CHARTING A COURSE FOR RESEARCH IN MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING TRAINING

This article presents an integrative reaction to the lead contribution s by Kiselica, Lark and Paul, and Rooney, Flores, and Mercier. Followi ng the narrative path set by these contributors, the author begins wit h some personal reflections regarding his own multicultural developmen t. A theme analysis office lead contributions, along with the author's own experiences, leads to the delineation of 31 characteristics of ef fective multicultural training organized in three sections: characteri stics of effective trainers and mentors, characteristics of promising trainees, and characteristics of facilitative training environments. T he second half of this article presents both a general and specific re search agenda for multicultural counseling training in the coming deca de. Building from the identified themes, research recommendations are presented in five areas: racial identity development, multicultural co mpetency assessment, mentoring, model programs, and the role of progra m diversity in training effectiveness. The article closes with a gener al discussion of the current and evolving status of multicultural coun seling research. Embedded in the proposed research agenda is a strong call for qualitative research methods.