Counseling in Morocco

Now that Nate has joined me I feel much more settled in. It was so strange to be here without him those first two weeks. My job is pretty cool. I have been crazy-busy though. In three weeks I have already seen close to 20 students for mental health counseling on a campus of 1200 students. I have been very surprised by the severity of issues the students are bringing to counseling. It is certainty not the homesickness and relationship stuff I anticipated. In many ways, I could be at any university in the USA - except I would have colleagues and a safety net of national mental health support to refer students to. I am sad to report there has already been one suicide attempt on campus. The pressure here is high for students and there is a stigma about counseling. However, I see parallels with the US. There is still stigma in the US as well, and any religious objection to medication or treatment could be the same with certain sects in the US. So, yes there are challenges, but more with the set up of being the only game in town. I am the only mental health counselor on campus. A psychiatrist comes to campus Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings to prescribe and work with students with severe issues. With this formula I'm sure you can see why I might be busy, but I have been firm that I am not overworking myself. I have been upfront with my supervisor about emergency protocol (and me not being it). Oh and I'm also teaching an interpersonal communication skills class with 20 students and spending two mornings at the joke of the K-12 school - although I am still unclear about what I am supposed to be doing there. Phew!

My weirdest moment so far has been while walking to campus. I was by myself when suddenly I heard a very loud noise. Tearing down a steep embankment to my left were about 20 wild dogs quickly coming my way. Unsure what the hell was going on, I just sort of stood there dumbfounded by what I was seeing. Luckily, they had no interest in me (there has been tell of pacts of wild dogs following women on their runs about town) and took off across a field - very weird.

So Ramadan began on Friday. The campus has completely transformed and is pretty much dead during the daylight hours. From a teaching perspective, imagine students who haven't eaten since 4:00 am and will not be eating until about 6:30 or 7 (my class is at 2:30 pm). Oh yeah, and most likely stayed up until 4:00 am so they could eat before sleeping as much as they can. Now from a mental health perspective, well you have people who are either not taking their psychotropic drugs, or are taking them on an empty stomach. Of course add hunger, no sleep and most-likely no exercise (because they have no energy) to the mix and you have a recipe for breakdowns. Not to mention that this is family time and most of the students live way too far to go home, except on select weekends. This lasts for an entire month. I respect the religious tradition behind it, but from both a teaching and counseling perspective it is a nightmare. Now as a foreigner here during this time, we pretty much are hungry too because it is really taboo to eat or drink in public. On more than one occasion Nate has had to sneak into the men's bathroom to eat a handful of nuts. Stores and restaurants are not open during the day for the most part so it's a whole new set of rules to master just as we settled in. I also really miss going to the faculty lunch room to socialize with other faculty. I think it'll be a tough month. Some foreign faculty are trying to fast to sympathize with their students. You all know how much I love to eat, so I think I would be a mean and angry counselor if I didn't eat all day. So needless to say, I will be sneaking snacks when no one is around.