International Section – November 2015In spring of 2015, we elected several new Board members: Dr. Jinhee Kang, U.S.-based Co-Chair Elect; Dr. Zhijin Hou, Non U.S.-based Co-Chair Elect; Dr. Yi-Jiun Lin, U.S.-based Co-Membership Officer; and Dr. Ingrid Weigold, Secretary. Prior to the APA Convention, we issued our Section’s Summer 2015 Newsletter. At the 2015 APA Convention, we celebrated our International Section’s 10th Year Anniversary. Our Section Board and Committees also held a number of meetings and made several presentations on international counseling psychology issue. August 6, 2015
Following the Welcome Breakfast Meeting, the International Mentoring & Orientation Committee (IMOC) held the annual Roundtable discussions for international students in Counseling Psychology Programs on topics, including (1) Tips for Applying to Pre-Doctoral Internship: Bong Joo Hwang, Ph.D., Training Director, Arizona State University Counseling Services; Elena Yakunina, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist, University at Buffalo Counseling Service; (2) Advice on Pursuing an Academic Career in the U.S. or Abroad: Yu-Wei Wang, Ph.D., Research Director/ Assistant Director of the Counseling Center/Clinical Associate Professor, University of Maryland, College Park; Hanako Suzuki, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan; (3) Advice on Pursuing a Practice-Oriented Career in the U.S. or Abroad: Jinhee Kang, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist, University at Maryland Counseling Center; Min Jung Doh, Ph.D, Director, International Family Counseling Center, Korea. In addition, our International Psychology Practitioner Committee (IPPC) members held a meeting for practitioners in United States with international backgrounds. The focus of the meeting was on networking with other international practitioners and also discussion on “How to become a leader as an international practitioner.” During the Division 17 Section Roundtable session, we sponsored and co-sponsored the following Roundtables with the Supervision & Training Section: (1) Expanding counseling trainees’ multicultural competence in working with international students (by Seo, H., & Yakunina, E.); (2) A multicultural feminist approach to international students’ challenges in supervision and training (by Sahai, N., Cavalhieri, & Wang, Y.-W.); (3) Reentry experiences and transition process for international students/scholars (by Yaaqeib, S., Alhmoudi, S., & Al-Darmaki, F.R.R.); (4) Professional and personal transition of international students/scholars returning home (by Suzuki, H., Choi, K.-H., & Wang, Y.-W.); and (5) Understanding work issues for world citizens in the 21st century (by Hwang, B.J., Ngoubene-Atioky, A., Suzuki, H., & Wang, Y.-W.). After the Roundtable session, we co-sponsored the Division 17 Student Poster session. One poster was accepted by our Section, titled “Perception on Hakbeol privilege and experiences with classism among Korean college students” (by Loh, Y.). August 7, 2015 We co-sponsored an inter-sectional symposium on “Women’s work issues in international health and economic contexts” with the Society for Vocational Psychology, Society for the Advancement of Women, and Health Psychology Section. Also, three international psychology networks—Korean, Japanese, and Taiwan Psychology Networks—held a joint networks meeting in the Hospitality Suite. In addition, our IPPC members delivered a workshop on “How to start private practice on the side as a counseling psychologist” (by Hwang, B.J., & Li, Y.). August 8, 2015 We held our Section Business Meeting for our members and anyone who is interested in joining and being involved in our Section. Following the meeting, we sponsored an inter-sectional symposium on “Culturally responsive interventions within university counseling centers” with the Section on Ethnic & Racial Diversity, the Section on College & University Counseling Centers, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Issues Section. Several members of our Section Board and Committee Chairs gave a presentation on “Outreach programs for international students across universities: Celebrating inclusion & diversity” (by Yakunina, E., Seo, H., Hwang, B.J., Weigold, I., & Wang, Y.-W.). Also on this day, our IPPC members delivered a symposium on “Pursuing a career as an international practitioner at a university counseling center”(by Park-Saltzman, J., Yakunina, E., Lee, J., Seo, H., Daruwalla, S., & Hwang, B. J.). August 9, 2015 Finally, we co-sponsored an inter-divisional symposium on “Increasing supervisor competence in religious and spiritual issues” with the Div. 17 Supervision & Training Section, Div. 17 Special Interest Group in Religion/Spiritual Issues, and Div. 36 Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Our Section contributed a paper on “How to increase supervisees’ competence in working with survivors of sexual violence and religious/spiritual trauma” (by Wang, Y.-W.). In fall of 2015, the Board members and Committee Chairs started planning and preparing for the 2016 APA Convention. Our Treasurer and Membership co-officers updated the membership directory. The IMOC combined our membership survey with items from Section student needs assessment developed by the student representatives. They also created an exit/satisfaction survey for IMOC mentors and mentees to seek feedback on their experiences with the program. The IPPC continued to have monthly meeting as a committee and spent time with supporting each other on various professional and personal issues they face as international practitioners. The Cross-Cultural Training/Immersion Committee (CCTIC) had two additional meetings since APA and sent another round of reminder emails to all Counseling Psychology Training Directors who have not participated in the survey. The Research Committee (RC) is planning a research study on the barriers and successes in the employment security of international counseling psychologists. Please check our website: <https://sites.google.com/site/intlcounselingpsychology/> for our programs and list of resources for international counseling psychologists and students. We always welcome your suggestions on how to serve our members/affiliates and help to connect counseling psychologists who share similar passion in international issues. Thank you! Yu-Wei Wang, Ph.D. Co-Chair, International Section Tags: APA Convention, International, Practice |
