Critical Issues in International Group Counseling

Three-quarters of the world come from collectivistic group-oriented cultures. As the world becomes more globalized it is inevitable that group counseling will be a major choice of healing and psychological intervention internationally. However, a review of scholarly articles from The Journal for Specialists in Group Work and Group Dynamics during the past 10 years reveals that there are few articles that address international group work. To better prepare group counselors to do group counseling across international boundaries this article discusses 9 critical cross-cultural themes in international group work and the importance of having an international group counseling training curriculum.