Europe trip focuses on mental health, criminal justice practices

KOKOMO, Ind. - Mallori Adler gained an inside look at how psychology and criminal justice work in two European countries as part of an Indiana University Kokomo KEY experience.

Adler was one of 12 students who traveled to Vienna, Austria, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as part of a comparative mental health class this summer.

"One important thing you have to strive for as a psychologist, or someone working with the public, is a very good level of cultural competency," said Adler, a senior psychology major from Logansport. "It's important to see how other people live, and how they may have values different from ours. In fields that involve dealing with people, and understanding people, it's good to know all the different cultures and environments that some people you may work with may be involved in."

Rosalyn Davis, clinical professor of psychology and director of the Master of Mental Health Counseling program, and Kathy Holcomb, associate professor of psychology, led the 10-day trip, which included visits to Neustart, an Austrian nonprofit that provides probation, victim-offender mediation, electronic monitoring and other social work services; museums for famous psychologists Viktor Frankl and Sigmund Freud; the Hogeweyk Dementia Village near Amsterdam; and the Anne Frank House.

"In class, we look at mental health services and costs and treatment plans, and then we look at them across the planet," said Davis. "We do some things well, but there are other things we could improve."

One of the most impactful sites they visit is the Hogeweyk Dementia Village, which provides a homelike atmosphere for dementia patients. They are placed in homes by personality, and have access to grocery shopping, bars, parks, and other services.

"They are living their best lives here, they just happen to have dementia," Davis said. "If you didn't know better, you would think it was a senior retirement center. In the U.S., they are locked down, and it's tightly regulated how long you can visit. There, family can check them out for the day, or they can do whatever they want in the facility, and it's massive. We have so much discussion about what is stopping us from giving our folks that kind of experience."

As a criminal justice minor, Adler was especially interested to witness the rehabilitation effort led by the Neustart program in Vienna, and how domestic violence cases were handled. She said when someone is at risk of committing domestic violence, they are proactively removed from the home for two weeks.

"I had a family member involved in that kind of situation, and they would have benefitted from that kind of program," she said. "It gave me an idea of something I can do to improve safety for people. I think it was a very beneficial experience."

Neustart provides students ideas about different ways to handle criminal justice, Davis said, with a focus on wraparound rehabilitation services for those who have been incarcerated. By helping clients gain education, find jobs, and secure housing, they can prevent them from reoffending, she said, adding that their recidivism rate is about 15 percent.

"The students learn that the world is much bigger than they think," she said. "They may not have thought about how someone in another country might do this, and what it means when they do things differently than we do."

Holcomb said the trip gives students an opportunity to consider health care options they may not have thought of previously.

"I think it's important for our students to be able to see a different perspective you can only get from traveling and seeing it firsthand," she said. "We have a lot of students who haven't traveled as much, and that's especially important for them. They see there are other ways to approach mental health and elder care and dealing with incarceration and post-incarceration.

"I hope it gives them ideas about different approaches," Holcomb said. "It's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. They can apply what they've learned in their own experiences, whether it's in a mental health field or in their own lives. I hope this gets them excited about traveling and seeing other cultures, so they continue do to that."

Davis said they appreciate donors who provided scholarships to make the trip possible for many of the students.

"This is one of those areas if anyone in the community is thinking about how they can make an impact on someone's life, this is one way," she said. "Being able to go on one of these international trips may be a once-in-a-lifetime event for many of them, and they all need support getting there."

The trip was part of the IU Kokomo Experience and You (KEY) program , which provides students with real-world experiences, connects them with people, and offers travel experiences within many majors. Destinations have included sites significant to World War II in Germany, France, and England; a business incubator in Nashville; Google headquarters in California; Indiana Dunes National Park; ESPN in North Carolina; a behind-the-scenes look at security at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis; and much more.

Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.

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