Christina McCann found herself falling in love with Northern Ireland while completing a semester abroad at Queen's University Belfast. Christina’s Major in Clinical Psychology and Minor in International Studies has influenced her employment within traumatic bereavement support.

Can you begin by telling us about your journey studying psychology and what led you to Queen’s University Belfast?

So, I started at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS), my Major was in Clinical Psychology and my Minor was in International Studies. The way I looked at it, was that in the U.S most Psychology students do Psychology with Communication. I wanted to read up on International Studies to ensure that I wasn’t projecting my culture onto others, to allow me to be a more supportive individual with an understanding of some key aspects of cultural psychology, like; ethics, bias, racism and stereotypes. There was then an opportunity to get extra credit through completing my Minor here at Queen’s. I picked Queen’s & Belfast as the course sounded great and back at UIS I had befriended students from Belfast, and I had always wanted the opportunity to visit Ireland!

What is your happiest memory at Queen’s?

During my time at Queen’s, I was definitely “House Mom” for the international students, and I loved that role. I started doing an open meal night on a Sunday evening where anybody who wanted could come for some food and friendship – we ended up having as many as 30 people around together one night at Elms! I loved the opportunity to build this sense of community and create a support network for those that wanted it.

What is your most recent role and how did your Psychology degree influence it?

My most recent role over the past year was in Belfast with Cruse Bereavement Support as a Project Manager in Traumatic Bereavement Support. Therefore, there has been a very direct overlap between my studies and work. I was able to use aspects of ethics, but also the psychological models of stress – which I studied here at Queen’s. Of course, having that background knowledge of what practices work well in NI and combining that with crisis intervention work I did in the States really helped me develop this programme to support individuals within the community. I created a community outreach programme called “A shoulder to lean on” - it is built around enabling people to process their grief in the way they need to and to help them understand how trauma impacts grief. I also focused on removing the statistics and jargon from this programme, allowing individuals to choose the medium they want to process their experience through; drawing, journaling or speaking.

Have you noticed differences in how trauma is experienced between the United States and in Northern Ireland?

There’s a really good book called “Crazy Like Us” by Ethan Watters - it talks about how we all show our psychological distress in ways that our culture recognises. Understanding the WHY of the way someone is reacting or processing is very important in client care. So, there are certain trauma responses like hyper-independence that seem to be engrained in Northern Irish culture. Not everyone who responds by “not wanting to be a bother” in NI is experiencing trauma, but it takes understanding Northern Irish culture to know this. I believe this engrained response is similarly found where I grew up in the U.S, which was quite a rural area, where there is importance placed on being self-sufficient. To summarise, just because people grow up on different sides of the world does not mean they will process trauma completely differently, but it is always important to remember the cultural upbringing of individuals to understand the why and how of their trauma processing.

What advice would you give other International Students who might be considering studying at Queen’s? 

Make sure you bring thermal socks! And waterproof boots! The appropriate clubbing attire for Belfast. Honestly, the coldness hits different here! But what Northern Irish weather lacks in warmth the people make up for it. I met my husband here, and I am starting to raise a family here, so I honestly do love Belfast.

Profile submitted September, 2023