Breaking Institutional Habits: A Critical Paradigm for Social Change Agents in Psychology

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad D. Olle
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Interdisciplinary Framework ◽  
Action Methods

There is a growing concern in counseling psychology that the field is not matching its commitment to social justice with adequate preparation of social change agents. Compiling and building off of a uniquely interdisciplinary framework, this article offers an alternative way forward for psychologists and trainees. Recommendations include a reorientation to institutions in which psychologists are immediately embedded and a legitimization of direct-action methods.

scholarly journals Social Justice in Counseling Psychology: Then, Now, and Looking Forward

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 938-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cirleen DeBlaere ◽  
Anneliese A. Singh ◽  
Melanie M. Wilcox ◽  
Kevin O. Cokley ◽  
Edward A. Delgado-Romero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Systems Change ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Counseling Psychologists ◽  
Proactive Role

In this article, a diverse group of early, mid, and advanced career scholars call for counseling psychology to continue to evolve in our integration of social justice action in our field. In doing so, we first consider our history as proponents and enactors of social justice, highlighting the ways in which counseling psychologists have served as social justice leaders in psychology. We then discuss our field’s contemporary challenges to, and opportunities for, social justice progress as we work toward equity and justice. Finally, we offer recommendations for counseling psychologists individually and as a field to move forward in our social justice action. Given our longstanding social justice values and our unique training as counseling psychologists, if we aim with intentionality to use our skills toward systems change, counseling psychologists are poised to have a strong and proactive role as social change agents within psychology and society at large.

Teaching Social Justice in Counseling Psychology

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1058-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue L. Motulsky ◽  
Susan H. Gere ◽  
Rakhshanda Saleem ◽  
Sidney M. Trantham
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
Multicultural Competency ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Core Courses ◽  
Nontraditional Teaching

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.

Multicultural Competence, Social Justice, and Counseling Psychology: Expanding Our Roles

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Vera ◽  
Suzette L. Speight
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Multicultural Competence ◽  
Multicultural Counseling ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
Counseling Competencies ◽  
Multicultural Counseling Competencies ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Psychology Literature

The construct of multicultural competence has gained much currency in the counseling psychology literature. This article provides a critique of the multicultural counseling competencies and argues that counseling psychology's operationalization of multicultural competence must be grounded in a commitment to social justice. Such a commitment necessitates an expansion of our professional activities beyond counseling and psychotherapy. While counseling is one way to provide services to clients from oppressed groups, it is limited in its ability to foster social change. Engaging in advocacy, prevention, and outreach is critical to social justice efforts, as is grounding teaching and research in collaborative and social action processes.

scholarly journals Exhaustion and possibility. The wor(l)dlyness of social work in (G)local environment worlds during a pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 54-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona B Livholts
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Writing Genres

Exhaustion is not about being tired. It is an intense feeling of restlessness, of insomnia, and awakening when I ask myself: have I exhausted all that is possible? Such a state of restlessness and wakefulness represents a turning point for having enough, and opens for new possibilities to act for social change. This reflexive essay departs from the notion that the language of exhaustion offers a wor(l)dly possibility for social work(ers) to engage in critical analytical reflexivity about our locations of power from the outset of our (g)local environment worlds. The aim is to trace the transformative possibilities of social change in social work practice through the literature of exhaustion (eg. Frichot, 2019 ; Spooner, 2011 ). The methodology is based on uses of narrative life writing genres such as poetry, written and photographic diary entrances between the 4th of April and 4th of June. The essay shows how tracing exhaustion during the pandemic, visualises a multiplicity of forms of oppression and privilege, an increasing attention and relationship to things, and border movements and languages. I suggest that social work replace the often-used terminology of social problems with exhaustive lists to address structural forms of racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, which has been further visualized through death, illness, violence, and poverty during the pandemic. I argue that the language of exhaustion is useful for reflexivity and action in social work practice through the way it contributes to intensified awareness, attention, engagement, listening, and agency to create social justice.

White Supremacy and Counseling Psychology: A Critical–Conceptual Framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick R. Grzanka ◽  
Kirsten A. Gonzalez ◽  
Lisa B. Spanierman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Helping Professions ◽  
White Clients ◽  
Racial Progress ◽  
Counseling Psychologists

The mainstreaming of White nationalism in the United States and worldwide suggests an urgent need for counseling psychologists to take stock of what tools they have (and do not have) to combat White supremacy. We review the rise of social justice issues in the field of counseling psychology and allied helping professions and point to the limits of existing paradigms to address the challenge of White supremacy. We introduce transnationalism as an important theoretical perspective with which to conceptualize global racisms, and identify White racial affect, intersectionality, and allyship as three key domains of antiracist action research. Finally, we suggest three steps for sharpening counseling psychologists’ approaches to social justice: rejecting racial progress narratives, engaging in social justice-oriented practice with White clients, and centering White supremacy as a key problem for the field of counseling psychology and allied helping professions.

Practitioner perspectives on learning for social change through non-formal global citizenship education

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor J Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Small Individual ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
The Social

This article engages with debates about transformative learning and social change, exploring practitioner perspectives on non-formal education activities run by non-governmental organisations. The research looked at how global citizenship education practitioners met their organisation’s goals of change for social justice through educational activities. This education is sometimes criticised for promoting small individual changes in behaviour, which do not ultimately lead to the social justice to which it pertains to aim. Findings suggest that this non-formal education aims to provide information from different perspectives and generate critical reflection, often resulting in shifts in attitudes and behaviour. While the focus is often on small actions, non-formal spaces opened up by such education allow for networks to develop, which are key for more collective action and making links to social movements. Although this was rarely the focus of these organisations, it was these steps, often resulting from reflection as a group on personal actions, which carried potentially for social change.

scholarly journals GETTING CURSED OUT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: NOTES ON HANDLING VERBAL ASSAULTS WITH HUMANITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
DARRICK SMITH
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
School Discipline ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Responsiveness ◽  
Verbal Abuse ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Social Justice Educator

A national dialogue on school discipline has now reemerged in the United States as many educators struggle with how to maintain a balance of cultural responsiveness and high expectations when addressing student transgressions on their campuses. While the field of child development, counseling psychology, and communications pose theoretical responses to such dilemmas, this article aims specifically to address the procedural challenges of dealing with verbal abuse from students and adults. Through the lens of a social justice educator, the author offers practical, humanizing steps that are intended to help secondary school educators engage with students in a way that emphasizes boundaries, respect, and reflection for students and adults alike.

scholarly journals Self-Care: An Ethical Imperative for Anti-Racist Counselor Training

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Mitchell ◽  
Erin Binkley
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Counselor Training ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Racial Identity Development ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Ethical Imperative ◽  
Development Models

Attention has been given to multicultural counseling, social justice and advocacy work over the last several decades; with this in mind, it is essential Counselors educators work as anti-racist change agents to understand the role of self-care in advocacy and be armed with self-care strategies based upon racial identity standing. Working through the lens of racial identity development models, educators will learn ways to support students of the dominant culture in engaging in self-care without initiating oppressive behaviors, and conversely will learn strategies to assist Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color (BIPOC) in enacting self-care without assisting in their own oppression. Thus, the purpose of this conceptual manuscript is to (a) provide a rationale for self-care as an ethical imperative, (b) introduce self-care strategies to employ while supporting anti-racist andragogy through intentional wellness, and (c) call students to build self-care routines focused on multiculturalism and social justice.

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