by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Victorian coroner has called for targeted mental-health resources for international students in the wake of an investigated suicide cluster, including a Berwick-based student in July 2020.
It was part of a probe into five international students’ suicides at four different Victorian universities in 2020.
The unidentified Monash University IT student’s death in his bedroom at his uncle’s family home could not have been reasonably foreseen, Coroner Simon McGregor ruled on 2 October.
“No one bears responsibility for this tragedy.”
The student from India may have acted impulsively while upset with difficulties with study, the coroner stated.
Since March that year, the student had been studying online and didn’t attend the university campus due to Covid restrictions.
He had been reportedly depressed and socially isolated at the time, often withdrawing to his room and playing computer games.
“The stand-out feature for me was how little engagement (the student) had with Monash University in a health and wellbeing context,” McGregor said.
This was “echoed” in the other four suicides that were investigated.
“In each case the student had not been contacted or been linked with university services and was not engaged with any other health services in the community for mental health treatment and support.”
McGregor was making “no criticism” of Monash University, which supplied a “thorough” range of supports for international students.
The challenge was how to encourage international students to “engage” and “seek help” from university services and health services in the event of a mental health crisis, he stated.
An earlier coronial investigation stated that international students were less likely than domestic students to seek mental health assistance.
This was because of cultural, financial and linguistic barriers.
During the current probe, the coroner stated he had no “clear insights” into how to promote international students to seek help.
He commissioned Orygen youth mental health service to research international student wellbeing and to develop a Quality Evaluation Framework for universities.
It raised issues such as orientation programs, ongoing support services, staff training, risk screening and affordable, culturally-accessible mental health services.
McGregor recommended that the state Department of Health’s new Suicide Prevention and Response Office should use such a framework to assist universities in targeting international student wellbeing.
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