Support Group For East Asian Students

The first time I personally experienced attending a group therapy was part of my course. Through this experience i can say that group therapy can be very powerful in healing a person emotionally and since the members were from the same class, where we all have similar goals. Group therapy helped all of us to establish meaningful and intimate relationship and we also recognised commanality of members needs and problems and to develop a sense of bonding and we became very close and we could also be there for each other during emotionally trying times.It also helped me to increase self-growth, self acceptance and self –confidence among oneself and group members. Group therapy is a powerful venue for growth and change. It also helped me in expressing my emotions in a healthy way.

The power of support groups, especially when peer run can have a sign cant impact on the individual. It is vital to realize that “Compared to recent group members, longstanding group members used less medication and treatment services, had higher levels of well-being and less neurotic distress” (Solomon, 2009). Many of them also became leaders of the groups. Many times while I have personally sat in on our Hope and Recovery Group (Peer Lead), I have seen a massive shift in many of the people in our group. The socialization of each individual is profound! Many of the group members never said a word for months and now they are vibrant, full of zeal and vivaciousness. An interesting point that is brought up by Ley is the statement that “People

The need to provide mental health services to culturally diverse clients has increased over the past couple of years due to the increase in racial and ethnic diversity in the United Sates. Consequently, there is a need for mental health professionals to offer effective interventions that address social issues that accompany racial and ethnic diversity (Constantine, Hage, Kindaichi, & Bryant, 2007). Research shows that efforts are being made to implement social justice advocacy strategies and interventions into counseling practices. This growing movement calls for counselors to be agents and advocates for social justice, oppression, and discrimination (Ratts & Hutchins, 2009). Social justice counseling approaches focus on empowering the individual by actively confronting injustices and inequalities that affects clients in their systemic frameworks (Pedersen, Lonner, Draguns, Trimble, & Rio, 2015).

In the article, “Colleges Adapt to New Kinds of Students from Abroad,” Karin Fischer (2011) explains the increase of foreign students in U.S. universities leads to make more problems in campus and how universities are trying to overcome those problems and help foreign students to adapt to campus. Fischer explains the increase of the foreign undergraduate students due to the support from foreign governments. Fischer quotes Wesley Young, the director of services for international students and scholars at the University of California at Davis, to discuss that the increase of foreign undergraduate students especially requires more care and help than graduate students. While older students know what they need to do and what to do in U.S. university,

The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as Hart-Cellar Act, represents the most significant period in the history of Asian Americans. Decades of continuous exclusion and racist immigration policies, came to an end with the adoption of the Act, which resulted in unprecedented flows of immigrants from Asia, Mexico, Latin America, and other countries immigrating to U.S. Most influential proved to be the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, which brought national and international attention to the pervasive problem of racism and economic inequality in American society, including discriminatory immigration laws. New arrivals, especially from Asia, have transformed the demographic and diversity characteristics of Asian American community, and American society in general. The immigration Act of 1965 was the most important immigration reform legislation for Asian Americans and other racial minorities because it finally challenged the American race relations and dramatically improved the lives of Asian Americans.

As a first-generation Asian-American college student and the first in my family to move onto higher education, my chances of academic success were improbable.

Support groups have evolved drastically to the point that participants are learning and teaching others about similar arguments and coping skills. These groups reinforce professional and non-professional procedures for the better good of the community, as well as providing individuality for certain groups of people. At the same time, participants are becoming intimated by society and the stigmas they place upon support groups. Although support groups might have some negative understanding from society, there are also benefits that overcome the public stigma, and helps the community and its civilians to disseminate information on research, treatment, resources, and methods of coping. With that in mind, support groups of any kind helps everyone in need.

As the appearance of Asian American students on college campuses become more prominent, the need for cultural competence and inclusiveness is higher than ever. Being aware and knowledgeable about the matters in the Asian American community can provide these students with well-equipped tools to help them succeed in higher education.

The experiences that I shared with those students presented me with great satisfaction. This influenced my decision to apply for a graduate degree in school counseling. Although, at this point in time I do not hold any experiences in school counseling I have researched ways to gain that experience. Volunteering at both public schools to shadow licensed school counselors and independent counseling centers will provide me the necessary experiences to gain hands on knowledge for the field. The ability to relate interpersonally to individuals from different cultural backgrounds is extremely important for a counselor. Being knowledgeable of a client’s culture, identity, ethnicity, race and gender play a major part in the counseling process. Possessing cultural competent is key to engaging a diverse clientele. Culture norms and rules change the way an individual interact. I understand the importance of identifying the barriers and bias in interacting with individual from different cultures. Through my previous years of education and current work experiences I obtained valuable interpersonal skills. These skills assist with communicating effectively with a diverse group of individuals. Those skills involved effective listening, problem-solving, decision-making, assertiveness, and verbal and non-verbal communication. In detail, while working as teacher, I was afforded the opportunity of advising interns on making practical

Despite their similar appearances, Asian Americans a diverse group people. The stories are different for each ethnic group from culture, immigration history, religion, and more. Asians are a rapidly growing population in America that it could reach ten million. “Immigrants are coming in plane loads that is raising the number of ethnic Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, as well as Cambodian citizens.”3 Half of the legal immigrants coming to the United States in 1980 were from Asia and were easily outnumbering the percentage of Latin and Europeans. 3

As individuals, we are diverse based on the background, experience, ability, race, language, etc. which impact the lens through which we view others and ourselves. As diverse individual, we may belong to dominant or non- dominant groups. Thus, either we have power and privilege or we experience discrimination and oppression. Further, we are shelled with diversity, ethnicity, and multiculturalism issues. Counselors have some ethical primary responsibilities to respect the dignity and promote the welfare of the client (A.1.a), “honoring diversity and embracing a multicultural approach in support of the worth, dignity” and “promoting social justice” (Herlihy & Corey, 2014, p. 3)

The Asian American immigrants are part of the ethnic and racial groups in the United States who lives in the continent of Asia. Asian have lived in the United States for a long time. Throughout the history, Asian Americans have encountered segragation and discrimination during the periods of changes in demographics, economic recession, and war. They have been discriminated by school policies and practices due to beign different. Paul Spickard (2007) has said that Asian Americans was an idea invented in the 1960s to bring together Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans for political purposes. Later, other

Asian Americans make up 17.3 million, or 5.6 percent, of the U.S. population. Asian Americans have a wide range of ethnic groups like the Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, Vietnamese, Indians, etc. They have served in the military, have made headway into the business sector in recent years and their education and their wealth for its community varies widely. They have also been part of the Civil Rights Movement during in the 1960s alongside the African Americans and the Hispanic Americans. Unfortunately, most Americans were oblivious to the racial discrimination against Asian Americans, even though they have contributed to the Civil Rights Movement and have had to deal with racial discrimination and its issues such as immigration.

Starting this course in August, I didn’t realize the power that multicultural counseling had instilled in it. The fact that its central focus is around social justice and equality is a characteristic our society much needs today. Throughout the duration of this class, I learned about multicultural counseling as a whole, new theories that can be applied specifically to different racial/ethnic minorities, the ACA code of ethics, and who I want to be as a future counselor.

     America is considered a melting pot of different ethnic groups. By today’s standard, “American culture” is the result of a variety of races integrating their own cultural beliefs into American society. Throughout the years, the United States has seen a massive increase of people migrating from Asian countries; “they make up 3.6 percent of the U.S. population, a 199 percent increase from 1980 when they constituted only 1.5 percent of the population” (Ng). Like other immigrants, Asians come here in order to seek a better life and experience civil liberties. According to statistics, “Filipino Americans today make up the second largest Asian Pacific American (APA) group in the country” (Aquino). Filipinos alongside