Rita Chi-Ying Chung

PhD, 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 a Project Director for the National Research Center on Asian American Mental Health at UCLA, a consultant for the World Bank, an Assistant Professor at Ohio State University, as well as adjunct faculty for Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University. Before coming to the United States Dr. Chung lived and worked 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 co-authored a book with Drs. Fred Bemak and Paul Pedersen entitled Counseling Refugees: A Psychosocial Approach to Innovative Multicultural Interventions and has authored over 70 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.Given her research on immigrants and refugees Dr. Chung was invited by the American Psychological Association to do a training video on counseling immigrants.

Dr. Chung has been involved in two Counselors Without Borders projects (http://counselorswithoutborders.org/. ) that brought mental health post-disaster teams on-site after Hurricane Katrina and the San Diego Wildfires.

Dr. Chung is a consultant for Save the Children, U.K. conducting training for Save the Children staff, as well as, examining issues of child protection and child trafficking in Mynamar (Burma). She was working in Burma during the 2008 Cyclone Nargis and provided post-disaster training for national staff. Given her work on child trafficking Dr. Chung was invited to present at the United Nations in New York on cultural perspectives on children trafficking, human rights and social justice. 

 

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. (2009). Cultural perspectives on child trafficking, human rights and social justice: A model for psychologists. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Special Issue: Models of Mental Health and Human Rights in Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights for All, 22(1), 85-96.
  • Chung, R. C-Y., Bemak, F., Ortiz, D. P., Sandoval-Perez, P.A. (2008). Promoting the mental health of migrants: A multicultural-social justice perspective. Journal of Counseling and Development, Multicultural and Diversity Issues in Counseling, Special Issues, 38, 310-317.
  • Bemak, F., & Chung R. C-Y. (2008). New professional roles and advocacy strategies for school counselors: A multicultural social justice perspective to move beyond the nice counselor syndrome. Journal of Counseling and Development,Multicultural and Diversity Issues in Counseling, Special Issues, 38, 372-381.
  • Chung, R. C-Y. (2006). Human trafficking for sexual exploitation: The psychological and cultural impact. Global Studies Review, 2(3), 10-11 (Invited paper). George Mason Center for Global Studies.
  •   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.

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