Exposure to traumatic stressors is common among refugees. This is true for Yazidi refugees, who have experienced immense pre and post-migration trauma. Two separate, but often concurrent, outcomes of exposure to traumatic events are posttraumatic responses and posttraumatic growth. While both are common, the literature tends to highlight negative outcomes. This study explored the migration experiences and needs of Yazidi youth refugees in Canada. Using Photovoice, an arts-based research design that placed the youth at the helm of the research process, the perspective of Yazidi youth was explored. Data was analyzed using participatory analysis, structured from Wang and Burris (1997) three-stage approach. Through collaborative discussions, five themes were identified by the youth: Educating Others on Yazidis and Our Experiences, Bullying and Racism, Help Families in Iraq, Rise Against the Oppressive Government, and Desire to be There to Help. Within these themes, the youth demonstrated the ability for growth and emotional distress to coexist. The use of Photovoice as a research design allowed youth to be placed in control of the data generation and analysis, and this facilitated their empowerment. Recommendations were shared to support youth in maintaining control over their narratives, while emphasizing the importance of building relationships and working with youth to tackle systemic and structural issues.
Exposure to traumatic stressors is common among refugees. This is true for Yazidi refugees, who have experienced immense pre and post-migration trauma. Two separate, but often concurrent, outcomes of exposure to traumatic events are posttraumatic responses and posttraumatic growth. While both are common, the literature tends to highlight negative outcomes. This study explored the migration experiences and needs of Yazidi youth refugees in Canada. Using Photovoice, an arts-based research design that placed the youth at the helm of the research process, the perspective of Yazidi youth was explored. Data was analyzed using participatory analysis, structured from Wang and Burris (1997) three-stage approach. Through collaborative discussions, five themes were identified by the youth: Educating Others on Yazidis and Our Experiences, Bullying and Racism, Help Families in Iraq, Rise Against the Oppressive Government, and Desire to be There to Help. Within these themes, the youth demonstrated the ability for growth and emotional distress to coexist. The use of Photovoice as a research design allowed youth to be placed in control of the data generation and analysis, and this facilitated their empowerment. Recommendations were shared to support youth in maintaining control over their narratives, while emphasizing the importance of building relationships and working with youth to tackle systemic and structural issues.
The mental health profession calls on counselors and psychologists to engage in social justice advocacy and charges psychology and counseling training programs to prepare future professionals for this critical work. Yet research has found that although there is an intent to do social action there is a disconnect between the intention and social activism. We propose that courage is an essential missing link that may diminish the gap between social justice intention and action. This study explores how psychologists and counselors develop the courage to take such action. Understanding this process could inform innovative training strategies to better equip students to engage in social action upon entering the field. This qualitative study examines the development of social justice courage and the capacity to confront systemic injustices through deliberate and planned action despite risking adverse consequences. Findings reveal that social justice courage is a multidimensional construct encompassing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components, including conviction, critical consciousness, self-awareness, risk-taking, and support networks. Implications for training, professional practice, and future research are discussed.
The number of children of minoritized backgrounds from low socioeconomic backgrounds has increased in the United States. This shift has heightened concerns about the well-being of these children. Play therapists, trained to work closely with children, are expected to meet the needs of all children and promote social justice advocacy on behalf of their clients including children. Existing scholarship is limited, however, when understanding play therapist efforts to engage in advocacy. This phenomenological pilot study explored play therapists' perceptions of their social justice advocacy. The main findings revealed five themes: social justice, advocacy, training, challenges, and suggestions. Implications of these findings, future research directions, and limitations of the study are discussed.
The undertaking of The Handbook of International Psychology (2nd edition) must have been a daunting, yet very much needed task. The seemingly Sisyphean task of presenting the history and current state of psychology across the globe has been met yet again in the second edition, very much needed after twenty years since the first volume was published.
This study aimed to answer the question, “What have [counselors] found to be the least helpful aspects of counseling with clients facing low income?” One hundred thirteen counselors were recruited via mass email, completed an online survey, and participated in individual interviews. Using a group concept mapping procedure, participants grouped the data into seven concepts, including barriers due to low income and employment, systemic barriers for clients, obstacles due to trauma, competing needs and priorities, biased approaches, limits to real-world helpfulness of counseling, and negative impacts of systems on and for counselors. The results highlight the importance of identifying and addressing inequities faced by clients living with a low income to increase the accessibility and availability of mental health services for all.
Research identity is a critical component of counselor education, yet little is known about the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) graduate counseling students engaged in academic research. This interpretive phenomenological analysis study explored how BIPOC counseling students navigate research training, and examined systemic barriers, motivations, and factors that influenced their development as researchers. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and semi-structured interviews, data were collected from 11 participants in CACREP-accredited programs. The analysis revealed four central themes and stages of researcher identity development: (a) Roots of inspiration, (b) Pathway to readiness, (c) Research in motion and (d) Grounded in growth. The results also suggested the need for more inclusive, equity centered research training in counselor education and offered recommendations for supporting novice counseling student researchers.
COVID-19 generated a health crisis and major loss of life throughout the world. Asian Americans (AA) have been uniquely impacted during this time by anti-Asian racism, at times blaming AA for the pandemic. A few years after the emergence of COVID-19, studies now show that anti-Asian violence during the pandemic opened historic wounds and exacerbated psychological legacies of trauma uniquely felt by AA. In response, a national group of interdisciplinary AA women activists developed a community-based photovoice project called Asians* Unmasked. AA in the United States submitted photographs online and shared their experiences and ideas about social change during the early months of the pandemic (March 2020 - June 2020). Participants answered three questions adapted from the photovoice SHOWeD technique about their images as they related to their COVID-19 experiences. Fifty-five ethnically diverse AA (15-78 years old) submitted 82 photos. Using a cross-case qualitative analysis, seven domains were identified: (a) life and community changes, (b) connection and isolation, (c) racism and oppression, (d) health and mental health, (e) service to others, (f) resiliency and hope, and (g) ways to change the world after COVID-19. This article intends to “bring the gallery to the academy,” and share participants’ voices, photographs, and calls for change.
In an effort to address behavioral health disparities, authors conducted a community engagement research study to identify innovative practices that behavioral health agencies utilized in Black and Hispanic communities during COVID-19. Research methods included community agency input, a targeted survey of 15 behavioral health agencies, and focus groups. Authors identified innovative practices in eight areas of physical safety, emotional safety, accessibility through technology, accessibility for face-to-face counseling, affordability, leveraging resources, availability, and changes in procedures. Authors discuss recommendations and implications for social justice action to decrease behavioral health disparities.
School counseling is built on the American School Counselor Association National Model (2019, 2025), which includes heavy emphasis on individualist-focused student standards and isolationist practice (Drake et al., 2024b). While the field has undergone some revision, we continue to lack methods for visioning and visions for abolition in our praxis. Without liberatory visions for abolition, our traditional approaches and models of school counseling will only prefigure more racial capitalism, more white supremacy, and more state violence in schools. As part of a larger, year-long Critical Participatory Action Research project, this article focuses on the abolitionist visioning generated by a community of practice, including school counselors, community organizers, and a school counselor educator, using arts-based exploration. Our findings center the collective analysis and meaning-making of our community of practice, elevating the visions of on-the-ground school counselors and organizers and honoring local wisdom to guide practice rather than relying on Westernized, meritocratic school counseling models.
William Doherty and Tai Mendenhall's work on the "Citizen Therapist" model bridges psychotherapy with social engagement, emphasizing the interplay between mental health and societal factors. Their book critiques hyper-individualism in therapy, advocating for therapists to address systemic issues such as political polarization, racism, and culturally sensitive healthcare. In addition to outlining the rationale and practical guidelines for mental health professionals to collaborate with their fellow citizens, the book provides examples of programs aimed at addressing community conflicts, promoting healthy lifestyles, and enhancing family life. The model emphasizes community-driven solutions while maintaining professional boundaries, highlighting the connection between individual well-being and societal health.
On November 21, 2024, we had the great honor, privilege, and pleasure to conduct a highly revealing, engaging, and intimate interview with Professor Rebecca L. Toporek about their lifelong investment in social justice and action work. Professor Toporek serves as a faculty member in the Department of Counseling at San Francisco State University. They have been a psychologist and counselor educator for 20 years after serving as a community college counselor and associate dean. Their scholarship has focused on social justice advocacy and activism, backlash, racism, economic justice, and college and career counseling. They have written or co-written over 70 journal articles and book chapters, were co-editor and co-founder of the Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, co-developer of the American Counseling Association Advocacy Competencies, and co-edited five books on multicultural practice and social justice including Taking Action: Creating Social Change through Strength, Solidarity, Strategy and Sustainability. They co-produced the video, Helping counselors and psychologists as advocates and activists. They are also a daughter, sister, partner, and mother of two awesome 20-somethings. Our interview with Professor Toporek addressed their long-standing experiences that led to their social justice and action work, their role models and mentors, and their challenges and opportunities. Professor Toporek also shared their thoughts on how counseling and psychology have evolved in terms of social justice and action work, and where the fields were heading. Finally, Professor Toporek reflected on the 18-year history of the Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, and they presented recommendations to strengthen the journal.
While human service professionals are trained to listen carefully to our clients, we receive little training on how to listen to and analyze the professional discourse that surrounds us. In this article, I introduce critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a set of tools for unpacking how power works in forms of discourse such as policy, legislation, and communication between individuals with unequal amounts of power. To illustrate the process and purpose of CDA, I analyze policy text from the counseling profession. Specifically, I analyze the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Board of Director’s charge to the 2024 CACREP Standards Revision Committee. I examine active versus passive sentence construction, imperative and declarative sentence mode, and speech act values to explore what the language in the charge reveals about how power works in the CACREP standards revision process. The analysis reveals three differing yet co-existing depictions of power. I claim that the Board of Directors used these varying depictions of power to make a claim about the legitimacy of the standards revision process. I conclude with implications for critical discourse analysis as a method for research and as a tool for training and advocacy.
While human service professionals are trained to listen carefully to our clients, we receive little training on how to listen to and analyze the professional discourse that surrounds us. In this article, I introduce critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a set of tools for unpacking how power works in forms of discourse such as policy, legislation, and communication between individuals with unequal amounts of power. To illustrate the process and purpose of CDA, I analyze policy text from the counseling profession. Specifically, I analyze the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Board of Director’s charge to the 2024 CACREP Standards Revision Committee. I examine active versus passive sentence construction, imperative and declarative sentence mode, and speech act values to explore what the language in the charge reveals about how power works in the CACREP standards revision process. The analysis reveals three differing yet co-existing depictions of power. I claim that the Board of Directors used these varying depictions of power to make a claim about the legitimacy of the standards revision process. I conclude with implications for critical discourse analysis as a method for research and as a tool for training and advocacy.
This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a digital narrative intervention that combined participatory video (PV) and narrative therapy practices to engage Latinx immigrant young people in processes of personal and societal change. Drawing on ethnographic field notes, process recordings, audio recordings of intervention implementation, and focus group data, this program evaluation offers empirical evidence of the impacts of this innovative, digital narrative intervention on Latinx immigrant young people (ages 18-24) in New Orleans. A constructivist grounded theory approach to data analysis resulted in three main themes: critical reframing, Latinx and immigrant pride, and media literacy. This study unites PV and narrative therapy as complementary approaches to working with marginalized groups to share their stories, suggesting that the combination of these two storytelling practices resulted in several positive outcomes for participants.
Considering the recent attention to challenges regarding sustainability even within career issues, this study is aimed at providing the development and initial validation of the instrument “Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions about Whatever Does not go as It Should” (TFA) which may be used in career counseling and research activities to assess activism towards environmental and social sustainability in career guidance. With this aim, two different studies were carried out. In the first study, after having developed items and having examined content validity, the factorial structure and the reliability of the instrument was tested. The second study tested the discriminant validity with measures of career adaptability, propensity to sustainability in taking decisions about one’s future, and life satisfaction. Results showed good psychometric support for the TFA instrument for the Italian population. Moreover, the results obtained showed as the total score and the sub-factors score of TFA are related but distinct from the constructs considered, suggesting that workers with higher levels of these dimensions are characterized by greater career adaptability, propensity to sustainability in taking decisions about own future, and life satisfaction.
In pursuit of racial justice, there is a need to understand how to engage in anti-racist allyship to reduce potential harm as experienced by the most vulnerable members within academia. In this study, we utilized grounded theory methodology to create a model of allyship based on the definitions and experiences of BIPOC counselor education and counseling psychology faculty members. Participants included 12 faculty members who identified as BIPOC and who could identify traits of White allies through existing relationships and experiences. Participants represented diversity in racial identity and academic rank and were selected through theoretical, purposive, and convenience sampling methods. Through constant comparison of the data, we developed a model identifying contextual processes and components of White allyship. The model demonstrates generative and restrictive pathways for ongoing allyship across the domains of Humility, Engagement, Impact, and Positionality. Implications for counselor educators, counseling psychologists, and researchers are presented.
This study investigated a link between adverse community environments and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) using the pair of ACEs (POA) framework to better understand community members’ perspectives on how they were impacted across the lifespan by their childhood experiences. In addition, we identified mitigating factors that played a role for participants in building individual and community resilience. Researchers utilized a community-based participatory research approach in conjunction with qualitative methodology to explore the experiences of 15 community members. Nine themes emerged identifying both adversity and protective factors across the family, community, institutional, and structural levels. Findings have implications for the counseling profession in terms of practice, education, advocacy, and future research.
With the increasing number of international migrants worldwide and the emphasis on multicultural counseling competence and social justice, counseling professionals must learn more about how to work with this population. To address this need, we conducted a 36-year (1988-2023) content analysis of counseling literature focused on international migrants (i.e., immigrants and refugees) in 21 American Counseling Association-Affiliated Journals. Our analysis of 80 related journal articles aimed to explore publication trends, researched topics, and research methods related to this population, offering implications for counselors, researchers, and the counseling profession. The study underscored the significance of culturally sensitive counseling for international migrants, highlighting the necessity for advocacy efforts in the counseling profession to support the mental health needs of international migrants. We recommended that counselors remain informed about research and utilize digital and interdisciplinary approaches to enhance their support of international migrants.
Counselor educators in CACREP programs are mandated to include social justice in their training of counseling students. However, counseling preparation programs have failed to adequately train counseling professionals to understand and implement social justice frameworks. Using an exploratory mixed methods design, we explored counselor educators’ educational and training background in social justice concepts as well as their teaching experiences infusing social justice throughout CACREP core curriculum. Strategies counselor educators use to seek knowledge about and incorporate social justice in their praxis are presented. Furthermore, we explored the relationship between counselor educators’ racial identity and their practice of implementing social justice frameworks into their teaching.
