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Within the Black Church, there remains much that is unknown about pastoral motivations, beliefs, and attitudes about mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate pastors' responses to parishioners dealing with mental health issues, including perspectives on counseling services and coping strategies. According to this study's findings, African American pastors often are the first line of support for parishioners' mental health and recognizing adaptive and maladaptive forms of coping.

The purpose of this article is to propose a new application of relational-cultural theory (RCT) to doctoral advising. An overview and description of key tenets within RCT, an introduction to an RCT-based advising process, and implications for using RCT with doctoral student advising in counselor education is included. Finally, a case study is provided along with future research implications.

Scholars have argued that there is a silence related to social class status in educational literature. Consequently, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop an understanding of the educational experiences of working-class African American women doctoral students at predominantly White institutions and what factors influence their doctoral persistence. Black feminist thought and the social class worldview model informed the conceptualization of the study. Ten doctoral students completed individual 2-phase semistructured interviews. Three themes reflected students' educational experiences and doctoral persistence: (a) working-class virtues, (b) development of self-efficacy and resiliency, and (c) utilization of personal and academic support systems. Implications for practice, research, and advocacy that support the academic persistence of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are discussed.

This article examines the challenges that may be particular to African American counseling students who identify as Christian in learning to provide competent and affirming counseling to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. The role and importance of the Black Church, race survival consciousness, and cultural constructions of sexuality and mental health may present unique barriers for these students in affirming LGB clients. Recommendations for counselor education programs are discussed.