Social Justice Counseling

"Social Justice Counseling is the next step toward alleviating the injustices faced by individuals in society and it is a natural extension of multicultural counseling. Issues of social justice are dominating conferences across the mental health disciplines, with a greater focus on alleviating broader social inequities such as equity, access and fairness for each individual. At a micro level social justice issues play out in the form of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, equal access to education,fair housing, and more. Traditionally counselors have been focused on the individual, however, in recent years there has been a shift for all mental health professionals to address issues of social class, race and ethnicity and more. This books offers a supplement to important issues regarding social justice and will highly enhance the content taught in multicultural courses. The authors are leading authorities on social justice counseling and have led the way to create a specialization in social justicecounseling at their school at George Mason University. This book is the first to bring all these concepts together, tie them to multiculturalism, and offer personal applications and tools for mental health professionals. It is theoretical yet highly practical in offering concrete steps toward becoming more social justice oriented"--Provided by publisher.

This timely volume gives readers a robust framework and innovative tools for incorporating clients' unique cultural variables in counseling and therapy. Its chapters identify cultural, societal, and worldview-based contexts for understanding clients, from the relatively familiar (ethnicity, gender, age) to the less explored (migration status, social privilege, geographic environment). Diverse cases illustrate how cultural assessments contribute to building the therapeutic relationship and developing interventions that respect client individuality as well as group identity. In these pages, clinicians are offered effective strategies for conducting more relevant and meaningful therapy, resulting in better outcomes for client populations that have traditionally been marginalized and underserved. The appendices include the Scale to Assess Worldview© (Ibrahim & Kahn, 1984), The Acculturation Index© (Ibrahim, 2008), and the Cultural Identity Check List-Revised© (Ibrahim, 2007). Among the topics covered: Cultural identity: components and assessment. Worldview: implications for culturally responsive and ethical practice. Understanding acculturation and its use in counseling and psychotherapy. Social justice variables critical for conducting counseling and psychotherapy. Immigrants: identity development and counseling issues. Designing interventions using the social justice and cultural responsiveness model. Cultural and Social Justice Counseling is a profound source of knowledge for clinicians and students in mental health fields (counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers) who are working with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, including those working in international settings, with clients across cultures, and with sojourners to the US.

Thought leaders examine social justice counseling from a global perspective in the latest edition of this pioneering book. Part 1 examines the historical and contemporary context of social justice counseling. Part 2 presents ideas for promoting social justice and challenging oppression and marginalization with individual clients and communities. Topics in this section include perspectives on peace, violence, and conflict; recommendations for global initiatives in school counseling; advocacy for decent work; promoting gender equity; fighting racism; and implementing social action strategies with LGBTQ+ communities, older people, people with disabilities, and undocumented immigrants. Part 3 contains chapters on the role of neuroscience in advancing social justice and infusing social justice perspectives in ethics, research, and counselor training. "This third edition could not come at a better time given the current national and global political climates. Lee and his colleagues raise the bar, challenging counselors to move from simply understanding social injustice to engaging in actions that improve systemic inequities. The magnitude of this charge cannot be ignored. This text should be mandatory in every counselor education program in the United States and across the globe; the time is now. Counselors must take the lead by leaning in and changing the world one person at a time, one community at a time, and one nation at a time." —Colleen R. Logan, PhD, Fielding Graduate University "Courtland Lee continues to be a leader in helping to advance social justice in the counseling profession. This book builds on previous editions by offering new and emerging strategies for implementing social justice with clients and communities. It pushes the limits of what is possible when counselors incorporate social justice into their practice." —Manivong J. Ratts, PhD, Seattle University "This text provides crucial information on how counselors can engage in social justice work throughout their practice, research, and advocacy activities to not only become effective change agents but also transform how we see ourselves and the world." —Anneliese A. Singh, PhD, University of Georgia *Requests for digital versions from the ACA can be found on wiley.com. *To request print copies, please visit the ACA website here. *Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected]

Counseling psychologists often focus on clients′ inner conflicts and avoid getting involved in the clients′ environment. This handbook encourages counseling psychologists to become active participants in changing systems that constrain clients′ ability to function. . . . Besides actual programs, the contributors cover research, training, and ethical issues. The case examples showing how professionals have implemented social action programs are particularly valuable. . . . [T]his book provides an outline for action, not only for psychologists, but also for social workers, politicians, and others interested in improving the lot of disadvantaged populations. Summing up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, professionals. -- W. P. Anderson, emeritus, University of Missouri-Columbia, CHOICE The Handbook for Social Justice in Counseling Psychology: Leadership, Vision, and Action provides counseling psychology students, educators, researchers, and practitioners with a conceptual road map of social justice and social action that they can integrate into their professional identity, role, and function. It presents historical, theoretical, and ethical foundations followed by exemplary models of social justice and action work performed by counseling psychologists from interdisciplinary collaborations. The examples in this Handbook explore a wide range of settings with diverse issues and reflect a variety of actions. The book concludes with a chapter reflecting on future directions for the field of counseling psychology beyond individual and traditional practice to macro-level conceptual models. It also explores policy development and implementation, systemic strategies of structural and human change, cultural empowerment and respect, advocacy, technological innovation, and third and fourth generations of human rights activities. Key Features: Integrates research and ethical implications as well as guidelines for developing and evaluating specific types of social justice activities Addresses a comprehensive arena of issues examined from historical, theoretical, systemic, and practical perspectives Clarifies social justice in counseling psychology to distinguish it from other helping professions Provides readers with specific examples and guidelines for integrating social justice into their work supported by a solid theoretical framework and acknowledgement of interdisciplinary influences Includes contributions from prominent authors in counseling psychology to provide expert examples from the field The Handbook for Social Justice in Counseling Psychology is an excellent resource for counseling psychology students, educators, researchers, and practitioners. It will be a welcome addition to any academic library or research institution.

This book takes a new approach to teaching students to think and learn about issues of race and diversity. It aims to break down the traditional categorizations of racial/ethnic groupings and focuses on teaching students to think and learn in a multidimensional manner, rather than in a linear fashion. The key to the book lies in its aim to teach students to practise culturally competent counselling by taking into consideration a client's multiple identities, such as a middle-aged, African American woman, who might be facing issues due to her racial grouping, her age and her gender. The book is filled with activities, excercises and examples that help students think about racism in a non-traditional manner, rather than the typical ways often taught, making it very timely and reflecting the transformation of thinking that is occuring in the field.

Social Justice and Counseling represents the intersection between therapy, counseling, and social justice. The international roster of contributing researchers and practitioners demonstrate how social justice unfolds, utterance by utterance, in conversations that attend to social inequities, power imbalances, systemic discrimination, and more. Beginning with a critical interrogation of the concept of social justice itself, subsequent sections cover training and supervising from a social justice perspective, accessing local knowledge to privilege client voices, justice and gender, and anti-pathologizing and the politics of practice. Each chapter concludes with reflection questions for readers to engage experientially in what authors have offered. Students and practitioners alike will benefit from the postmodern, multicultural perspectives that underline each chapter.

Many societal and cultural changes have taken place over the past several decades, almost all of which have had a significant effect on the mental health professions. Clinicians find themselves encountering clients from highly diverse backgrounds more and more often, increasing the need for a knowledge of cross-cultural competencies. Ellis and Carlson have brought together some of the leaders in the field of multicultural counseling to create a text for mental health professionals that not only addresses diversity but also emphasizes the counselor’s role as an advocate of social justice. The theoretical foundation for this book rests on research into diversity, spirituality, religion, and color-specific issues. Each chapter addresses the unique needs and relevant issues in working with a specific population, such as women, men, African Americans, Asian Americans, Spanish-speaking clients, North America’s indigenous people, members of the LGBT community, new citizens, and the poor, underserved, and underrepresented. Issues that enter into the counselor-patient relationship are discussed in detail for all of these groups, with the hope that this will lead to a greater understanding and sensitivity on the part of the counselor for their patients. This is an important and timely book for both counselors-in-training and those already established as professionals in today’s highly diverse and constantly-changing society.

This accessible practice-building reference establishes a clear social justice lens for providing culturally-responsive and ethical multicultural counseling for all clients. Rooted in the principles of Culture-Infused Counseling, the book’s practical framework spotlights the evolving therapeutic relationship and diverse approaches to working with clients’ personal and relational challenges, including at the community and system levels. Case studies illustrate interventions with clients across various identities from race, gender, and class to immigration status, sexuality, spirituality, and body size, emphasizing the importance of viewing client’s presenting concerns within the contexts of their lives. Chapters also model counselor self-awareness so readers can assess their strengths, identify their hidden assumptions, and evolve past basic cultural sensitivity to actively infusing social justice as an ethical stance in professional practice. Included in the chapters: · Culture-infused counseling, emphasizing context, identities, and social justice · Decolonizing and indigenous approaches · Social class awareness · Intersectionality of identities · Clients’ spiritual and religious beliefs · Weight bias as a social justice issue · Culturally responsive and socially just engagement in counselling women · Life-making in therapeutic work with transgender clients · Socially-just counseling for refugees · Multi-level systems approaches to interventions While Counseling in Cultural Contexts is geared toward a student/training audience, practicing professionals will also find the case study format of the book to be informative and stimulating.