TPC-Journal-V2-Issue2

115 Globalization and Counseling: Professional Issues for Counselors Sonya Lorelle Rebekah Byrd Stephanie Crockett Scholars have examined globalization for many years in terms of its impact on individuals, but it remains a concept not often discussed in the counseling literature. As counseling transforms from a Western-based practice to a global phenomenon, it is important to understand professional counseling within an international and multicultural context. In this article, the ways in which the process of globalization are currently impacting the field of counseling, implications and future research directions are examined. Global mental health and wellness, culture, and access and structural limitations are also presented. Keywords: globalization, international, multicultural, counselor education, professional counseling The Professional Counselor Volume 2, Issue 2 | Pages 115–123 © 2012 NBCC and Affiliates www.nbcc.org http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org doi:10.15241/sll.2.2.115 As our world becomes increasingly connected economically, politically, technologically, and culturally, counseling is transforming from a Western-based practice to a global phenomenon. The globalization of counseling has placed the field on the cusp of growth and innovation. Such changes involve not only a willingness to adapt and perhaps redefine current counseling theories, but to hold our most basic assumptions regarding the nature of human change so loosely that we are willing to let counseling develop and evolve indigenously in international communities. Accordingly, this article highlights the impact of globalization on the field of counseling, with particular attention given to the spread of Western- based counseling practices to the international community. In order to do so, we begin by defining globalization and considering the progression of multicultural counseling toward a more global vision. We then examine the ways in which the process of globalization is currently impacting the field of counseling. Lastly, the implications for counseling as an increasingly global phenomenon and future research directions are considered. Globalization Globalization can be referred to the “McDonaldization” or “Westernization” of the world. These terms imply that globalism entails an invasion of Western capitalism into undeveloped nations and suggests the idea that the world is becoming homogeneous. Modern scholars of globalization (Featherstone, 1996; Tomlinson, 1999), however, point out that such oversimplifications only describe one aspect of globalism, and note that globalization is better defined by a series of interactions between nations than by a unidirectional Western conquest. Accordingly, we define globalization in this article as a continual process of interaction and integration among national economies, societies and cultures (Rothenberg, 2003). There is a dynamic interplay between both global and local economies, politics, technologies and cultures in which local communities do not passively give way to outside influences, but rather actively react to the process by absorbing, assimilating, and/or resisting the worldviews, products and politics introduced by the West (Featherstone, 1996). This global-local relationship transforms the local lived experiences of the individuals and has increasing global consequences (Tomlinson, 1999). Scholars in the counseling field have already increased their understanding of the process by which individuals in minority groups adapt to dominate cultural norms. Traditionally, it was assumed that acculturation was a one-dimensional process in which individuals demonstrated increasing adherence to the dominant culture and a lessening of adherence to the minority orientation. More recently, scholars understand this process to be multidimensional, involving both Sonya Lorelle, NCC, is an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Rebekah Byrd is an Assistant Professor at East Tennessee State University. Stephanie Crockett is an Assistant Professor at Oakland University. Correspondence can be addressed to Sonya Lorelle, Department of Counseling, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223, sonyalorelle@hotmail.com.