People from displaced communities face significant challenges such as persecution in their home countries, the uncertainty of regaining safety and stability, and the acculturation stress of resettling in a host country (Kirmayer et al, 2011). Psychologists who work with displaced communities are trained and credentialed in modalities which do not always fit the cultural needs of their clients (Hall et al., 2016), requiring an adaptation process to make services more effective. The available literature does not currently reflect the variety of cultural backgrounds, circumstances, and presenting situations that comprise the diaspora of displaced communities throughout the world. Psychologists must implement this adaptation without needed research support (Nickerson et al, 2011), relying instead on personal experience and clinical judgment.


The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the lived experiences of international and global psychologists who provide counseling services for refugee communities as way to better understand the cultural adaptation process. A better understanding of this phenomenon can help inform global psychologists in their own work with displaced communities.


Through seven semi-structured interviews with doctoral level psychologists from various countries, working with refugee communities from various parts of the world, the process of cultural adaptation of clinical services was explored in depth using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis qualitative methodology.


Initial analysis of the data resulted in emergent superordinate and subordinate themes, including: clinicians' adapting treatments from their academic training, mentorship and supervision through the adaptation process, personal transformation, experiences of professional siloing, and political advocacy as a part of clinical work.


The results give context to the developmental process participants experienced and insight into the changes in clinical conceptualization and transformative professional identity which emerged from the adaptation process. Suggestions for counseling psychologists, supervisors, mental health professionals, and academic trainers to use in their work were developed from the results.