Counseling Leaders and Advocates. Группа авторов
Leadership and Advocacy
Consistent with a proliferation of scholarship about leadership and advocacy, multiculturalism, advocacy, and social justice have become intertwined as the counseling profession has evolved (Lee, 2012; Ratts, 2011). Incorporating multiculturalism and social justice can occur at multiple systemic levels of leadership (Cashwell & Barrio Minton, 2012; Chan et al., 2018, 2019; Storlie, 2016; Storlie & Jach, 2012). As an explicit example, Cashwell and Barrio Minton (2012) identified myriad ways for administrators and leaders to meet their responsibility for institutionalizing multiculturalism and social justice into the culture and operations of academic units (e.g., departments). Other counseling leaders (Chan et al., 2018; Day-Vines et al., 2018; Remley & Herlihy, 2020; Singh, Appling, & Trepal, 2020; Singh, Nassar, et al., 2020) highlighted the importance of establishing multiculturalism, advocacy, and social justice as intuitive priorities across the counselor education curriculum, which would ultimately become a cultural norm rather than an isolated specialty. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) 2016 Standards (CACREP, 2015) address social and cultural foundations as a core area, and the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014) further outlines multicultural competence as an ethical obligation for counseling practitioners, supervisors, and counselor educators.
Culturally responsive leadership has been evident in school and educational research for some time (Johnson, 2006; Madhlangobe & Gordon, 2012). We have seen that “school counselors must understand how their skills and ethical responsibilities interface within the context of their one school system and the idiosyncrasies and interactions that exist within and across various systems” (Beck et al., 2018, p. 45). We acknowledge, however, that little has been written about culturally responsive leadership for the remaining specialty areas within the counseling profession (e.g., clinical mental health, clinical rehabilitation, counselor education and supervision), and much more work is needed (Peters & Luke, 2021). It is essential to explore how we can best engage in cultural responsiveness through the lens of counselor leadership and advocacy in the current times of social unrest and systemic injustice against communities of color.
Applying Ecological Systems Theory to Enhance Culturally Responsive Counseling Leadership
Ecological frameworks, and frameworks that embed the context of the culture to our overarching society, can help us better understand a larger social ecology (Schriver, 2011) while also considering the environmental context of various subsystems, both close and farther away from the individual. We introduce a framework to better understand the systemic influences on culturally responsive counseling leadership that we conceptualized by applying Bronfenbrenner’s ecological and sociocultural model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory incorporates various levels of ecosystems situated within a complex system of relationships influenced by the surrounding environment (Tissington, 2008). When considering culturally responsive counseling leadership, ecological systems theory highlights five nested structures—microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem—that have been applied to counseling in the past to construct an understanding of how environmental influences can affect development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Using this model, we suggest advocacy steps in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that highlight how counseling leaders can take direct action to combat systemic injustices.
BLM
BLM (https://blacklivesmatter.com) was founded in July 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin (Black Lives Matter, n.d.). Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black teenage boy visiting family in the community, was killed on February 26, 2012, by 28-year-old George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, of White and Hispanic ancestry, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for his gated community. He racially profiled Martin, assumed he was there without reason, and called authorities to report Martin as suspicious. Zimmerman was armed, and he pursued and initiated a physical altercation with Martin despite repeatedly being advised by a dispatcher to cease his pursuit. Zimmerman fatally shot Martin and claimed self-defense. He was acquitted of second-degree murder in July 2013. The highly publicized and polarizing case functioned as a catalyst for organizers and activists fighting against anti-Black racist violence.
Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi founded the BLM movement and organization following Zimmerman’s acquittal. BLM gained national and international attention in the aftermath of two more deaths of Black men at the hands of police: Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York. In each case, the accuser was found not guilty of murder. The BLM website describes itself, in part, as “a global organization in the U.S., UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes” (Black Lives Matter, n.d.). Black Lives Matter is a decentralized network comprising 15 to 30 chapters within and beyond the United States. It has become an influential force in the fight against anti-Black racism in several contexts, including schools and government, while unapologetically affirming the humanity of all Black lives.
BLM and Counseling Leadership
As the counseling profession endorses and advocates for culturally responsive leaders, we must be ready and willing to situate ourselves within the context of the sociopolitical landscape in the United States and globally. The BLM movement explicitly aligns with the profession’s espoused value and ongoing work against anti-Black racism in all of its forms. Washington and Henfield (2019) address this issue and describe how the MSJCC can function as an ethical framework for counselor educators in their work with preservice counselors to increase their awareness, knowledge, and skills about how state-sanctioned violence against Black people is routinely experienced and impedes their wellness. They make clear connections between the BLM ethos and the counseling profession and recommend specific action steps. Specifically, they suggest that counselor educators enhance their pedagogical practices and curricula by inviting members of the BLM movement into their classes and “creating an awareness-raising assignment that inverts the immersion activities/assignments commonplace” in our programs (p.156). They also recommend enhancing our counseling scholarship by initiating research projects that document student, faculty, and alumni perceptions of and experiences with the BLM movement as a baseline for more expansive and in-depth research projects.
As an extension of the work by Washington and Henfield, we offer suggestions for how counseling leaders can further engage in advocacy in support of the BLM movement. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory to contextualize that work, we operationalize each of the five levels of the ecological systems framework and provide ways to evaluate the effectiveness of advocacy work within each level (Figure 2.2).
Microsystem
The microsystem is the immediate environment that influences the culturally responsive counseling leader. This could include an already diverse environment of individuals closest to the counseling leader or may include individuals who share identities with the leader. It encompasses the counseling leader’s worldview in relation to age, culture, disability, ethnicity, race, religion/spirituality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status/partnership, language preference, socioeconomic status, immigration status (ACA, 2014, Standard 5.c.), and all other dimensions of identity. It is important to note that culturally responsive leaders intentionally include individuals who are different from them (and safe for them) to be a part of their microsystem. This inclusion enables safety for diversity of thought and background. Furthermore, this broader understanding can challenge leaders’ thinking while maintaining a consistent focus on inclusive practices in their personal and professional lives. Culturally responsive counseling leaders are reflexive and reflective and are open to growth and to expanding their perspective.