Before landing a job as a counseling education professor at Sacramento State, Louis Downs dropped out of college four times and spent a couple of decades working in clinical jobs.

“I came from a family that didn’t believe in education. They literally thought it was a sin to go to college, so I was pretty much rejected by my family when I went to college, and being first generation it’s hard to get through, so I dropped out several times and was never really satisfied until I finally pulled it together – until I got my bachelor’s degree,” said Downs, who received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Eastern Oregon University and master’s degrees in psychology and creative writing from Southern Oregon University.

But since Downs has found his calling, he has taken his love of counseling outside of campus and across the Pacific.

From mid-July to mid-October, Downs spent his time in four countries in Southeast Asia teaching counseling through workshops and live sessions. He divided his time between Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam, where he worked with the counselors, psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and teachers of those countries.

Downs has been making trips like these for about six years. It began after he attended a conference in Thailand, where he presented a skills-based workshop. After the conference, a representative from a college in Malaysia approached him about helping them with counseling their students.

The Ministry of Education in Thailand then invited him to help a couple of colleges in reworking their curriculum, developing counseling and guidance systems.

Now, whenever Downs gives a presentation or holds workshops in Asia, someone sees him and asks him if he would like to help out.

“What I discovered about counseling in Asia is you don’t pick it; it picks you, literally. Everything has just been done by good, solid, hard work and by being there and having somebody like what I do,” Downs said.

Susan Wycoff, a professor in Sac State’s department of counselor education, said Downs’ work in Southeast Asia is consistent with the department’s goal of reaching out to communities with marginalized populations.

“Moreover, the quality counseling services he taught to other helping professionals and provided to clients in Southeast Asia is consistent with the ethical standards of practice mandated by our professional organization, the American Counseling Association,” Wycoff said.

Downs is planning to go to war-torn Kyrgyzstan next year to help build home delivery systems and teach people the skills to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Professor Marius Koga of the UC Davis Medical Center will join Downs on the trip.

“We’re looking to build a system of care in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan that is affected by this ethnic conflict,” Koga said. “So far they have only special aid psychiatrists being worked and the work is growing sufficiently by many people, so that’s why a wider model that involves local communities as first responders would make more sense, and Dr. Downs has that expertise.”

Downs said he is certain this will not be his last trip.

“It’s getting busier and busier. As time goes on, I’m getting more well-known in Asia,” he said.

He said he is getting more invitations than he can fulfill, but said he will probably do this full-time once he is retired.

In the meantime, Downs will spend his time teaching at Sac State while completing his book based on his disaster relief training manual. A university counseling staff in Indonesia has been using the manual for their efforts in the latest volcano and tsunami incidents.

“Being a counselor is a privilege. Watching personal human growth and resultant success is an opportunity most jobs don’t offer,” Downs said. “The reward for the hard work I do is that I have also discovered how accepting, sometimes charming, and gracious other cultures are.”

Cayla Gales can be reached at [email protected].