Walden University COUN 6723/COUN 6312S: Multicultural Counseling
Week 9 Counselors are advocates and agents of change, impacting client’s lives at the interpersonal, intrapersonal, community, organizational, and societal level. Advocacy is central to ethical, competent practice as a counselor.
Your Cultural Immersion Experience offers you the opportunity to consider how you might advocate with or on behalf of the group you worked with. Consider the following image:
How might the image on the left, or image A, be different from the image on the right, or image B?
Image A shows three people watching a baseball game with a fence in front of them. One person is tall, one is middle height, and the third person is shorter. Each person is standing on a box of the same height. The tall person can see the game easily, the middle person can just peer over the fence, and the shorter person can’t see the game at all.
In Image B, the tall person is not standing on a box and can still peer over the fence. The middle person is still standing on one box and can just see over the fence. The shorter person is standing on two boxes and can see over the fence now, as well.
These two images are a beautiful analogy for social justice and advocacy.
Consider how Image A might represent privilege, unintentional injustice, and equality (the same distribution of resources). The article by Crethar, Rivera, and Nash addresses social justice counseling to include equity, access, participation, and harmony. Equity is fair distribution of resources, rights, and responsibilities.
Consider how Image B might represent equity. Counselors promote systemic change and advocacy throughout various levels. How might this image relate to your Cultural Immersion experience?
Learning Resources Required Readings
CMHC/MCFC students:
Lewis, J. A., Arnold, M. S., House, R., & Toporek, R. L. (2018). ACA advocacy competencies. Retrieved from https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/aca-advocacy- competencies-updated-may-2020.pdf?sfvrsn=f410212c_4
Toporek, R. L., Lewis, J. A., & Crethar, H. C. (2009). Promoting systemic change through the ACA advocacy competencies. Journal of Counseling and Development, 87(3), 260–268. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6678.2009.tb00105.x
Ratts, M. J. (2011). Multiculturalism and social justice: Two sides of the same coin. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 39(1), 24–37. doi:10.1002/j.2161- 1912.2011.tb00137.x
Ratts, M. J., & Hutchins, A. M. (2009). ACA advocacy competencies: Social justice advocacy at the client/student level. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87(3), 269–275. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6678.2009.tb00106.x