Rita Chung

Ph.D., Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Professor

Contact Information

Send email to rchung@gmu.edu

Phone: (703) 993-3899
Fax: (703) 993-2013

George Mason University, Fairfax Campus
Robinson Hall A 335
4400 University Dr.
MS 4B3
Fairfax, VA 22030

Profile

Dr. Rita Ch-Ying Chung is a Professor at the Counseling & Development Program. Prior to coming to George Mason University, Dr. Chung was an Assistant Professor at Ohio State University, a Project Director for the National Research Center on Asian American Mental Health at UCLA, a consultant for the World Bank, and was an adjunct faculty for Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University. Before coming to the United States Dr. Chung lived in the Brazil, England, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Dr. Chung has published extensively in the fields of cross-cultural and multicultural psychology and counseling. She recently co-authored a book with Drs. Fred Bemak and Paul Pedersen entitled Counseling Refugees: A Psychosocial Approach to Innovative Multicultural Interventions and authored over 60 journal articles and book chapters on immigrant and refugee mental health and psychosocial adjustment and cross-cultural issues in psychology and counseling. She is currently writing a book with Dr. Fred Bemak entitled Social Justice and Multiculturalism: Application, Theory and Practice in Counseling and Psychotherapy. The book is one of the first written in the psychology and counseling fields and challenges training and practice with an emphasis on redefining the psychologist and counselor's role to include issues of social justice and human rights. This book coincides with a course that Dr. Chung developed and is currently teaching on Counseling and Social Justice.

Dr. Chung received two American Counseling Association Presidential appointments as Chair of ACA International Committee and Committee Member of ACA Human Rights Committee. In 2004 Dr. Chung was also awarded the Counselors for Social Justice (A division of the American Counseling Association) O'hana Honors Award for her work on social justice.

Dr. Chung has been invited by the American Psychological Association to do a training video on counseling immigrants and is working and consulting for Save the Children, U.K. on trafficking children in Mynamar.

 

Research Interests

  • Immigrants and Refugees Psychosocial Adjustment and Mental Health
  • Human Trafficking
  • Interethnic Group Race Relations
  • Immigrant and Refugees Women and Women of Colour
  • Cross-Cultural Issues in Psychology and Counseling
  • International Psychology

Recent Publications

Books

  • Chung, R. C-Y., & Bemak, F. (in contact). Social Justice and multiculturalism: Application, theory and practice in counseling and psychotherapy. Merrill Prentice Hall.
  • Bemak, F., Chung, R. C-Y., & Pedersen, P. (2003). Counseling refugees: A psychosocial cultural approach to innovative multicultural interventions. Greenwood Press.

Selected Publications in Refereed Journals

  • Chung, R., C-Y, Bemak, F., & Talleyrand, R. (2007). Mentoring within the field of counseling: A preliminary study of multicultural perspectives. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 29, 21-32..
  • Hinton, D. E., Sinclair, J., Chung, R. C-Y., & Pollack, M. H. (2007). The SF-36 among Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees: An examination of psychometric properties. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 29(1), 38-45.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2005). Women, humans rights and counseling: Crossing international boundaries. Journal of Counseling and Development (Special Issue on women and counseling), 83, 262-268.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y., & Siroskey-Sabdo (2005). Empowerment groups for academic success (EGAS): An innovative approach to prevent high school failure for at-risk urban African American girls. Professional School Counseling. 377-389.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2005). Advocacy as a critical role for school counselors: Working towards equity and social justice. Professional School Counseling, 196-202.
  • Bemak, F. & Chung, R. C-Y. (2004). Teaching multicultural group counseling: Perspectives for a new era. Journal for the Specialist in Group Work (Special Issue), 31-42.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. & Bemak, F. (2002). The relationship between culture and empathy in cross- cultural counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 80, 154-159.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. & Bemak. F. (2002). Revisiting the California Southeast Asian mental health needs assessment data: An examination of refugee ethnic and gender differences. Journal of Counseling and Development, 80(1), 111-119.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2001). Psychosocial adjustment of Cambodian refugee women: Implications for mental health counseling. Journal of Mental Health Counseling,23(2), 115-126.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., Bemak, F., & Wong, S. (2000). Vietnamese students' level of distress, social support and acculturation: Implications for mental health counseling. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 22(2), 150-161.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (1999). Vietnamese Amerasians: The relationship between American fathers and psychological distress and self destructive behavior. Journal of Community Psychology, 27(4), 443-456.
  • Hanna, F. J., Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (1999). Wisdom, culture and context: Toward a new paradigm for multicultural counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 77, 125-134.

Selected Invited Book Chapters

  • Chung, R. C-Y. (in press). Human rights and social justice issues in counseling refugees. In M.G. Constantine (Ed.). Social justice and empowerment initiatives in psychology and education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
  • Bemak, F. & Chung, R. C-Y. (2008). Counseling disaster survivors: Implications for cross-cultural mental health. In P.B. Pedersen, J.G. Draguns, W.J. Lonner & J.E. Trimble (Eds.), Counseling across cultures (6th ed., pp. 325-340). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2008). Counseling refugees and migrants. In P.B.
    Pedersen, J.G. Draguns, W.J. Lonner & J.E. Trimble (Eds.), Counseling across cultures
    (6th ed, pp. 307-324.).     Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
  • Chung, R. C-Y., & Bemak, F. (2007). Immigrant and refugee populations. In M.G. Constantine (Ed.). Clinical practice with people of color: A guide to becoming culturally competent (pp.125-142). New York, NY: Teachers College, Columbia University.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2007). Training social justice counselors. In C. Lee (Ed.). Counseling for social justice (pp.239-258). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., & Bemak, F. (2007). Asian Immigrants and refugees. In Leong, F., Inman, A.G., Ebreo, A. Yang, L., Kinoshita, L. M., & Fu. M. (Eds.). Handbook of Asian American psychology (pp. 227-244, 2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2006). Southeast Asian Americans. In Y. Jackson (Eds.). Encyclopedia of multicultural psychology (pp.437-443). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Talleyrand, R., Chung, R. C-Y., & Bemak, F. (2006). Infusing social justice in graduating training programs: A case study example. In R. Toporek, L. Gerstein, N. Fouad, G. Roysircar & N. Israel (Eds.). Handbook for social justice in counseling psychology: Leadership, vision, and action (pp. 44-58). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., & Bemak, F. (2006). Counseling Americans of Southeast Asian descent: The impact of the refugee experience. In C. C. Lee (Ed.) Multicultural issues in counseling: New approaches to diversity (pp. 151-170, 3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Association for Counseling and Development.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2004). Culturally oriented psychotherapy with refugees In U. Gielen, J. Draguns, & J. Fish (Eds.), Culture, therapy, and healing. (pp.121-132). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2004). Group counseling with Asians. In J.L. DeLucia-Waack, D. Gerrity, C. Kalodner & M. Riva (Eds.). Handbook for group counseling and psychotherapy (pp.200-212). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2004). Responses to multicultural group work vignettes: Asian American group To disclose or not to disclose? In J.L. DeLucia-Waack & J. Donigian (Eds.). The practice of multicultural group work. (pp. 167-170). Thomson Brooks/Cole.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2004). Responses to multicultural group work vignettes: A women's eating disorder group. To blame or not to blame? In J.L. DeLucia-Waack & J. Donigian (Eds.). The practice of multicultural group work (pp. 271-274). Thomson Brooks/Cole.
  • Bemak, F., Chung, R. C-Y., & Murphy, C.S. (2003) A new perspective in counseling at-risk youth. In B. T. Erford (Ed.), Professional School Counseling (pp. 285-296). New York: Merrill Prentice Hall.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2003). Multicultural counseling with immigrant students in schools. In P.B. Pedersen & J. Carey (Eds.), Multicultural counseling in schools (2nd ed, pp. 84-101). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
  • Bemak, F. & Chung, R. C-Y. (2002). Refugees and terrorism: Cultural considerations in clinical interventions. In C. Stout (Ed.). The psychology of terrorism (Vol. 2, pp. 1-26): Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group.
  • Kagawa-Singer, M., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2002). Towards a new paradigm: A cultural systems approach. In K. Kurasaki, S. Okazaki & S. Sue (Eds.), Asian American mental health: Assessment theories and methods (pp. 47-66). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2002). Counseling and psychotherapy with refugees. In P.B. Pedersen, J.G. Draguns, W.J. Lonner & J.E. Trimble (Eds.), Counseling across cultures (5th ed., pp. 209-232). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2002). Combatting racism: Speaking up and speaking out. In J. Kottler (Ed.). Finding your way as a counselor (pp. 105-108, 2nd Edition). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., Bemak, F., & Kilinc, A. (2002). Culture and empathy: Case studies in cross- cultural counseling. In P. Breggin, L. Wolowitz & F. Bemak (Eds.), Empathic turning points in therapy (pp. 119-1128). New York, NY: Springer Publishers.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2000). Psychological interventions with immigrants and refugees. In J.A. Aponte and J. Wohl (Eds.), Psychological interventions and cultural diversity (2nd ed. pp. 200-213). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
  • Hanna, F., Bemak, F., & Chung R. C-Y. (2000). Wisdom as a new paradigm for multicultural counseling. In B. Heimannsberg & C. Schmidt-Lellek (Eds.), Mediation und interkulturelle organisationsberatung (Mediation and intercultural organization development) (pp. 43-66). Koln, Germany: Edition Humanistische Psychologie.

Selected Peer Reviewed International Conference Presentations

  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2006, July). Violence and Children in Asia Pacific. Asia-Pacific Childhoods: An ethnography of childhood workshop conference. National University of Singapore, Singapore.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., (2005, April). Human trafficking a global phenomenon: The counsellors role. International Association of Counselling, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2005, January). Psychosocial issues in trafficking girls/women. 9th Biannual International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
  • Bemak, F. & Chung, R. C-Y. (2005, January). Redefining traditional university training towards human rights. 9th Biannual International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2004, April). Cross-cultural coping strategies in dealing with racism. International Association for Counselling. Jamaica.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2003, August). Critical incidents in multicultural groups: Experts share their reactions and intervention. Asian perspective. The American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Toronto, Canada.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2003, April). Psychosocial challenges for refugees during postmigration. International Association for Counselling and European Association for Counseling Conference, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Chung, R. C-Y & Bemak, F. (presentation) (2003, March). Postmigraton adjustment and human rights: A culturally responsive model for psychosocial adjustment. University of East London, Refugee Studies Seminar, London, Britain.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2003, January). Unique challenges facing refugee women: A model towards postmigration adjustment and social justice. 8th Biannual International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2003, January). Refugee women's voices on human rights. 8th Biannual International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. & Bemak, F. (2003 January). Social justice issues in forced migration: Training at the graduate level. 8th Biannual International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Selected Invited National/State Conference Presentations, Workshops and Lectureships

  • Chung, R. C-Y. (workshop) (2006, April). Cross-cultural work towards social justice. Helen DeVitt Jones Lecturer, College of Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (lecture) (2006, April). Barriers towards dealing with racism. Helen DeVitt Jones Lecturer, College of Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (lecture) (2006, April). Cross-cultural competencies in working with immigrants and refugees. Helen DeVitt Jones Lecturer, College of Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (presentation) (2006, April). Counseling clients from Southeast Asia. Northern Virginia Licensed Professional Counselor Conference.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (keynote presentation) (2006, March). Multiculturalism and social justice: School counselors moving forward. Pennsylvania School Counseling Association Annual Conference, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (workshop) (2006, March). Challenges in being a multiculturally competent school counselor. Pennsylvania School Counseling Association Annual Conference, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (presentation) (2006, February). Psychosocial challenges of immigrants and refugee women and families: Implications for practice and research. American Psychological Association Expert Summit on Immigrants, San Antonio, Texas.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., & Bemak, F. (workshop) (2006, February). Moving towards the application of social justice empowerment through training, practice, and research. Teachers' College Columbia University, The 23rd Annual Winter Roundtable Conference, New York.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (presentation) (2005, November). Multiculturalism: Where do we stand in 2005? Northern Virginia Community College. Masassa, VA.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (presentation) (2004, April). Challenging classism: Intersect of race, ethnicity, gender and class. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Kansas City, Missouri.

Selected Peer Reviewed National and State Conference Presentations

  • Chung, R. C-Y., Bemak, F., & Talleyrand, R. (2006, April). Mentoring Across Cultures: Implications for Practitioners, Faculty, and Students. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada.
  • Bemak, F., Chung, R. C-Y., Gladding, S., Kottler, J., & Lee, C. (2006, April). Senior Faculty Reflect on Best and Most Creative Teaching Moments: A Symposium for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada.
  • Bemak, F., Arredondo, P., Chung, R. C-Y., House, R., Portman, T., & Ellis, C. (2005, October).Symposium on social justice and ACES: Where we stand in 2005. Association of Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • Lee, C., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2005, October). A promotion and tenure primer for counselor education junior faculty of color. Association of Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • Bemak, F., Chung, R. C-Y., Talleyrand, R., Murphy, S., & Kaffenberger, C. (2005, October). Graduate training for future counselors in multiculturalism and social justice. Association of Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., Carlson, J., Glasser, W., & Kottler, J. (2005, April). Creative counseling: A gathering of expert therapists describing their most noteworthy creative counseling interventions. American Counseling Association, Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., Bemak, F., Carra, M., Chhim, V., Coogan, S., & Turner, M. (2005, April). New steps in graduate training: Faculty and student perspectives in the implementation of a social justice emphasis. American Counseling Association, Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2005, February). Cross cultural psychological effects of trafficking girls Society for Cross-Cultural Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2004, August). Breaking down myths and realities with Asian immigrants and refugees. American Psychological Association Annual Conference, Honolulu.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., Bemak, F., Talleyrand, R., Coogan, S. & Chhim, V. (2004, April). Graduate Training for Future Counselors in Multiculturalism and Social Justice: Faculty and Student Perspectives. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Chung, R. (2004, April). Psychosocial adjustment issues of refugee and immigrant women. Eastern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
  • Bemak, F., Chung, R. C-Y., & Talleyrand, R. (2004, February). Infusing social justice in graduate level training. The 21st Annual Teachers Winter Roundtable onCultural Psychology and Education, New York.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2003, March). International issues in counseling: Challenges and collaboration for global counseling. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, California.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2003, March). Cultural challenges in working with groups internationally: An Asian perspective. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, California.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., Bemak, F., & Talleyrand, R. (2003, March). Redefining graduate training: Social justice, multiculturalism and advocacy. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, California.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., & Bemak, F. (2003, March). An innovative model for counseling refugees. American Counseling Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, California.