Foreign language professionals have demonstrated the benefits of learning language in an immersion environment and intercultural specialists can attest to the benefits of exposure to different world views in terms of increased tolerance for ambiguity and acceptance of difference. Study abroad can be a tremendously beneficial and positive experience for undergraduates. As a resident director and professor in Barcelona for more than 13 years, the author steadily encountered more students with incapacitating mental health concerns. This article began from the author's own struggle to help several students abroad suffering from mental illness that taxed his personal and professional resources to their limits. As he reflected on those cases, the author found that little had been written on the role of the resident director in relation to the mental health challenges students may experience while on overseas programs. In this article, the author attempts to state the nature of these issues, examine current research, and present actual cases of study abroad students with whom the author worked on a variety of mental health concerns. The author discusses the challenges for resident directors in dealing with mental health problems overseas. Policy recommendations for education abroad programs as well as recommendations for resident directors are presented. (Contains 3 notes.)