COUNSELORS WITHOUT BORDERS (https://counselorswithoutborders.world)
Our Mission and Vision
Counselors Without Borders (CWB - https://counselorswithoutborders.world) formerly known as counselorswithoutborders.org is committed to providing culturally responsive humanitarian counseling in post-disaster emergency situations. CWB believes that counseling in urgent situations must be culturally sensitive and provide high quality and relevant counseling. The primary aim of CWB is to either develop or work collaboratively with existing mental health, social service, public health, and educational infrastructures and provide services for those in need of mental health and psychosocial support who are in emergency situations and not receiving counseling support.
Counselors Without Borders has an extensive national and international resource pool of professionals from around the world who have expressed a strong interest in participating in CWB post-disaster counseling activities. These professionals range from senior level counselors and psychologists to advanced level graduate students. Many are highly trained and experienced mental health professionals who have expressed a willingness and interest to join CWB teams to travel throughout the world to work in emergency situations. In order to maintain high quality counseling services in high stress situations, prior to travelling to an emergency situation CWB provides intensive training and orientation to all CWB teams, and once on-site holds daily supervision sessions for team members. CWB emphasizes community-based family, group, and individual support in conjunction with regional and local healing traditions.
Counselors Without Borders is a neutral organization and does not take sides in political events or civil conflicts. The sole purpose of CWB is to provide culturally responsive counseling and psychosocial support independent of political parties or activities. CWB does not solicit donations.
About Counselors Without Borders (CWB)
Our History (formerly known as counselorswithoutborders.org)
Currently our world is facing numerous disasters that create movement and displacement of large communities of people. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and typhoons generate loss of life and property. As a part of any disaster there are also associated mental health problems.
Typically the psychosocial needs have been addressed by both public and private organizations that are designed to provide counseling support. Given the extent and frequency of more recent disasters, the established mental health service providers have not been able to effectively meet the need. Furthermore, many of the disasters have affected low income communities that were inhabited by people of color, requiring cross-cultural sensitivity and awareness in providing psychosocial support.
Given the needs were not being met and the necessity for skilled cross-cultural counseling interventions, Counselors Without Borders (CWB) was established as a non-profit organization. The first team from CWB went to the Gulf Coast in the USA to provide intensive counseling following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The team was comprised of 16 people who received intensive training on disaster counseling and then went to the Gulf Coast in Mississippi. Once in Mississippi the team established relationships with Mississippi Department of Mental Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and was housed by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. CWB worked in 6 Relief Centers and communities along with Gulf Coast, and provided counseling for over 800 people. Counseling support emphasized low income communities comprised of African American, Vietnamese, and European American citizens. The team worked during the days in the field and every night received intensive 2-3 hour supervision regarding their counseling that day.
Similar to the work after Hurricane Katrina, the San Diego wildfires in 2008 destroyed large portions of San Diego County. After hearing that the migrant Latino/Latina communities and Native American Indian reservations were experiencing high levels of stress and not receiving adequate counseling support or culturally sensitive counseling support, Counselors Without Borders decided to bring a team to provide culturally responsive counseling services. In collaboration with colleagues from San Diego developed a team of 22 culturally diverse individuals. The team worked with migrant communities and with permission of the Tribal Council, on reservations. The work involved establishing points of contact on-site in specific settings where community members could come for counseling and support, as well as outreach where team members walked the communities, knocking on doors, and providing psychosocial support for community members. The teams also provided support in schools, in Head Start programs, in community agencies, and for staff and administrators from schools and community agencies.
We continue to provide services where needed. The founder of Counselors Without Borders, Dr. Fred Bemak, along with Dr. Rita Chi-Ying Chung, provided intensive national counseling training for Save the Children Alliance staff working in Myanmar (Burma) after Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Dr. Fred Bemak also co-hosted and sponsored a global conference on unaccompanied and separated children with funding from the UNHCR, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Dr. Rita Chi-Ying Chung spoke at the United Nations for Psychology Day in November 2008 on human trafficking and the abuse of power. Counselors Without Borders is currently exploring projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the United States.
Our Staff
Dr. Fred Bemak, Executive Director and Co-Founder
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga, Coordinator of Clinical Services Texas/Mexico Projects
Dr. Fred Bemak, Executive Director and Co-Founder
Dr. Fred Bemak is a Professor Emeritus at George Mason University in the U.S. and Executive Director and co-founder of Counselors Without Borders (CWB). Fred’s research and work focuses on international and cross-cultural psychology; post-disaster mental health, social justice, and human rights; cultural adaptation, and refugee and immigrant psychosocial adjustment. He co-developed the Disaster Cross-Cultural Counseling Model for doing culturally responsive work in post-disaster areas and has done culturally responsive post-disaster work globally, organizing and co-leading teams to work in the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina; Southern California following the destruction of the San Diego wildfires; Costa Rica following a major earthquake; Haiti (funded by USAID and Partners of the Americas following a major earthquake; Thailand following the tsunami; and Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis. He was a consultant in Myanmar for 2 years for the Save the Children Alliance on child protection, human trafficking, post-disaster counseling, and vulnerable children and orphans. Fred has worked in over 55 countries and held Visiting Faculty appointments at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil; University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia; Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey; Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Mexico; and as a Visiting Research Scholar at the National Taiwan University and Ministry of Education in Taiwan. He has also received four Fulbright awards – one as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer/Researcher (Brazil) and three as a Senior Fulbright Specialist (Scotland, Turkey, and one upcoming in Malta) as well as the Kellogg Foundation Fellowship in International Development and Leadership (2.5-year fellowship to work throughout Latin America and the Caribbean). Fred is an American Psychological Association Fellow (Divisions 52 and 17), an American Counseling Association Fellow, and a Specialists in Group Work Association Fellow. He has authored over 100 publications and is a regularly invited speaker both nationally and internationally. Fred has received numerous awards for his work including the Commonwealth of Virginia 2018 State Council for Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV) Outstanding Faculty Award and an Honorary Distinguished Professorship from Amity University, India.
Dr. Rita Chi-Ying Chung, Director and Co-Founder
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga, Coordinator of Clinical Services Texas/Mexico Projects
Dr. Fred Bemak, Executive Director and Co-Founder
Dr. Rita Chi-Ying Chung is a Professor Emerita at George Mason University (GMU), U.S. She has worked with Counselors Without Borders (CWB), organizing and co-leading teams of counselors to the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, to Southern California following the destruction of the wildfires, to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and to Peru to work with the indigenous populations. Rita was also part of the CWB team that was funded by USAID and Partners of the Americas to work in Haiti after the earthquake. She has worked for more than 2 years in Myanmar as a consultant and trainer for Save the Children Alliance on child protection, human trafficking, post-disaster counseling, and vulnerable children and orphans. In Myanmar, she provided national training on post-disaster mental health interventions following Cyclone Nargis. Rita has lived and worked in the Pacific Rim, Asia, and Latin American, and was the former President of Counselors for Social Justice, former Chair of the American Counseling Association (ACA) Human Rights Committee, former Chair of the ACA International Committee, and former Executive Council Member for the International Association for Counselling. Rita’s research and fieldwork have focused on cross-cultural mental health, social justice and human rights, psychosocial adjustment, racial justice, and post-disaster counseling. She has over 100 publications that include 3 coauthored books, one on the psychosocial adjustment of refugees and the other on social justice counseling, and co-developed and written about the Disaster Cross-Cultural Counseling Model. Rita is a regularly invited speaker nationally and internationally, and was invited to speak at the United Nations about her work on the cultural aspects of trafficking Asian girls into the commercial sex industry. She also made numerous training videos on culturally responsive mental health practices with immigrant and refugee populations, disaster counseling, and training social justice counselors and psychologists. Rita has been the recipient of multiple awards, such as the American Counseling Association (ACA) Human Rights Award, ACA Humanitarian Award. ACA Fellow, American Psychological Association Fellow (Divisions 45 and 52), the Commonwealth of Virginia (SCHEV) Outstanding Faculty Award, the Commonwealth of Virginia General Assembly Commendation Award for her work on social justice and human rights, the GMU Spirit of the King (Martin Luther King) Faculty Award, and the recipient of the GMU Presidential Medal for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion.
Dr. Ricardo Sanchez, Director and Coordinator of Clinical Services
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga, Coordinator of Clinical Services Texas/Mexico Projects
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga, Coordinator of Clinical Services Texas/Mexico Projects
Dr. Ricardo Sanchez is an Adjunct Professor in the Counseling & Development Program at George Mason University and provides mental health counseling services at Fairfax County Family Services in Fairfax, Virginia; working with clients involved in domestic and sexual violence. He has worked with Counselors Without Borders organizing and co-leading teams of counselors to Pine Ridge, Indian Reservation in South Dakota; supporting indigenous communities in Cuzco, Peru; and Puerto Rico following the destruction of Hurricane Maria. Ricardo has presented at national and international conferences and universities as presenter and invited lecturer including Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP); Universidad Nacional de San Agustín (UNSA); Universidad Católica San Pablo (UCSP). In 2005, Ricardo founded Inka Wisdom, an organization dedicated to facilitating cross-cultural self-care group expeditions to Cuzco, Peru; incorporating hands-on Inkan healing approaches for professionals in the helping professions.
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga, Coordinator of Clinical Services Texas/Mexico Projects
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga, Coordinator of Clinical Services Texas/Mexico Projects
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga, Coordinator of Clinical Services Texas/Mexico Projects
Dr. Selma de Leon-Yznaga is a professor in the Department of Counseling at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, one of the nation’s largest Hispanic Serving Institutions. Dr. Yznaga has held numerous leadership positions in the Texas Counseling Association (TCA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA). In 2007, Dr. Yznaga founded Texas Counselors for Social Justice, a division of TCA dedicated to addressing the oppression and marginalization of ethnic and social minorities. Most recently her clinical work, advocacy, and scholarship are directed at the treatment of immigration-related trauma at the South Texas/Mexican border.