OLLU: Immersion course to Mexico

For over 15 years, the psychology department at Our Lady of the Lake University has offered an immersion course in their inter-cultural and multi-cultural programs, seeking to further the training development of global minded professionals. Students across their marriage and family therapy, school psychology and counseling psychology programs travel to Mexico for a 12 to 15-long stay. They have the opportunity to work with local communities and practitioners. They transition from learning in a textbook and U.S. classroom-based setting to an international lived experience setting. As a result, they are offered a new comparative learning context from where they become more aware of their U.S. identities when locating themselves socially, culturally and linguistically. Students have found this experience trans-formative, having learned personal and professional skills on how to facilitate cross-cultural interactions.Although it is a significant component of our programs’ training, one of the main challenges that prevent some students from taking advantage of this opportunity is the additional cost to cover their travel expenses.