Promoting Anti-Racism and Critical Consciousness through a Critical Counseling Theories Course

Racism is alive and well in the United States. To promote critical consciousness and anti-racism in counselors-in-training, the counseling theories course, typically a student’s introduction to the profession, requires revision. Thus, we propose a critical counseling theories course. In this course we argue critical theories (multicultural theory, social constructivism, feminist theory, and critical race theory) and neurocounseling theory should be centered; introducing theories that are relevant to our current sociopolitical reality and that promote the values of anti-racism in the counseling profession. In this article we describe the critical counseling theories course structure, instructional approach, and assignments. Data from student evaluations, instructor reflections, and student focus groups add to the justification that a critical counseling theories course could successfully instill critical consciousness in counselors-in-training and in turn promote anti-racism in counseling theory and practice

The Lived Experience of Cultural Immersion

This article presents the findings of a grounded theory study of 3 graduate students\u27 lived experience of cultural immersion. Results indicated that participants experienced 3 phases (goal setting, interaction, and evaluation) and 4 themes (bias, gender, barriers, and self-awareness) during immersion. Recommendations for the implementation of immersion experiences are discussed

Disrupting the Narrative on Recruiting Graduate Students of Color in Counselor Education

The voices of students of color are largely absent in the literature on graduate student recruitment in counselor education. The existing literature focuses on university personnel and can portray a deficit perspective of students of color. Using grounded theory and a critical race theory framework, we sought to develop a theory that described the motivations of graduate students of color for pursuing counselor education. We interviewed 19 graduate students of color and used a constant comparative method to understand their motivations for and supports utilized in pursuing counselor training. Grounded in our participants’ counternarratives, we identified a theory to describe their drive to serve marginalized communities, to attend programs committed to diversity, and the supports they received in applying to graduate school. Based on this theory we provide implications for how counselor education programs can demonstrate a commitment to diversity and support graduate students of color through the application process

Counselor Educator Perceptions: College and Career Readiness of African-American Males

This paper presents the findings of a pilot quantitative study, investigating counselor educators’ perceptions of the importance of pre-service school counselor training in college and career readiness of African American males, and the ability to train pre-service counselors to facilitate the college and career readiness of African-American males. A significant difference was detected between groups in terms of their perceived ability to prepare school counselors who could implement college and career readiness programs for African American males

WHAT DOALLIES DO?: PROVIDING CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE COUNSELING TO COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

En los Estados Unidos la profesión de consejería no ha seguido el ritmo de los cambios demográficos étnicos de la sociedad. Como tal, las comunidades de color en los Estados Unidos requieren el apoyo de consejerosque son aliados. Los aliados son personas de grupos socio-políticas dominantes que buscan poner fin a la opresión.En este estudio se utilizó grounded theory para examinar la experiencia de seis consejeros que fueron identificados como aliados a las comunidades de color.Basándose en los resultados de este estudio, discutimos que los aliados tienen conocimiento de uno mismo, conocimiento personal de y la conexión a las comunidades de color, las habilidades de establecimiento de una relación y participan en conversaciones críticas,y participan en la acción en nombre de sus estudiantes

COUNSELOR EDUCATION IN TECHNICOLOR: RECRUITING GRADUATE STUDENTS OF COLOR

La falta de diversidad étnica en la profesión de consejería requiere mayor atención a las estrategias de reclutamiento de estudiantes graduados de color. Se realizó un estudio de los estudiantes graduados de color para identificar los factores que animaron y desalienta estos estudiantes en seguir carreras en consejería. Los participantes en este estudio indican que querían diversificar la profesión de consejería, la familiaridad con consejeros profesionales, la ubicación del programa de graduados, la falta de diversidad de los alumnos en programas graduados, y los requisitos de admisión influyó su decisión de inscribirse in una programa graduado en consejería. Basándose en los resultados de este estudio, las implicaciones para el reclutamiento de estudiantes graduados de color en los programas de educación de consejeros incluyen la necesidad de programas graduados que demuestren un compromiso con la diversidad, mayor claridad en los requisitos de admisión, y la orientación para los estudiantes a través del pr oceso de admisión

Developing Counseling Students\u27 Multicultural Competence Through the Multicultural Action Project

The Multicultural Action Project (MAP) is a cultural immersion project that requires counseling students to engage with diverse cultural communities on 3 levels: observation, information seeking, and action. To ascertain if participating in MAP improved the multicultural competence of graduate counseling students, the authors conducted an evaluation in which narrative analysis was used to examine the experiences of 3 graduate counseling students who participated in MAP. Through their narratives, the participants reported increased knowledge, awareness, and skills. The importance of sustained contact and interpersonal relationships in improving student learning outcomes is discussed and recommendations are provided