Refugee Children Acculturation: Group Process in Schools as Cultural Microcosms.

In the US, school attendance is mandated for refugee children. These children endure sudden immersion and must acculturate into this novel culture, whose customs often vastly diverge from their native culture's values. Refugee children often struggle with acculturation-related mental health issues, such as internalizing significantly clashing native and host cultural values. Without navigational assistance, refugee children may get lost in the new culture. Possibly the best-suited helpers for them are school counselors, who are uniquely positioned to facilitate acculturation with group work experiences. This paper provides examples of group interventions and explores implications with a theoretically grounded acculturation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]