Counseling the Fastest Growing Population in America: Those with Multiple Heritage Backgrounds

Abstract

The multiple heritage (i.e., multiracial, biracial) population has been identified by the US Census Bureau as the fastest growing population in the US. With this growth, there is also the diversity of those in multiple heritage families and with multiple heritage backgrounds. In this article, the authors describe the challenges faced by this population, the individual identity development process, and ways of helping individuals at different developmental levels along with their families. There is also an introduction to the new Competencies for Counseling the Multiracial Population (Kenney et al., 2015).