Mary L. Fawcett

Immigrants and refugees continue to make enormous contributions to the economic, educational, and cultural richness of the U. S. They plan for and manage multiple changes to achieve goals for themselves and their families, and in the process, give back to the U. S. This book provides insight for counselors working with immigrants and refugees and their families across the lifespan. Social justice and multicultural counseling competency frameworks ground this text, which is intended for counselors working in academic settings, conducting research, and practicing in different contexts. Because immigrants and refugees have various cultural heritages, immigration journeys, reasons for migrating, and presenting situations, counselors must be prepared to engage with individuals and families as unique clients. Descriptions of these contextual factors, including data and legislation, are included. This book will guide counselors in recognizing the additional steps they may need to take to account for culture, language, health status, relationships in place, and of course the priority issues (i.e., child’s illness and/or school bullying) to be dealt with. Additionally, counselors will learn about the rationale for migration as well as the concentration camps that may be “home” to refugees for an indeterminate time. Counselors will read about losses that affect immigrant and refugee clients and how these “naturally” contribute to sadness, depression, anger, and self-isolation.

This text is an ideal companion for anyone preparing for a career in counseling or mental health, applicable to all core courses in the counseling curriculum and developmentally designed to build multicultural and diversity competencies from a beginning to advanced level. As a mental health- worker-in-training you will need to learn to work effectively with clients from diverse backgrounds, and this text provides a ready-made resource of multicultural and diversity activities to enhance your classroom learning. This book is structured around the nine core areas of the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCCs). These competencies are designated by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) to help you learn the critical areas of personal and racial identity, develop an awareness of your own cultural values and biases (knowledge, awareness, and skills), and to build an understanding of both the counselor and client's worldviews. The book devotes three final chapters to culturally appropriate intervention strategies that again strengthen your awareness, knowledge, and skills.