In the continuation of this series of presentations first recorded during the 2022 Mental Health Connections conference, this year’s recorded interview will follow up with counselors from around the world who participated in this session in 2022, 2023, and 2024. They represent diverse parts of the world and diverse academic and career trajectories, including those who studied counseling in their home countries and those who studied abroad, those who now live and practice in their home countries, and those who live and practice away from home.

As part of a recorded panel, these international counselors will discuss their home countries, mental health challenges and resilience in coping with these realities, and how this has helped shape their choices to become counselors. They will also discuss local mental health challenges and strengths in countries where they have worked if different from their home countries, and coping mechanisms that help people in these communities and countries meet those challenges. Lastly, presenters will discuss their journeys and decisions regarding their training and practice and how their diverse experiences contribute to the knowledge and awareness they call upon when training students, working with clients, and contributing to the counseling research base.

In a world marked by displacement, conflict, and cultural transitions, Counselors are increasingly supporting individuals and communities navigating trauma, loss, and the search for belonging. This presentation explores migration through the lens of cultural values, communication, and trauma-informed frameworks, centering the universal human need for “home.”

Drawing on cross-cultural theories, including Schwartz’s value framework and psycholinguistic research, participants will examine how cultural meanings shape emotional expression, identity, and relational expectations. Building on cultural scripts theory, the presentation will explore how culturally shared meanings guide communication, emotional expression, and relational expectations in the counseling process.

The presentation will explore Bucharova’s “snail model” of trauma, which conceptualizes healing as a nonlinear, spiraling journey rather than a fixed progression. This model offers a powerful framework for understanding the journey from revenge to reconciliation, and the complex interplay of justice and forgiveness in post-trauma recovery.

We will examine how trauma shapes both individual and collective identities, particularly in migrant populations, where experiences of victimhood, displacement, and resilience coexist. The concept of “longing” will be introduced as a bridge between loss and transformation, reflecting the ongoing process of rebuilding “home” in unfamiliar contexts— what can be understood as “homes in limbo.”

The presenter will share her experience of transgenerational and communal trauma as an Eastern European and the type of work she engaged in with Eastern European clients, refugees, and other underserved populations.

Despite unprecedented access to mental health information and global interconnectedness, rates of loneliness and social isolation continue to rise, contributing to poor mental health outcomes worldwide as reported by the World Health Organization. African societies, long rooted in collectivism and communal resilience, are not exempt. Researchers point to multiple factors: misaligned measures of well-being; unmet basic needs; the erosion of traditional practices of storytelling, spirituality, and intergenerational wisdom; and ongoing social and political instability.

As protective cultural structures shift, a widening generational gap, rising youth mental health concerns, suicidality, substance use, and a deepening loss of meaning underscore the urgent need for new approaches.

What would it take to restore healing as a collective endeavor?

This panel brings together diverse voices to explore the challenges and emerging breakthroughs in mental health and best practices to support the communal frameworks that sustain resilience, connection, and hope.