Social Justice Pre-Practicum: Enhancing Social Justice Identity Through Experiential Learning

Abstract

The counseling profession calls counselors to engage in social justice advocacy and charges counselor education programs to prepare students for this work. While most counseling programs promote social justice knowledge through a single course and infusion model, there remains a standard practice in providing students with experiential opportunities in advocacy to improve their learning. A qualitative study used a focus group methodology to examine the effectiveness of a social justice pre-practicum in the development of a social justice identity with counseling students. The study examines whether participation in a social justice pre-practicum reinforces a personal connection to and a broader understanding of social inequalities and advocacy work, as well as encourages more engagement in systemic advocacy in current employment. The purpose of this article is to encourage counselor education programs to equip students with real-life experiential opportunities in advocacy work by adopting a similar social justice pre-practicum course in their curriculum.

Social justice outcomes and professional counseling: An 11‐year content analysis

“…Outcome research focused on training in multicultural and social justice issues is generally supportive of exposing counselors to social justice during their coursework, supervision, and early clinical experiences (Na & Fietzer, 2020; Sanabria & DeLorenzi, 2019). The findings of the current study amplified training as a primary vehicle for social justice outcomes.…”

“…One common theme found across different definitions of social justice is a focus on society, systems, and organizations (Dollarhide et al., 2020; Sanabria & DeLorenzi, 2019). A focus on social systems may also make operationalizing social justice difficult, as social systems and organizational dynamics are influenced by a combination of factors, individuals, and groups (e.g., stakeholders; Kira et al., 2015).…”

Embodied Social Justice Learning: Considerations for Curriculum Development and Training in Counseling Programs

“…These authors further emphasize the importance of framing curricula expectations for students and faculty within critical and liberation pedagogies. As a manner of enacting critical and liberation pedagogies to integrate social justice in counseling curricula, other scholars focus on using service-learning opportunities, practicum experiences, or other experiential methods to foster students' interaction with systems and marginalized populations (Ali et al, 2008;Burnes & Singh, 2010;Lee & Kelley-Petersen, 2018;Murray, et al, 2010;Sanabria & DeLorenzi, 2019;Toporek & McNally, 2006). These kinds of structured learning experiences similarly emphasize selfreflection, systems awareness, and consciousness raising to facilitate students' knowledge of social justice in clinical contexts.…”

Counselor Education and Supervision: 2019 Annual Review

“…McGee et al (2019) explored creative teaching strategies used by counselor educators, noting these strategies tend to be informed by past experience while involving some risk‐taking to promote student engagement. In attending to skill‐oriented pedagogy, studies included reflective supervision training outcomes specific to a group of 34 community‐based supervisors (Williams et al, 2019); an interpersonal process recall–informed interview procedure to understand supervisee in‐session experiences of using intentional nondisclosure as it pertains to the supervisory relationship and process of supervision (R. M. Cook et al, 2019); photovoice as a pedagogical tool in counseling techniques instruction (Zeglin et al, 2019); the potential benefit of leaderless peer supervision groups during training to create space for students to discuss multicultural aspects of clinical work (Somerville et al, 2019); and the effectiveness of a social justice prepracticum in the development of counseling student social justice identity, finding some influence on engagement in systemic advocacy in later employment (Sanabria & DeLorenzi, 2019). Quantitative studies included a comparative analysis of a traditional classroom setting and a web/hybrid course in which students were asked to rate fears regarding research methods (Davis, 2019); student preference for working with process addictions, competence, and understanding of process addictions (Giordano et al, 2019); evaluation of student classroom engagement in flipped and nonflipped counseling courses, with noted higher engagement for flipped course structures (Merlin‐Knoblich et al, 2019); investigation of the impact of a combined approach (using didactic and experiential methods) to teaching counseling ethics on learners' ethical judgments and confidence levels (Sivis‐Cetinkaya, 2019); and the effectiveness of continuing education training in motivational interviewing for addiction counselors, finding a significant increase in self‐efficacy following training (Doumas et al, 2019).…”