The ACA Advocacy Competencies: A Social Justice Advocacy Framework for Professional School Counselors

The recent endorsement of the advocacy competencies by the American Counseling Association signals their relevance to the school counseling profession. This article outlines the importance of being a social change agent, the value of advocacy in K-12 schools, and how school counselors can use the advocacy competencies as a framework for promoting access and equity for all students. Implications for professional school counselors and school counselor educators in using the advocacy competencies are also addressed

Social justice counseling : A study of social justice counselor training in CACREP-accredited counselor preparation programs

There is a growing movement within the counseling profession calling on counselors to integrate a social justice perspective into counseling theories, paradigms, and practices. However, there are no empirical studies illustrating how counselor preparation programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) are preparing master’s level counseling students for social justice. This is concerning given that social justice is considered critical to being an effective practitioner. The purpose of this dissertation study is to ascertain whether CACREP-accredited counselor preparation programs are adequately preparing counseling students for social justice counseling. Accordingly, the Social Justice Counseling (SJC) survey, developed by this researcher, was distributed to instructors (N = 192) who teach “Social and Cultural Diversity” designated courses in CACREP-accredited counseling programs. The SJC Survey was reviewed for content, construct, and face validity and piloted. The Dillman (2000) mail survey method was utilized to distribute the SJC surveys. A total of 108 SJC surveys were returned completed for a response rate of 56%. Findings indicated 97% of respondents incorporated social justice principles into “Social and Cultural Diversity” designated CACREP counseling courses. Social justice principles were also introduced to varying degrees by respondents. Parametric statistics (i.e., t-test, ANOVA, and Fisher’s LSD) were also employed. These tests indicate certain target (oppressed) and dominant (oppressor) group identities influence the degree to which issues of oppression are addressed. To illustrate, females focus on classism, ableism, and ageism more than males. In addition, faculty of color tend to address issues of sexism more than White faculty. Non-Christians were more likely to focus on heterosexism than Christians. Significant differences also existed for faculty rank and tenure status with respect to the degree to which issues of racism are addressed. In conclusion, social justice advocacy efforts appear focused on microlevel interventions and less on macrolevel interventions. Textbooks and course titles tend to center on multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Recommendations are made to develop social justice counseling competencies, to institutionalize social justice into counselor training, to equally address social justice at the microlevel and macrolevel, and to create social justice counseling textbooks and courses

Social Justice Counseling and Advocacy: Developing New Leadership Roles and Competencies

The fusion of scholarship and activism represents an opportunity to reflect on ways in which counselors and psychologists can begin to address the multilevel context faced by clients and client communities. Counselors and psychologists have embraced, and sometimes resisted, the wide range of roles including that of advocate and activist. This article reflects on a process that engaged workshop participants in examining the American Counseling Association Advocacy Competencies and exploring the possibilities of advocacy on behalf of their own clients. Further, the article presents recommendations for actions developed by participants through application of workshop principles regarding social action in the larger public arena. The workshop was a part of the National Multicultural and Social Justice Leadership Academy in 2010

Safe Space Programs In K-12 Schools: Creating A Visible Presence Of Lgbtq Allies

Safe Space Programs can provide school staff with critical knowledge and skills to create a supportive learning milieu for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in K-12 schools. The literature related to Safe Space Programs suggests that they may be instrumental in helping alter anti-LGBTQ climates in schools. This article illustrates how Seattle University\u27s Graduate Counseling program developed a student advocacy organization to provide Safe Space programming to school personnel in local area schools. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Multicultural And Social Justice Counseling Competencies: Guidelines For The Counseling Profession

In 2014, the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) appointed a committee to revise the Multicultural Counseling Competencies developed by Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis in and operationalized by Arredondo et al. in. This article reflects the updated competencies, titled the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough,), which were endorsed by AMCD on June 29, 2015, and by the American Counseling Association on July 20, 2015. A conceptual framework of the MSJCC visually depicts the relationships among the competencies\u27 key constructs: multicultural and social justice praxis, quadrants, domains, and competencies. Implications are discussed