International Section – January 2017


There is a lot of exciting work going on at the APA Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) International Section (ICP). We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share the highlights of the excellent work of ICP this year with the Society of Counseling Psychology through SCP Connect!

First, the ICP website under Division 17 server was revamped, revised, and launched November 7th 2016! https://scp.wpengine.com/sections/international/.  You will find the details of the updated ICP information and activities here.  Our website contents are continuously updated with a goal to keep our members informed and engaged in our Section activities.   Also, please read the latest issue of our section Newsletter: https://scp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/ICPWinter-2016Newsletter.pdf.  Some highlights in this issue include: Dr. Y. Barry Chung, the recipient of our 2016 Excellent Contribution Award, who wrote about his professional journey as an immigrant counseling psychologist. Hui Xu, the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award, wrote about his research on career decision ambiguity tolerance in China and in the U.S. Our Counseling Worldwide series features two outstanding university counseling centers, one in the UAE and the other in India. In addition, our Student Representatives shared their recommendations on how to create and maximize positive clinical supervision experiences for both international trainees and their supervisors.

APA 2016 convention highlights

Each year ICP hosts diverse programs at the APA annual convention! We kicked off the 2016 APA convention with our annual International Scholars Welcome and Orientation Breakfast to greet our international scholars and ICP members.  Over 70 people attended this Breakfast meeting.  At the meeting, we celebrated the recipients of our 2016 awards, Y. Barry Chung, Ph.D. (Excellent Contribution Award) and Hui Xu, M.A. (Graduate Student Outstanding Research Award). Dr. Merry Bullock (Senior Director, Office of International Affairs at APA) and Dr. Melissa Morgan-Consoli (Co-Chair, Committee on International Relations in Psychology) presented on the APA and CIRP’s international efforts.  Dr. Lydia Buki (the editor of The Counseling Psychologist [TCP]) and Dr. Ruth Chao (the editor for the International Forum of TCP) also gave a presentation to invite submissions to the TCP International Forum.

In addition, ICP co-sponsored various symposia and roundtable discussions, including “From an International Trainee to an Independent Practitioner” with the Section for Independent Practice, “Addressing xenophobia in working with immigrants and international students” with the Section on Ethnic & Racial Diversity and the Section on College & University Counseling Center, and the Roundtables with the topics of international students and clinical supervision with the Supervision & Training Section and the Section for Independent Practice.  Also, The leaders of Taiwan Psychology Network (TPN), Korean Psychology Network (KPN) and Association of Chinese Helping Professionals and Psychologists (ACHPP) presented a symposium on “Global collaborations and leadership: Takes from the Trenches.”

Our International Mentoring & Orientation Committee (IMOC) hosted its annual roundtable discussions for ICP students: (1) Tips for applying for pre-doctoral internship (2) Exploring academic career paths and research publications in the US; (3) Clinical paths, career options, and visa considerations in the US; and (4) Exploring jobs outside the US and processing emotions.  Our International Psychology Practitioners Committee (IPPC) also hosted its annual meeting with the theme of “Immigration challenges for international practitioners” and shared their personal challenges related to immigration issues.

For the Division 17/CCPTP student poster session, three posters from our section were selected and presented at the Division 17 Social Hours: (1) Culture, Stigma, and Help-Seeking: Examination across Five Countries/Regions (M.Schacter, H. Liao, D. Vogel, W. Mak, Y. Wang, N. Topkaya, and A. Zlati); (2) Occupational Engagement and its Relationship to Positive Adjustment Measures in Two Collectivistic Cultures (M. A. Vuyk, Y. Lei and T. Krieshok); (3) The Effects of a Multimedia Intervention on Help-Seeking with a Chinese College Student Sample (X Song, T. Anderson and Y. Bi).

ICP in the fall 2016 semester:

Since its establishment in 2007, IMOC has been very busy with many projects, including matching mentors and mentees, updating the website and membership, as well as planning for the APA annual roundtable. IMOC has many subcommittees, including Mentoring, Membership and Publicity, Professional Development, Convention Planning, Website Management, and Student Representatives. They have been working hard to serve the ICP student members.  Please see the IMOC website https://scp.wpengine.com/sections/international/community/imoc/ for the information about their exciting activities for international student members. If you’d like to know more about IMOC activities, please contact Dr. Shaznin Daruwalla, the current IMOC chair, at [email protected]

IMOC and IPPC continue to collaborate on their annual webinar for the international counseling psychology internship applicants.  At the December 7, 2016 webinar, moderated by Dr. Jiyoon Lee (IMOC Professional Development Subcommittee chair), ~80 international graduate students participated.  IMOC and IPPC are also working on their plan to provide the information webinar for the ICP members who are looking for practice-oriented jobs in the US.

IPPC continues to hold its monthly Skype meeting to discuss the issues related to the international practitioners.  In Fall 2016, the Special Task Force for International Practitioners’ Immigration Support was formed under the current Co-Chair’s initiative with the tasks of (1) Collecting data on challenges to appeal to various stakeholders as legitimate issues; (2) Publicizing the issue; and (3) Creating a resource list for international practitioners.

In addition, a new ad-hoc committee, the International Faculty committee (Co-Chairs: Drs. Meifen Wei and Hangshim Lee) was formed to provide support and mentorship for international counseling psychology faculty members. They plan to recruit members of the ICP faculty committee and to have online meetings with members to hear members’ expectations and needs for the ICP faculties committee. 

Our Student Representatives (Y. H. Kim & I. Hogge) facilitated the online student forum regarding supervision experiences for international trainees on September 25th, 2016 and wrote a summary of key themes for inclusion in the ICP winter 2016 newsletter.  They continue to work on updating the visa information sheet for graduate program training directors to increase awareness of visa issues during the internship year to provide this vital information to the training sites.

We hope you enjoy finding out the exciting and meaningful activities of the International Section.  Feel free to contact us if you are interested in any of these section activities.  We look forward to continuing to work with the Society of Counseling Psychology members to bring the voices of ALL across the globe!

Jinhee Kang, Ph.D., & Zhijin Hou, Ph.D.
Co-Chairs of the APA Division 17 International Section


Tags: Posted on: January 28th, 2017