Teaching Social Justice in Counseling Psychology

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed increased calls from counseling psychology to include social justice competencies in the training of future practitioners. Integration of social justice awareness, advocacy skills, and opportunities for social change action are needed extensions of the field’s commitment to multicultural competency. Classroom teaching is a key component of transforming counseling psychology curricula and of developing students’ awareness of the value of social justice perspectives, yet pedagogical applications are rarely present in the literature. This article provides a case example of the integration of social justice and multicultural consciousness across the curriculum of one counseling psychology program. It highlights examples of innovative pedagogical techniques within a variety of core courses. We present specific examples of readings and nontraditional teaching approaches to promote social justice consciousness, including experiential exercises, self-reflection opportunities, use of video and online discussions, and assignments.

Social justice competencies for counselling and psychotherapy: Perceptions of experienced practitioners and implications for contemporary practice

“…They may leverage their skills to take action with entire geographic, ethnic or professional communities against systems and institutions or on behalf of a specific client (Arrendondo & Perez, , p.288; Vera & Speight, ; Cook & Butz, ; Toporek et al, ). This perspective is increasingly evidenced within current training of therapists and is viewed positively by students in training (Motulsky, et al ; Ali, Liu, Mahmood, & Arguello, ; Arthur, Collins, Marshall, & McMahon, ; Arthur, Collins, McMahon, & Marshall, ; Burnes & Singh, ; Singh et al, ; Speight & Vera, ; Toporek, Lewis, & Crethar, ). The implicit connection between sociopolitical forces as root causes of personal problems is clear (Hoover & Morrow, ).…”

“…To focus attention on a decontextualised individual in a “neutral” therapy setting was not only impossible (Chung & Bemak, ), but also ignored the power differential (Grzanka, Santos & Moradi, ) and reinforced the disadvantage faced by members of particular groups (Arthur, ; Burnes & Ross, ). In order to be most effective, it is necessary to look outside of therapeutic encounters (Motulsky et al, ; Crucil, ) and into the clinical settings, communities, institutions and systems that influence opportunities and life chances differentially (Chung & Bemak, ; Douce, ; Vera & Speight, ).…”

“…Social justice has become increasingly recognised in the training of counsellors and psychotherapists (Motulsky, Gere, Saleem, & Trantham, ; Ali, Liu, Mahmood, & Arguello, ; Arthur, Collins, Marshall, & McMahon, ; Arthur, Collins, McMahon, & Marshall, ; Burnes & Singh, ; Singh et al, ; Speight & Vera, ; Toporek, Lewis, & Crethar, ). The commitment trainees have to justice and advocacy has been studied (Beer, Spanierman, Greene, & Todd, ; Inman, Luu, Pendse, & Caskie, ; Luu & Inman, ; Miller & Sendrowitz, ).…”

“…For example, essential days and celebrations for non‐Christians are not reflected in North American holiday calendars. In order to challenge “cultural norms that create marginalization” (Arthur, , p.51), one may be called to look into established professional practices (Burnes & Ross, ; Motulsky et al, ) or challenge restrictive agency procedures to promote change to be more responsive to client needs (Crucil, ).…”

Privilege and Oppression in Counselor Education: An Intersectionality Framework

“…Many graduate‐level counseling and training programs require multicultural course work, yet the issues of power, privilege, oppression, and social justice may not be integrated across the curriculum (Motulsky, Gere, Saleem, & Trantham, ). Counselor educators who instruct courses related to multicultural issues are called to continually define their own awareness and identities to ensure they have adequate knowledge and confront a variety of challenges.…”