Implications of the International Counseling Experiences of Pioneering U.S. Professionals: Considered from an Ecological Perspective

The overall goal of the paper is to illuminate some of the substantial challenges, joys, issues and lessons involved with international counseling and to lend impetus to advancing its progress by embracing globally-relevant cultural principles. Five U. S. counseling professionals with extensive international experience recount aspects of their scholarship, teaching, research and service in that domain. The meaning of such experiences was analyzed from an ecological perspective. The analysis was then critiqued for its primary assertions and implications for the internationalization of counseling by two independent professional counseling commentators, both of whom have logged considerable life and work experience around the world.