution. CONNECT helps to build supportive communities by working with both staff & students to lay the foundations for lifelong positive and healthy behaviours. They are training & equipping Connectors with the skills to engage with and support students who are at risk of social isolation, experiencing loneliness or need help with developing social integration skills. Check out their website to find out more.

Wellbeing Champions

The Wellbeing Champion project is run in collaboration with Discovery, Student Volunteering Swansea, the Student Union and the Wellbeing Service.  You may be interested in ‘The Lounge’ which is a peer-eye style drop in session for any student to access support from their peers. Students can come along and chat through any difficulties in a relaxed, informal environment. Students can chat one-to-one or in the wider group with Well-being Champions and other students. For 2020 the lounge is being run in a virtual format over zoom. To find out more about what the wellbeing champions do, check out their website .

External Support

Family & Friends

Don't underestimate the benefit of talking to your family and friends about how you are feeling. Some-times a problem shared is a problem halved. Be careful not to depend on talking to your family and friends from home all the time though - you need to give yourself the chance to meet new friends!

Samaritans

If you need information or you are worried about something, feel upset or confused, or you just want to talk to someone, the SAMARITANS provide confidential emotional support, 24 hours a day. Contact the Samaritans by email or at www.samaritans.org  or phone (from the UK) 08457 90 90 90 or 116 123 from a mobile.

UKCISA guidance 

Student training resource 

Chinese students mental health