Social Justice Identity Development for International Counseling Psychology Students

Despite the inclusion of social justice and international issues in counseling psychology, there are no conceptual models or research to date that focus on social justice identity development and training issues for international counseling psychology students. The unique cross-cultural experiences and systemic injustices facing many international counseling psychology students may inform their social justice identity development in a distinctive manner. Thus, by incorporating biculturalism and transformative learning theories, this article proposes a theoretical model to illustrate the psychological processes and outcomes of social justice identity development for international counseling psychology students with the following four phases: (a) cultural and social awareness of privilege and oppression, (b) critical analysis of systemic oppression across cultures, (c) synergistic development of social justice competence and bicultural competence, and (d) integration of social justice identity and competence across cultures. We provide recommendations for future practice, advocacy, education, training, and research.

International Students who Became U.S. Counseling Psychology Faculty Members: A Collaborative Autoethnography

International students have a considerable presence in U.S. counseling psychology programs; what happens when they pursue academic counseling psychology positions in U.S. institutions? Seven counseling psychology faculty who started as international students in the United States used collaborative autoethnography to examine this matter. We found that our identification with counseling psychology philosophy and our lifelong, self-reflective process as cultural insiders/outsiders have proven crucial. Likewise, we found that our academic career development has been shaped by extra challenges encountered when dealing with ethnocentric aspects of U.S. psychology and by unique opportunities generated by our multinational professional identities and multilingual abilities. Three themes recurred across our reflections: Overcoming Linguistic Differences, Learning to Thrive Across Cultures, and Mentoring as a Valued Experience. We offer advice for international counseling students considering careers in U.S. academia and discuss the implications of our findings for research, training, and advocacy.

Recognition of Community-Based Youth Programming in Counseling Psychology Journals: A 30-Year Analysis

As a field, counseling psychology distinguishes itself through its values of building on client strengths, developmentally-informed and preventative approaches to treatment, social justice efforts to confront individual and systemic oppression, and treatment of individuals across the lifespan. Community-based youth programs offer a culturally-responsive way to advocate for and challenge the systemic inequities faced by youth today. Despite the connections between counseling psychology values and community-based programs, it is unclear how, and to what extent, the field has contributed to this literature. To address this issue, we conducted a content analysis of the three major counseling psychology journals to determine how community-based youth programs have been represented in the field. From January 1990 to March 2019 only 10 articles were published about community-based youth programming, representing only .17% of the articles published during that time period. Implications and future direction for researchers, journals, and the field as a whole are addressed.

Best Practices in Global Mental Health: An Exploratory Study of Recommendations for Psychologists

Recommendations for best practice are useful in guiding the ethical and effective practice of psychology. Global mental health (GMH), which works to improve mental health treatment and access on a worldwide scale, is a growing field with many opportunities for psychologists, though such best practice recommendations have not been articulated. Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study recruited and interviewed psychologists identified as leaders in the field. Findings included broad categories of recommendations related to overarching variables (consideration of cultural/contextual variables; collaboration), program level characteristics (sustainability; formative and summative evaluation; flexibility; attention to systems; multidisciplinary teams; clinical knowledge and perspective; attention to spectrum of mental health), and individual level characteristics (perseverance; ongoing mentorship/supervision; self-awareness; boundary setting). Future directions include recommendations to recreate this study with a more geographically diverse sample, as well as with community members and service users of global mental heath projects. Increased attention to individual level competencies that impact global mental health projects are warranted. Recommendations for best practice and implications for training are also considered.

Supporting Disaster Relief Efforts Internationally: A Call to Counseling Psychologists

The increased occurrence of natural and human-made disasters has led to a greater call for culturally sensitive engagement in disaster mental health. In this article, we aim to stimulate culturally focused participation and competence among counseling psychologists who engage in disaster mental health work. Framed within an ecological and systemic interaction of individual, cultural, community, and structural factors, the article is based on two cross-cultural competency models emphasizing, cultural intelligence, language proficiency, cognitive complexity and flexibility, and highly developed interpersonal and communication skills, in the planning and delivery of disaster relief services. In particular, we address (a) specific cultural challenges, (b) skills and competencies needed, and (c) recommendations for online resources, that are relevant to counseling psychologists who seek to promote emotional resiliency in individuals and communities impacted by a disaster.

Working Globally: Advancing International Competencies in Counseling Psychology

This major contribution presents results from a presidential initiative undertaken by Y. Barry Chung during his year as the president of the Society of Counseling Psychology to advance cross-cultural collaboration and promote understanding of international competencies in psychology. This initiative brought together 72 psychological professionals from 23 countries to address issues salient to the global field of counseling psychology. We utilized two models of international competencies to frame these issues, namely the dynamic-systemic-process model of international competencies and the cross-national cultural competence model. The introductory article reviews international efforts in counseling psychology and provides an overview of the three subsequent articles. The second article addresses how historical, economic, and sociopolitical events have shaped the development of counseling psychology in different countries. The third article discusses social justice competencies from an international perspective, and the fourth article focuses on development of competencies for international disaster mental health work.