Ethnocounseling as an Emerging Framework for Culturally Grounded Guidance and Counselling in Indonesia

Helmi Ghoffar (Universitas Samudra)
Sri Wahyuni (STAI Hikmatul Fadhillah)
Yenti Arsini (Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara)
Purbatua Manurung (Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara)

Journal of General Education and Humanities
Vol. 5 No. 4 (2026): August

Guidance and counselling (GC) services in Indonesia have historically been influenced by counselling theories developed in Western sociocultural contexts, which may not fully align with Indonesia’s collectivistic, religious, and culturally diverse society. This conceptual article employs an integrative literature review and qualitative content analysis to examine ethnocounseling as an emerging, culturally grounded orientation for GC services in Indonesia. Relevant literature was identified from academic databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and nationally indexed databases, covering publications from 2000–2025. The reviewed sources comprised theoretical works on multicultural counselling, ethnopedagogy, community counselling, indigenous psychology, and Indonesian local wisdom. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify conceptual patterns related to theoretical foundations, model development, and implications for counsellor practice. The analysis discusses: (1) limitations of Western-oriented counselling models in Indonesian contexts; (2) multicultural counselling as a theoretical foundation for culturally responsive practice; (3) the contribution of ethnopedagogy and community-based approaches to ethnocounselling development; (4) the illustrative application of the Mangupa Dalihan Na Tolu tradition of the Batak Mandailing community as a potential cultural foundation for counselling practice; and (5) implications for counsellor professional development. The study proposes three competency domains for ethnocounseling-oriented counsellors: cultural understanding competence, culturally responsive counselling skills, and the ethical integration of local wisdom into counselling practice. The findings suggest that ethnocounseling may represent a paradigmatic reorientation of GC by encouraging greater alignment between counselling practice, local cultural values, and community realities. However, the Mangupa Dalihan Na Tolu-based model remains illustrative and requires further empirical validation through field-based research.