Counseling Students Study Abroad in Lisbon

By participating in this immersive experience, students will be exposed to multicultural and acculturation concerns like those of their future clients. As sojourners, a term used by Berry (2006) to refer to study abroad students due to their status as temporary residents of countries other than where they were born, participants will have the opportunity to have a brief experience of what it is like to attempt to acculturate to an environment that has different customs and language from their own. They will experience the stress of determining when to acculturate and when to maintain their own customs; this is similar to the process that their immigrant clients face. Other non-traditional approaches to substance abuse/recovery (i.e., SMART Recovery, a non-12 step approach) will be covered to create a survey experience. Through the inclusions in this course, students will be exposed to a breadth of knowledge regarding chemical dependency, chemical dependency assessment, and multicultural and social justice competencies prior to entering field courses. As future professional counselors, students are subject to the principles, competencies and ethical code established by the ACA. These principles emphasize multicultural and social justice competency to meet the needs of the clients where they are and with what struggles they are facing and to advocate on the individual, community and public levels as needed.