This article provides a discussion of pertinent social justice issues and theories as they relate to career counseling best practices. Practitioners are provided with strategies and techniques that may enhance their knowledge and skills as they relate to career development practice with culturally diverse client populations. Practitioners are also provided with a case study that illustrates the social and career path of a client over his lifespan. While human rights movements have global visions, most are locally anchored and emerge out of concrete abuses and struggles of communities that are poor or otherwise marginalized. What these movements have in common is their belief in a universal vision of justice and understanding that their struggles are bound up in other human rights struggles around the world. They also have in common a set of values which include a belief that basic rights must be universal, irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, disability, documentation status or any other status, and also comprehensive, protecting civil liberties, civil rights, and economic and social justice. In this way, they are part of a large umbrella movement seeking social justice through human rights. (National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, 2011) Power, privilege, and subjugation and their impact on client lives have called to action counselors who mightily embrace a social justice worldview (Fouad, Gerstein, & Toporek, 2006). To this end, social justice activists utilize social advocacy and engagement to help eradicate discriminatory social, political, and economic conditions that obstruct the educational, career, and personal/social development of individuals, families, and diverse populations. Ratts (2009) reasons that social advocacy is an essential step change agents can provide when addressing equity concerns for those who have been marginalized by society. Ratts' position aligns with Section A.6.a. of the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics, which positions that "when appropriate, counselors advocate at the individual, group, institutional, and societal levels to examine potential barriers and obstacles that inhibit access and/ or the growth and development of clients" (ACA; 2005, p. 5). There is an emergent awareness that benevolent counselors do not adequately understand how oppressive behaviors and mental health issues are interconnected (Jacobs, 1994). To combat this lack of responsiveness a theory of social justice counseling affords counselors with a theoretical framework that highlights the role oppression plays in shaping human behavior and provides a blueprint for how to realize advocacy in counseling. Lee (2007) promulgates that irrespective of theoretical orientation social justice counseling may be influential in helping to explain human behavior and determining best practices appropriate when counseling diverse clientele. One such best practice is the Lent, Brown, and Hackett's 1987 Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Savickas & Lent, 1994). SCCT is a byproduct of Bandura's social cognitive theory endeavors to provide opportunities for discourse on issues related to culture, sex roles, inherited benefaction, social milieus, and unforeseen life circumstances that may intermingle with and supplant the effects of career-related choices (Stitt-Gohdes, 1997). Through the embracing of personal achievements, vicarious learning, societal influence, and physiological conditions and responses, the SCCT purports that self-efficacy, the prospect of promising outcomes, and individual goals become instrumental factors in the successful navigation of career decisions. The SCCT contrasts other existing career theories based on the premise that the self is a system and that individual beliefs are inherently influenced from a social and economic context (Stitt-Gohdes, 1997). According to Ratts (2009), counseling from a social justice perspective emboldens counselors to cultivate a more balanced viewpoint of individuals within their environments. Observing clients within the framework of their social milieu aids counselors in making important decisions as to whether clients need direct counseling services or if the situation merits a call for social justice advocacy. Racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism are environmental factors that may delay personal growth and development and hinder opportunities for clients to reach their full potential. A whole-person counseling approach integrates personal and vocational worldviews, which are inclusive of environmental issues, into the practice of career development, thus allowing individuals to view themselves holistically and make more informed and rational occupational decisions (Zunker, 2006). Thus they are afforded the opportunity to become one with the world in which they live. Likewise, Maccoby and Terzi (1981) add that there is usually a self-fulfillment ethic involved where a person, in the midst of trusting the process, realizes personal growth and fulfillment which may ultimately provide an increased sense of self-empowerment and personal freedom. The case study that follows provides practitioners with relevant examples of how social justice counseling may be integrated into their practice. Social justice as a theory is complementary to psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, existential-humanistic, and multicultural approaches in relation to how it incorporates human behavior. The theory differs only in that the first three theoretical orientations focus solely on the individual, whereas multicultural places an emphasis on the individual in conjunction with their environment, while social justice adds a social context to the equation. Ratts (2009) proposes that "each as a paradigm is distinct in (a) explaining the locus of client problems, (b) describing the counselor role and identity, and (c) determining the types of skills required to practice counseling" (p. 48). To help illuminate the importance of social justice advocacy as it relates to career counseling the case of Ahmad is accompanied by an important counseling technique formulated by Zunker (2006). Zunker's Representative Strategies and Client Concerns model has the potential to provide appropriate measures outcomes that support the self-empowerment of marginalized individuals and helps to lead them on their journey towards self-actualization. Zunker model offers four domains: career, affective, cognitive behavioral, and culture; lastly each domain will be further explained and accompanied by an outline which showcases strategies and client concerns that may provide counselors with pertinent information that may be necessary when dealing with client's facing issues similar to those experienced by Ahmad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]