Dr. Paul Castelino
Ohio University
castelin@ohio.edu

My interest in multicultural training and diversity issues started during my graduate program with the realization that little is being done to address mental health needs of ethnic minorities. Being an Asian American myself, I began to recognize the stigma attached to mental health issues within the Asian communities and therefore lack of awareness and resources to address the mental health needs of immigrant Asian families. Stereotypes such as ‘model minority’, parental influence on children’s choices (career, partner), and an emphasis on communitarian ideas in some ways further neglected persons with mental health needs from these communities. The ignorance and the stigma attached to mental health may also lead to subtle discouragements from family members for someone considering a career in mental health field. Through my undergraduate and graduate school and training, I began to understand the role culture plays in each individual’s lives; the differences in value systems (collectivistic vs. individual), and the subtle discrepancy that exists but often overlooked among various privileged and underprivileged groups and subgroups within our societal structure. At the same time, I began to develop a deep appreciation to what diversity can bring about in our society. For me, it was a process of recognition that many factors including race, ethnicity, range of ability, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, culture, socioeconomic status and other unique strengths and challenges are salient in individuals lives and that accepting, respecting and nurturing these various differences makes our society strong.

At my current job, I not only see myself as a ‘multicultural presence’ in a university predominantly with a Caucasian population but also a strong advocate of diversity. In the past four years, I have enjoyed presenting at the International student orientations to talk about counseling, adjustment to college and other services on campus. In the past two years, I have been the first faculty advisor for an undergraduate student organization named “Students Overcoming Stigma” a mental health advocate group that, among other things, goes to classrooms to talk about mental health issues and resources available on campus. Interestingly, about half of this group is self-identified as recovering from mental illness and are committed to the mission of their organization: to destigmatize mental illness among college students. In my leadership roles as a coordinator of Counselors-in-Residence or Postdoctoral programs, in supervision and in teaching, I strive to infuse diversity by facilitating healthy discussions on diversity issues. I strongly believe that these issues need to be in the foreground and not in the background.

Dr. Nima Patel
University of Illinois-Urbana/Champagne
nimap@ad.uiuc.edu

My interests in training began at an early point in my career. During my first year of graduate school, I was the student leader of the multicultural research team at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (SIUC). I also completed a supervision course and supervised practicum students at SIUC. While on internship at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), I co-coordinated the Wellness Peer Education Program, in which I trained and supervised paraprofessionals. In addition, I developed and facilitated a number of trainings for residential advisors, Greek rush counselors, and student mentors. The following year, as a postdoctoral fellow at UCSD, I co-taught the group therapy seminar for the interns and provided live group therapy supervision. Upon completion of my post-doctoral fellowship, I was hired at UIUC as a Clinical Counselor with a special emphasis in working with Asian American students. During my time at UIUC, I have been instructing and supervising paraprofessionals working at the counseling center. Within my first year here, I earned a position as the Practicum Training Coordinator. I have enjoyed this position and have been working to revitalize our program. In addition, this is my second year facilitating the Supervision of Supervision seminar at UIUC. For the last four years, I have been a member of the training committees at UCSD and UIUC. I have also been on the internship selection committee on 3 separate occasions. I have embraced every opportunity to train and supervise that has been available to me. This scholarship provides a wonderful opportunity for me to enhance my career as a trainer and positively impact the students I work with.


My longstanding commitment to issues of diversity is one of the main reasons I decided to pursue a career in Counseling Psychology. Along the way, I have been blessed with wonderful mentors who specialize in issues related to multiculturalism. They have helped me focus my passion for multicultural issues and, as a result, I have enrolled in multicultural classes, served on multicultural research teams, presented at conferences that focused on diversity issues, taught classes on topics related to diversity and multicultural sensitivity, provided a plethora of multicultural outreaches to students on campus, and presented and published on topics that impact ethnic minorities. As cliché as this may sound, multiculturalism is a way of life for me. This is evidenced in everything I do in my clinical work, in training my practicum students, in my involvement in a number of organizations, in my publications and presentations, and in my community involvement. I have a passion for it and I am fortunate to be able to put my passion into practice every day at UIUC. I look forward to future opportunities that allow me to continue to grow in this area.

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