Search

School counselors are often tasked with addressing the persistent underachievement of many culturally diverse students. However, there is concern that some school counselors lack the cultural competence to effectively intervene with culturally diverse students. This qualitative study investigated the impact of advanced multicultural supervision sessions on three practicing school counselors at a K-12 school. Results suggest that supervision increased awareness of school counselors' biases and provided an opportunity for them to engage in discussions regarding the implementation of culturally appropriate counseling strategies. Implications, recommendations, and areas of future research for counselor education and supervision are also presented. (Contains 1 table.)

The purpose of this paper is to present traumatic stress as a framework for assessing and intervening with the post-Katrina residents of New Orleans. Applying resilience theory, the authors suggest that the unique historiography of African Americans in New Orleans serves as a foundation for the development of culturally appropriate interventions that can ameliorate the effects of disaster and systemic oppression. An African American female client provides a case illustration to illuminate the presentation of traumatic stress symptoms. Recommendations are provided for counselors and psychologists and clinical researchers to augment knowledge in this area.

Eco-webbing is a teaching strategy that can be used to help counselor educators integrate a social justice focus into their courses. Preliminary data indicated increased critical consciousness and social justice agency as a result of using eco-webbing with counseling students (N = 17). The authors provide implications for counselor educators and future research.

Scholars have shown that educational experiences within the classroom may marginalize students of color which may result in psychological distress. However, the utilization of culturally responsive educational practices (CRE) can create environments in which marginalized students can thrive not only academically, but psychologically. The authors provide a qualitative case study examining the culturally responsive practices of one teacher through a relational cultural theory (RCT) lens. The findings suggest that CRE practices may serve as psychological interventions that are associated with decreased psychological distress and increased psychological well-being amongst students of color. Specifically, students demonstrated behaviors depicting a number of RCT's five good things, including zest, empowerment, connection, clarity, and self-worth, that improve psychological well-being according to RCT.

With disasters on the rise, counselors need to increase their cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills to work with affected communities. This study reports outcomes of a four-week immersion experience in southern Africa with six counselor-trainees. Data sources for this qualitative study were: daily journals and demographic forms. Outcomes suggest that sustained contact with community residents and daily supervision experiences served to improve cultural awareness. Recommendations include pushing through students' resistance using a non-linear dynamic model of transformation.

Counselors need to learn how to effectively and respectfully enter into communities hit by disasters and create collaborative partnerships with community members. Using critical consciousness theory, the authors describe a humanistic, culturally responsive approach to disaster response counseling for marginalized individuals and communities and discuss empowering clients through culture-centered interventions and providing social justice advocacy.

The authors use traumatic stress theory to develop an ecosystemic understanding of hegemony and systemic barriers to educational success for culturally diverse students. Scholarship on trauma and systemic oppression are applied to students' academic experiences, and recommendations for improving educational outcomes include assessing for and ameliorating trauma in educational settings. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

We investigated the impact of a 1.5 hr workshop based on mindfulness-based compassion practices (MBCP) for 6 doctoral student therapists, followed by these therapists engaging in pre-session preparation for each of their clients in one of 3 randomly assigned conditions (MBCP, self-supervision, preparation-as-usual) over a 1-month period. State mindfulness and meditation self-efficacy increased following the workshop. Therapist ratings of session effectiveness were higher following pre-session meditation relative to preparation-as-usual, although there were no client-rated differences in session outcome. In a focus group, therapists reported that the workshop was generally helpful, and noted that pre-session MBCP led to a positive state of being and increased self-care. However, they felt rushed to fit in the exercises and some doubted their meditation self-efficacy. They suggested that longer, at-home practice might be more beneficial than pre-session exercises. We encourage replication in larger samples varying the amount and format of meditation training for improving outcomes. Practical Implications Therapist engagement in 2 minutes of meditation immediately prior to sessions may support therapy effectiveness Brief meditation provides an opportunity for therapists to engage in self-care and grow positive inner states Therapists who implement pre-session meditation may encounter challenges, such as tiredness and difficulty fitting in meditation between therapy sessions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors explored the use of critical consciousness as a training tool to provide effective, culturally competent disaster response counseling services to disaster-affected communities. The results are presented of a qualitative study evaluating the outcomes for participants in a disaster response outreach project serving residents of post-Katrina New Orleans. Participants demonstrated increased personal and cultural awareness and also constructed new knowledge related to counseling outreach competencies., Because of the devastating effects of natural and human-made disasters, there is an increasing global need for mental health professionals to provide disaster relief outreach services (Guha-Sapir, Hargitt, & Hoyois, [...]

This study explored how low-income documented and undocumented Latina immigrant mothers negotiate motherhood and adapt to life in new cultural and structural contexts. Grounded in ecocultural theory, we analyzed data from 21 in-depth interviews with Latina immigrant mothers to surface how their experiences of motherhood in the United States were shaped by their country of origin experiences and their situatedness in the United States. We documented emergent tensions related to their immigration context, often driven by changes in their legal status as they crossed borders, changes in family and community supports, and differing cultural expectations of their gendered roles as caregivers and family members. These tensions forced mothers to renegotiate and adjust their perceptions, identities, and roles as women, mothers, partners, and members of larger, often transnational kin and community networks. Implications of these tensions and identity and role shifts in the context of immigrant family life in the United States are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Background Method Results Conclusions Implications The purpose of the current study was to examine whether immigration‐related stress is associated with reduced positive parenting and whether this association is mediated by depressive symptoms in undocumented Central American immigrant mothers.In the context of “illegality,” parents can face myriad stressors related to their immigration status, which may lead to heightened emotions, including depressed mood. These experiences may affect family life, including the ways in which immigrant mothers parent their children.This study examined survey data generated in 2016–2017 by researchers using a community‐based participatory action research approach in partnership with Central American immigrant mothers residing in the Washington, DC, region. The sample for this study included 117 undocumented Central American immigrant mothers of children aged 3 to 11 years.Controlling for age of child, mother's education, and relationship status, analyses revealed that immigration‐related stress was associated with heightened levels of depressive symptoms for mothers. However, mothers' symptoms of depression were not associated with positive parenting. Additionally, no association between immigration‐related stress and positive parenting was found.Findings suggest that mothers, although affected by immigration‐related stress in terms of their own mood symptoms, may deploy mechanisms such as parental self‐sacrifice to protect their children from anti‐immigrant harms.Findings hold implications for future research, including research approaches, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The racist violence that occurred during the summer of 2020 was a tipping point forcing many people and institutions to acknowledge and address racial inequities in the United States. As the "conscience" of ACA, Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ) responded to this crisis through immediate action and strategic planning. This article discusses the process used by CSJ leaders to meet the CSJ mission of "promoting social justice... through confronting oppressive systems of power and privilege that affect professional counselors and our clients and to assist in the positive change in our society through the professional development of counselors" during this critical time. Recommendations for moving toward a decolonization of counseling practice, supervision, education, and research also are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]