(Portland, Ore.)—Ten students from the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling traveled to Mumbai, India in December as part of their coursework in the Marriage, Couple and Family Therapy (MCFT) and Community Counseling programs.

Teresa McDowell, associate professor of counseling psychology and coordinator of the MCFT program, arranged the international collaboration with the Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work. Sebastian Perumbilly, doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut, co-led the experience. In addition to their time spent in classes, Lewis & Clark graduate students visited a treatment center, court, a rural fishing village, several schools, and numerous women’s NGOs.

Click to view photographs“The faculty at Nirmala Niketan arranged a rich and extensive learning experience for visiting students by integrating formal lectures with field experiences,” said McDowell. “Students were able to develop conceptual frameworks during lectures and then apply what they were learning to understanding the experience of single women living in poverty, women’s micro-economic groups, schools, and so on. All U.S. participants were very pleased with the program which consistently exceeded our expectations.”

Click the image to learn more about the trip and to view a collection of photos taken in India.