‘I’m in a Dilemma of Coming Back, not Coming Back, What to Do, I’m a Bit Stuck’: Exploring the Wellbeing and Mental-health of Latin American Students in Sydney During COVID-19

ABSTRACT There is a lack of data exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the wellbeing and mental health on Latin American students in Australia, whose experiences, besides anecdotal evidence from different mass media outlets and social media platforms, remain underrepresented in the significant and rigorous scholarly work that has emerged in 2020 and in 2021. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the wellbeing and mental health of this sector of the student migrant population through 12 qualitative semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using theoretically informed frameworks to explore the meanings that Latin American students ascribe to their experiences in regard to wellbeing and mental health in the context of the COVID-19. Our findings show that students created their own coping mechanisms and social and familial support networks, as a way of compensating for the lack of access to mental health services. The main factors discouraging students to access counselling and/or psychological support are the consultation costs and provision of these services in English, rather than Spanish or Portuguese.