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With growing attention to the internationalization of counseling psychology in the past decade, discussion on effective training of international students is much-needed. In order to provide effective mentorship to international students, the mentor needs to be aware of specific challenges faced by international students and cultural differences that may affect their mentoring relationship. With this in mind, this article discusses ways to provide culturally sensitive mentoring particularly to Asian international students in counseling psychology programs. A brief overview of Asian values is provided as a contextual backdrop to the article, followed by a discussion of culturally sensitive mentoring to Asian international mentees. In particular, the article addresses the mentor’s awareness and knowledge of unique issues faced by Asian international students, the structure and format of mentoring, communication between the mentor and the mentee, and professional development and career-related issues.

Despite the inclusion of social justice and international issues in counseling psychology, there are no conceptual models or research to date that focus on social justice identity development and training issues for international counseling psychology students. The unique cross-cultural experiences and systemic injustices facing many international counseling psychology students may inform their social justice identity development in a distinctive manner. Thus, by incorporating biculturalism and transformative learning theories, this article proposes a theoretical model to illustrate the psychological processes and outcomes of social justice identity development for international counseling psychology students with the following four phases: (a) cultural and social awareness of privilege and oppression, (b) critical analysis of systemic oppression across cultures, (c) synergistic development of social justice competence and bicultural competence, and (d) integration of social justice identity and competence across cultures. We provide recommendations for future practice, advocacy, education, training, and research.

Research suggests that self-control or self-regulation may play a role in the connections among spirituality, health, well-being, and social behavior. Within the framework of social-cognitive developmental theory, we explore the question of how do children and adolescents learn to think of themselves as gendered and spiritual beings within the context of social and self-relationships, and learn to have control over their mental and social worlds? Specifically, we discuss how educational and developmental research has furthered discourse about theory, methodology, and practice in spirituality, self-regulation and sociocognitive development. We argue that preadolescents' understanding of themselves as gendered, spiritual beings is part of a complex, developmental process that is dynamic and co-constructed within a community of body, mind, and spirit. We conclude the discussion with future research questions to guide developmental and educational research with precise, conceptually sound definitions, respectful and accurate research methods, and meaningful dissemination.

Objectives: In light of the detrimental impact of burnout upon clinicians and their patients, the identification of means through which the well-being of health care professionals can be fostered and protected is timely and important.  The present study explored outcomes associated with participation in Mindfulness-Based Medical Practice (MBMP), a program modeled after Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction which included additional mindful communication exercises to foster the integration of mindfulness in various clinical settings.Methods: Physicians, nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, and social workers enrolled in the 8-week MBMP program.  Participants (N = 110) between the age of 24 and 82 years (M = 46.5, SD = 11.4: 73% women) completed self-report measures prior to and following the program; the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale-10 and the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being. Two process measures designed to capture mechanisms of change were administered: the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and the Neff Self-Compassion Scale.Results: Results from paired-sample t-tests indicated that health care professionals enrolled in MBMP can benefit from the program. Analyses demonstrated significant decreases upon measures of perceived stress [p= .000], emotional exhaustion [p= .000], depersonalization [p= .000], and an increase in personal accomplishment [p= .000] as well as mindfulness [p=.000], self-compassion [p= .000], and well-being [p= .000].  Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that change scores on perceived stress (Beta = -1.46, p LT 0.000) and self-compassion (Beta = 9.02, p LT 0.006) predicted changes in well-being in this sample. Additionally, participants rate perceived importance of having taken part in the course using a Likert-scale from 1-10 (M=8.5, SD = 1.51).Conclusions: This study suggests that for health care professionals enrolled in MBMP may experience a variety of benefits associated with participation in the program. Further, increases in self-compassion may hold particular implications for well-being in this population.