Training multiculturally competent counselors to work with Asian Indian Americans

Part of a special section on training multiculturally competent counselors to work with Asian-Americans. Asian-Indian-Americans' access to mental health services appears to be limited by cultural, language, and religious obstacles. Thus, counseling and mental health professions must develop new methods, concepts, and services that are more suitable to the life experiences of this population. In order to work effectively with Asian-Indian-Americans, counselors must be aware of their own sociocultural backgrounds, assumptions, biases, values, and perspectives regarding Asian-Indian-American clients; must be aware of the history, experiences, values, and lifestyles of Asian-Indian-Americans; and must be sensitive to acculturation issues in counseling situations. Experiential cross-cultural learning and experiential counselor training programs that include weekend workshops and retreats, intern/mentor programs, and studies abroad are successful for training counselors to adjust to the challenges of diversity.