Embodying the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency Movement: Voices From the Field

Abstract

This article illustrates counselors’ embodiment, over time, of the multicultural and social justice counseling competency movement leading to the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (Ratts, Singh, Nassar‐McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2015). The authors discuss the multicultural and social justice counseling competency movement in the context of relationships as appropriate to the counseling field. Aligned with contemporary research perspectives, the authors focus on the lived experiences of 2 pioneering social justice and multicultural competency advocates, Drs. Patricia Arredondo and Derald Wing Sue. The authors integrate scholarship with these historical and personal perspectives, as well as their own, to demonstrate the ways in which people and movements drive counseling leadership and advocacy.

The Past Guides the Future: Implementing the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies

“…We believe that an essential part of developing multicultural and social justice competence is knowing two important, and often overlooked, aspects of the evolution of the MCC: (a) counselors advocating for the MCC did so as part of a collective group and movement, and (b) resistance was not only expected, but was framed as a way to dialogue with those in the profession who were not committed to the importance of multicultural counseling competency. Nassar and Singh (2020) explore these aspects further in this special issue in their article, “Embodying the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Movement: Voices From the Field.” A common misconception about multicultural counseling competency is that there was no attention to the societal inequities. Quite to the contrary, words such as inequities, oppression, and social action appear throughout the MCC.…”

“…In addition, Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis’s (1992) Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC) faced significant resistance from colleagues who asserted that counseling was culture‐free and that “good counseling was just good counseling” (D. W. Sue, personal communication, February 6, 2018). This resistance was elucidated through various critique‐and‐dialogue article series in both the Journal of Counseling & Development and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development spanning the years 1996 through 2004 (see Nassar & Singh, 2020, in this special issue). Despite this initial resistance, the MCC subsequently transformed the counseling profession, stimulating over 3,500 citations.…”

The Role of Educational Counselors in Developing Students' Acceptance of Online Learning during COVID 19 Pandemic in Jordan: Educational Counselors and Students' Acceptance of online Learning

“…The importance of social basics within the idea of study revolves around the role of social counseling in re-introducing parents to the circle of education of their children and integrating them into education requirements and problems that would confront the student and cause their failure to study (Nassar and Singh, 2020). In addition to that, educational counseling is able to integrate the individual into a circle of family, friends, and teachers that can correct their path and support them to reach their goals (Yamamoto, 2018).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue

“…In preparing for this special issue, we had the opportunity to interview the authors of the 1992 MCC featured in the article, “Embodying the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency Movement: Voices From the Field” (Nassar & Singh, 2020), in which we explore how early multicultural counseling scholars and human rights advocates viewed the potential impact of their work as a crucial component of working for equity and justice in the world. Next, Singh, Appling, and Trepal’s (2020) article, “Using the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies to Decolonize Counseling Practice: The Important Roles of Theory, Power, and Action,” connects the use of social justice theories to efforts toward liberation through the integration of the MSJCC.…”