Establishing the School Counseling Profession in Bhutan: Reflections from the Field

Counseling is a developing profession in the country of Bhutan. The National Board of Certified Counselors International (NBCC-I) has been collaborating with the leaders and counselors in the country in order to help facilitate this development and provide training to prospective counselors. As a result of this ongoing collaboration, a three-week institute in Bhutan was held in the Fall of 2011. During this institute, 12 counseling professionals traveled to the country to work and provide trainings in various settings, including schools. The authors describe the work in the schools, a personal narrative about the experiences, and the implications for future work in the country. Implications include: Understand clients/students/school systems from their internal frame of reference; Culturally responsive counseling skills and interventions are essential; Some issues are universal across cultures; Be spontaneous and creative when there are limited resources; Consider the impact of globalization when conceptualizing the clients and concerns; and Consider how counseling may need to be adapted to fit with the student’s/school’s cultural frame of reference

A Phenomenological Study of Children\u27s Experiences While Families Receive Services From a Homeless Agency

Children who experience homelessness have an increased risk for negative outcomes in several developmental areas (Bucker, 2008). While there are numerous programs that hope to mediate these and other risks by offering services to families experiencing homelessness, there is a paucity of research that addresses how children\u27s psychosocial needs are being addressed in existing programs (Gewirtz, Hart-Shegos, & Medhanie, 2008). In addition, there is also a lack of research which represents the children\u27s and parents\u27 perspectives and experiences in supportive housing programs, such as transitional and permanent supportive housing, or in-home case management programs. With this phenomenological qualitative study, I attempted to capture the previously disenfranchised voices of the children and their families who are affected by the policy decisions and programs currently being implemented by agencies serving families experiencing homelessness. More specifically, I explored the experiences of children whose families were receiving services via programs designed after either the continuum of care philosophy, which includes transitional and permanent supportive housing emphases, or the housing first philosophy, which is an in-home case management program. It is hoped that this in-depth examination of the experiences of 13 children, complemented by an investigation of their parents\u27 perceptions, may help inform the design and evaluation of programs that serve homeless families. Data analysis revealed three super-ordinate themes concerning the children\u27s experiences. The first super-ordinate theme involved contextual factors such as the families\u27 residential stability, maternal factors, family composition, situational and family stressors, parenting styles, friends, and the children\u27s own self motivation. The second super-ordinate theme that emerged included the participants\u27 perceptions regarding the benefits of the agency\u27s programs. One theme under this super-ordinate theme included the participants\u27 perceptions that the program provided resources to their children that parents believed they could not provide themselves. A second theme was the participants\u27 belief that the children experienced improved psychosocial outcomes. The final theme emerging in this super-ordinate theme was the perception that the program provided opportunities for exposure to positive new experiences for the children. The third super-ordinate theme involved the participants\u27 evaluation of the program in which they were participating. The themes in this area included the importance of the relationships in the program, positive aspects such meeting the needs of the families, and the changes that the participants desired for the program

Cultural Humility: Lessons Learned through a Counseling Cultural Immersion

Counselor educators are called to promote the development of cultural competence in counselors-in-training (CITs). The challenge of this process is in assessing competence as well as knowing andragogical strategies to facilitate this development. Cultural humility, in comparison, is a process-based framework that requires life-long self-reflection and open-minded stance towards others. Providing cultural immersion opportunities for CITs could be a teaching method to promote deeper cultural humility. This qualitative study examined the perceived impact of a cultural immersion experience on CITs and their cultural competence. Training implications for counselor educators and supervisors are also provided

Enhancing Social Justice and Multicultural Counseling Competence through Cultural Immersion: A Guide for Faculty

Cultural immersion experiences can have a lifelong impact on counseling students’ development and identity. The authors describe the connection between cultural immersion experiences and multicultural competence. The authors also offer their professional experiences with international cultural immersion, provide a framework for counselor educators to create these experiences for counseling students, and include practical examples of how to intentionally structure each component of the trip to enhance student growth and development

Globalization and Counseling: Professional Issues for Counselors

Scholars have examined globalization for many years in terms of its impact on individuals, but it remains a concept not often discussed in the counseling literature (Paredes et al., 2008). As counseling transforms from a Western-based practice to a global phenomenon, it is important to understand counseling within an international context. In this article, the ways in which the process of globalization are currently impacting the field of counseling, implications and future research directions are examined

Celebrating Culture and Diversity

Event Schedule: 4:30 - 7:00 p.m.The Intersection of Culture and Mental Health: Perspectives from Bhutan Dr. Sonya Lorelle and her guests from Bhutan, Nr. Nirola and Ugyen Dorji, will discuss their perspectives of the culture and the mental health issues and challenges they face in Bhutan. 7:00-7:30 p.m.Refreshments 7:30-10 p.m. Leveraging Diversity in School and in LifeIn this fun and interactive workshop, Mr. Sylvester Baugh will assist participants in expanding their understanding of culture from race and ethnicity to a total way of life

Celebrating Culture and Diversity

Event Schedule: 4:30 - 7:00 p.m.The Intersection of Culture and Mental Health: Perspectives from Bhutan Dr. Sonya Lorelle and her guests from Bhutan, Nr. Nirola and Ugyen Dorji, will discuss their perspectives of the culture and the mental health issues and challenges they face in Bhutan. 7:00-7:30 p.m.Refreshments 7:30-10 p.m. Leveraging Diversity in School and in LifeIn this fun and interactive workshop, Mr. Sylvester Baugh will assist participants in expanding their understanding of culture from race and ethnicity to a total way of life

Counseling Children and Adolescents: A Call to Action

The ACA 2014 Code of Ethics clearly states the mandate for counselor competence in C.2.a. It is noted that “Counselor practice only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, state and national credentials, and appropriate professional experience” (p. 8). Given the importance of competencies, ethical standards, and the emphasis on best practice, the paucity of these factors in regard to training and supervision for counselors working with child and adolescent populations is concerning. This article offers a conceptualization of the culture of childhood leading to the need for cultural competency. It outlines information specific to counselors working with a child and adolescent population and is a call to action for the field of counseling

How to Plan and Implement a Successful Play Therapy Training Intensive

Play therapy is a growing area of interest and is a specific type of intervention that requires training and supervision to be implemented effectively. Play therapy continues to grow out of a need to provide effective, age appropriate, and multicultural interventions to children. In response to the heightened interest, universities are offering courses and supervision experience in play therapy. The goal of this program is to provide participants with specific ideas and materials for planning and implementing their own successful play therapy training intensive