Facilitating Trainees' Multicultural Development and Social Justice Advocacy Through a Refugee/Immigrant Mental Health Program

Social Justice Identity Development for International Counseling Psychology Students

Despite the inclusion of social justice and international issues in counseling psychology, there are no conceptual models or research to date that focus on social justice identity development and training issues for international counseling psychology students. The unique cross-cultural experiences and systemic injustices facing many international counseling psychology students may inform their social justice identity development in a distinctive manner. Thus, by incorporating biculturalism and transformative learning theories, this article proposes a theoretical model to illustrate the psychological processes and outcomes of social justice identity development for international counseling psychology students with the following four phases: (a) cultural and social awareness of privilege and oppression, (b) critical analysis of systemic oppression across cultures, (c) synergistic development of social justice competence and bicultural competence, and (d) integration of social justice identity and competence across cultures. We provide recommendations for future practice, advocacy, education, training, and research.

A systematic review of mental health care workers' constructions about culturally and linguistically diverse people

A systematic review of research published in English was conducted across seven electronic databases in psychology, health and social sciences. The aim was to ascertain the nature of mental health care workers' constructions about culturally and linguistically diverse individuals in order to facilitate provision of culturally appropriate service delivery and multicultural training. The constructs and perspectives of 5,870 mental health workers with regards to minority populations are represented across the 38 studies included. Key themes comprised: Aetiology of Constructions; Content of Constructions, Factors that Influence Constructions; Implications for Cultural Competence, Implications for the Therapeutic Alliance, Recommendations for Training, Recommendations for Practice and Recommendations for Research. The therapeutic alliance was most at risk when practitioners displayed low levels of cultural competency and high levels of racial and ethnic blindness. The changing and increasingly multicultural context within most countries means that mental health systems and workers need to prepare for an increasing range of culturally and linguistically diverse clients in need of support. Recommendations are explored for training, practice and research.

Becoming an Advocate: Processes and Outcomes of a Relationship-Centered Advocacy Training Model

Counseling programs across the country are increasingly incorporating social justice advocacy training into their curricula. However, much remains to be learned about the developmental processes by which students develop advocacy skills and apply those skills after they graduate. To address these questions and drive further innovation in the field of advocacy training, we conducted an evaluation of the Community Advocacy Project, a yearlong microlevel advocacy training model that teaches mental health counseling master’s students to use relationship-centered advocacy with individuals in marginalized communities. We interviewed 19 counselors within 2.5 years of their graduation from the project about their experiences of the program and their current advocacy work. Using qualitative description, we developed a model describing processes of Internal Grappling, Building the Advocacy Relationship, and Integrating the Advocate Identity that highlights the importance of a yearlong one-on-one advocacy relationship, intensive reflection and supervision, and community collaboration.

Social Justice Identity

This exploratory, phenomenological qualitative study was designed to investigate the phenomenon of social justice identity by understanding respondents’ lived experiences with social justice efforts. Data analysis yielded four themes describing the lived experiences of respondents’ social justice identity. Implications for training, supervision, and research are included.

Non-Traditional Teaching Methods That Promote Social Justice

This brief article serves as an introduction to the special issue of The Counseling Psychologist devoted to non-traditional teaching methods that promote social justice. We introduce the historical importance of social justice in the field of counseling psychology and discuss current events that maintain the need for further work in this area. We introduce the need for a focus on pedagogy that promotes social justice. We briefly summarize the manuscripts in the two special issue volumes and discuss the broad categories into which they fall. Finally, we call for further scholarship and action related to innovative teaching that promotes social justice.

Results of Immersion Service Learning Activism With Peers

Despite the emphasis on multicultural counseling competence and social justice in counseling psychology, the mechanisms behind building skills related to effective work remain elusive. This qualitative study explored the experiences of student-participants during a service learning course based on social justice principles in Belize. The researchers sought to inform how a non-traditional teaching methodology—immersion service learning activism—might affect these students’ development. The researchers used Consensual Qualitative Research to analyze interviews and journals through a collaborative and reflective process. Eleven domains emerged from the analysis. Results confirmed past research related to immersion and service learning, including personal and professional development and changes in diversity attitudes. There were also unanticipated themes related to complex interpersonal and group dynamics. These findings demonstrate the influence of immersion, service learning, and group process in intra- as well as interpersonal development and skill building related to cultural competency and social justice activism.

Multicultural Therapy Practicum Involving Refugees

Multicultural scholars have long noted the value and the need to incorporate multicultural counseling practica into diversity-social justice training. This article describes an ongoing, systematic model of multicultural therapy practicum in which clinical psychology trainees provide direct psychotherapy to community-referred, culturally and linguistically diverse refugee clients, under culturally grounded supervision. As a university–community collaboration, this practicum embodies the principles of multicultural counseling competencies, social justice, community outreach and service, experiential learning, and trauma therapy. In this article, we describe the target refugee population, the theoretical/conceptual bases, the learning conditions, the organizational structure, and the evaluative research of this practicum. Next, we present a former trainee’s narrative account of working with a male Afghan refugee from an autoethnographic qualitative framework to illustrate the dynamic learning process and the intricate cross-cultural interactions between the client and therapist. Finally, implications of this practicum for future practice and research on experiential multicultural training are discussed.