⚠️ Content Warning: Today's conversation includes mentions of suicide. Please approach this carefully. If hearing about suicide doesn't feel right for you today, please skip to another episode or return at another point in time.
Welcome back to Season 5 of the Asian Mental Health Podcast! In this season opener, hosts Asami Koike and Marcus Lai reunite in the studio for the first time since August 2025 to introduce a very special season dedicated entirely to the international student experience in Australia. They're joined by Daleney Ing, facilitation support at Shapes and Sounds and psychology honours student, to unpack what they learned from running Student Changemakers: a peer leadership program for international students in Semester 1, 2026.
You'll hear directly from students in their own words: voice memos, reflections, and raw honest moments about what it's really like to arrive in Melbourne full of hope, and navigate the gap between expectation and reality.
🎧 You'll hear about:
✅ Why Shapes and Sounds dedicated Season 5 to international student mental health and wellbeing in Australia
✅ The alarming research on suicide rates and mental health challenges among Asian international students
✅ What the Student Changemakers peer leadership program was, who it was for, and how it ran in Melbourne
✅ Real voice memo reflections from international students about their experiences navigating life in Australia
✅ Why presence matters more than advice when supporting struggling students
✅ What "being well" means across different cultural frameworks, including collectivist and interdependent perspectives
✅ How financial stress, transport access, and everyday life logistics compound into serious mental health risks
✅ The protective factors that help international students thrive in Australia
🛠️ Resources Mentioned:
Student Changemakers - Shapes and Sounds' peer leadership program for international students in Melbourne
Asian Mental Health Practitioner List - Find a culturally responsive therapist: https://justshapesandsounds.com/asian-mental-health-practitioner-list
Embrace Multicultural Mental Health - This season's supporting partner
Swinburne University (2023) study on Asian international student mental health
Coroners Court of Victoria report on international student deaths by suicide (2021)
🙌 Connect with Shapes and Sounds
🎁 Free Resource: Download "International Students and Mental Health"
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Do you work with international students? If so, you may be interested in learning more about the Student Changemakers program as well as downloading our project summary report HERE.
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Keywords: international student mental health Australia, Asian international students Melbourne, student suicide prevention, peer leadership program, culture shock, international student loneliness, Student Changemakers, homesickness support, international student wellbeing Melbourne, culturally responsive mental health, Embrace Multicultural Mental Health, Swinburne international students
✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the Asian Mental Health Podcast on your favourite podcast app - it really helps other people find us. And please share this episode, especially if you know or are an international student. Word of mouth helps destigmatise mental health in Asian communities. 💛
The Asian Mental Health Podcast is a production from Shapes and Sounds, made on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. This show is hosted by Asami Koike and Marcus Lai and produced by Yeo Choong. This season is brought to you by Embrace Multicultural Mental Health (The Embrace Project). All thoughts and ideas you hear are independently ours and our guests.The Embrace Project is part of Mental Health Australia. For more information about the Embrace Project, visit: https://embracementalhealth.org.au/
