Introduction to the Special Issue “Embracing Diversity & Flourishing: The Intersection of Multiculturalism & Positive Psychology in Counseling Psychology”

Abstract

This serves as an introduction to the special issue Embracing Diversity & Flourishing: The Intersection of Multiculturalism and Positive Psychology in Counseling Psychology. Five articles are included in the special issue, with each including unique attention to how these subfields of counseling psychology, and other fields, are meaningfully integrated to better understand human experiences. The articles include theoretical work, quantitative studies, and autoethnographic research. Apparent in the articles is attention to oppression and discrimination while also identifying paths to flourishing, well-being, allyship, and growth in the face of these innately negative experiences. These manuscripts, taken together, serve as exemplars of how integrating positive psychology and multiculturalism, values embedded in the very fabric of counseling psychology, can deepen our understanding of diverse lived experiences, the distress people may experience across aspects of culture and identity, and the paths toward affirmation, well-being, flourishing, growth, and strength.