Teaching Multicultural Group Counseling: Perspectives for A New Era

Abstract

The demographics in the United States are rapidly changing. Despite these well-documented shifts in ethnicity and race, there remain gaps in the research, practice, and training that address relevant multicultural issues in group counseling. This article addresses the challenges in incorporating multicultural issues in training group counselors, and discusses socio-ecological and cross-cultural considerations in teaching multicultural group work. The article also provides recommendations for teaching multicultural group counseling.

Keywords:

• multicultural counseling
• cross-cultural counseling
• group counseling
• counselor training
• ecological counseling

Notes

Dr. Fred Bemak is a professor and the program coordinator for the Counseling and Development Program in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University. Dr. Rita Chi-Ying Chung is an associate professor in the Counseling and Development Program in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University.