245 - STRUCTURAL COMPETENCIES IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT: ADVOCACY FOR MARGINALIZED STUDENTS IN THE U.S. COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Session: D16S002 - Counseling Psychology 2
AUTHORS:
Lee Jiyoon (New York University ~ New York ~ United States of America)
Abstract text:
Counseling Psychologists' role is providing a culturally responsive care, which has been challenged in the current global context because individuals' mental health can be rooted beyond their individual issues. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, global political conflicts and unrest worldwide have impacted college students in the U.S. with their marginalized backgrounds (e.g., family immigration history, racial identity, legal status, and economic hardship). Without recognizing individuals' multilayered challenges such as systemic, cultural, structural, and sociopolitical issues in the current global context, practitioners cannot fully conceptualize individuals' presenting concerns to provide culturally responsive care for them. As Wilcox et al. (2024) argued that a structural competencies model recognized and provided a framework to address how clinical interactions are influenced by social, political, and economic conditions in the U.S. society, Counseling Psychologists in the current global context need to develop their multicultural and structural competencies to provide culturally sensitive care for individuals. The presenter, who is a U.S.-trained international Counseling Psychologist with extensive clinical and training experiences at university counseling centers, can expand this structural competency model in the U.S. to the current global context. This presentation is aimed at 1) improving our recognition of the structures that shape clinical interactions, 2) improving our clinical consciousness and cultural sensitivity, 3) improving our provision of structural intervention, and 4) improving structural humility in the global context. The presenter will share examples of two weekly prevention programs at the university counseling center in the U.S. to practice structural competencies, social justice, and advocacy to help marginalized college students. The presenter will share the process of providing supervision and training for trainees who attempt to improve their critical consciousness and structural humility to provide a culturally response care for their clients at the university counseling center, which can be applicable to other practitioners in the global context.