Counselors as Social Justice Advocates

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Goal of Social Justice and Relations with Multicultural Counseling and Therapy

The compelling vision of social justice is to achieve “free, full, and equal participation” of all groups in society to realize their aspirations and mutual needs (Cohen, de la Vega, & Watson, 2001, p. 72). It envisions a fair society where resources are distributed equitably and the people’s physical and psychological wellbeing is valued. Such a society upholds the individual right to self-determination, democratic self-rule, agency of a person, sense of community, and non-oppressive systems. Realizing the vision of social justice requires the ideals of full participation, equity, social responsibility, and democracy as an impetus for social change (Cohen et al., 2012).

Multicultural counseling and therapy is sensitive to issues of bias, prejudice, and social oppression that result from person-environment interaction. Therefore, it is closely related to the social justice values of self-determination, equity, removal of oppression, and communitarian justice, among others (Vera & Speight, 2003). Realizing these values requires advocacy and case management to address issues of oppression and domination that preclude social justice.

Concepts of Worldview and Locus of Control

A psychologist named Julian Rotter first introduced the idea of locus of control to refer to a “predisposition in the perception to what causes reinforcement” (Sue & Sue, 2013, p. 34). It describes the extent to which a person feels he/she has power over behavioral outcomes. A person with an internal locus of control feels that the “consequences of one’s actions” depend on individual behaviors (Sue & Sue, 2013, p. 35). In contrast, an individual with an external locus of control would believe that the outcome is due to luck or fate that lies outside one’s control (Sue & Sue, 2013). Locus of control shapes how an individual perceives a situation or his/her worldview.

Reinforced beliefs, ethics, and behavior are contingent on individual worldviews. Cultural and religious factors influence how an individual sees the world around him/her (Sue & Sue, 2013). Therefore, a counseling psychologist should be sensitive to how the locus of control could affect his/her choice of his/her worldview to remain open-minded when dealing with a client. Further, understanding the dominant worldviews in a given culture and the client’s locus of control orientation could help teach effective coping strategies for better performance.

Self-assessment

By doing the self-test, I learnt that I have a strong internal locus of control. I strongly believe that my success solely depends on my individual effort. For this reason, I am a self-motivated person and I strive to grow my skills and abilities for a successful task performance. As an individual with an internal locus of control, I cope well under stressful conditions. However, a failure to meet goals or specific deadlines can be stressful at times. To cope with stressful situations, I engage in meditation and aerobics to achieve relaxation and peace of mind.

Counselor’s Role in Promoting Social Justice

Counseling aims at empowering the client by strengthening the individual’s social resources for improved functional ability and agency (Lago & Thompson, 2006). Social justice for refugees goes beyond equitable distribution of resources to addressing systemic factors related to bias, prejudice, oppression, and discrimination. A counselor can assist Muslim refugees to identify prejudice and learn to deal with its effects. Victims of such prejudice include Muslim women wearing the hijab and schoolchildren.

A counselor’s role as an advocate of social justice also entails assisting the refugee or his/her family to receive support, including employment, from community-based social protection agencies. Working with local Islamic organizations, including mosques, in a collaborative endeavor could help identify culturally appropriate services to support the integration of the Muslim refugees. In educational settings, a counselor can help the youth to understand the true meaning of Jihad to dispel the fear of Muslims associated with terrorism. Further, teaching students the causes of social injustice would enable intervene for marginalized groups. Therefore, the counselor’s role in promoting social justice includes that of an advocate, an educator, a community-based support facilitator, and an agent of change.

Advocacy Strategies for Promoting Social Justice

Counselors can be involved in advocacy interventions at individual, couple/family, and societal levels. At the client-level, counselors can advance social justice through empowerment. This approach would entail creating awareness of the barrier, oppression, or prejudice. Further, the caseworker can help Ali’s father develop self-advocacy skills, which is essential in coping social injustices. This may involve working with him to identify personal resources, empowering him through education (English), assertiveness training, creating awareness of individual rights, and understanding the client’s culture (Sue & Sue, 2013). He/she can also use institutional power to advocate for Ali’s rights and wellbeing both at home and at school.

At the couple or family level, the counselor’s advocacy strategies may include visiting the refugee’s household to experience their culture, e.g., burn marks on his stomach, educating the family their rights, and advocating for employment/economic opportunities for the parents. Group-level strategies may include defining the problems facing new immigrants to the local community and school and advocating for societal level support, e.g., language training for Ali’s parents (Lopez-Baez & Paylo, 2009). Other strategies may include educating other community members about the issues affecting the group, relationship building, and political/social action through social protection legislations.

Characteristics and Concerns of Refugees

Cultural competence is required when dealing with culturally diverse clients. At the international level, they are victims of torture, oppression, and marginalization that force them to flee their home country. At the national level, the characteristics that define refugees or new immigrants into the country include cultural/language barriers and socioeconomic challenges. The refugee families, e.g., Ali’s family, have different spiritual and political backgrounds from the dominant religious and political perspectives. Their different backgrounds coupled with the experience of social injustices require counselors to offer culturally competent therapy for better outcomes.

A counselor trained in cultural competence should address international and social issues that are the source of oppression. For example, the Western media have misinterpreted the concept of Jihad creating fear and antipathy against Muslims at public places. The counselor, through community-level strategies, can create awareness about Jihad to non-Muslims to promote integration. In addition, he/she should vouch for Homeland Security policies that do not target Muslims in relation to heightened surveillance at airports. Further, Muslim women who wear hijab should not be the target of security checks by the security agencies. The prejudice and profiling of American Muslims by national security agents hinders their full religious and political participation in the society.

Historical/Current Impact of Immigration, Poverty, and Welfare

Refugees face similar challenges across the country. Since most refugees are fleeing war and destruction, they are impoverished and disoriented. The Muslim family is likely to live in low-income neighborhoods of the city that are prone to violence and drugs. Their children will grow in unsafe environments and may join violent gangs or drug traffickers. This will affect the cohesiveness of the family unit.

Historically and even now, refugee families face difficulties securing employment due to cultural and language barriers (Lago & Thompson, 2006). Thus, refugees are likely to be poverty-stricken. In addition, naturalization requirements prevent them from using federal welfare programs such as Medicaid. Current immigration has created a culturally diverse and pluralistic society. However, racism against minorities prevents them from fully participating in the American society. Muslims are likely to conceal their religious identity when public places or change their names due to the pervasive stereotypes.

Advocacy Processes

Institutional racism and other social barriers can be addressed through social or political advocacy. The counselor can engage with policy makers to address the social barriers that affect minorities (Toporek, Lewis, & Crethar, 2009). Through his/her direct involvement in community affairs, the counselor can become a change agent at policy level. He/she can bring policy change proposals obtained from the clients to legislators. However, he/she must maintain the confidentiality of client stories when arguing for the need for policy change. For instance, the counselor could meet with a lawmaker or his/her personal assistant to discuss the need for cultural awareness training to enable immigrants like Ali’s father to understand child abuse and rights.

Social justice advocacy movements through networks and alliances with various interest groups can also overcome the social barriers that impede access and equity. The counselor can advocate on behalf of minority groups through professional networks. He/she can also agitate for a “social justice mission” in all counseling organizations to drive social policy change at community, academic, and national levels (Lee & Rodgers, 2009, p. 285).

My Role as a Counselor

As a counselor, I would advocate for a smooth integration of the Muslim family in the local community. I would educate the family the key aspects/values of the American culture to equip the members with multicultural competence skills. I would suggest a basic language training to enable Ali and his family to communicate in public places. Additional training on coping strategies would enable them cope with stress and the effects of culture shock.

I would also utilize community-level strategies to promote integration of Ali’s family into the community. I would use community outreach programs to create awareness on the Islamic culture, including the concept of Jihad and clothing practices of Muslim women. This approach would help reduce the fear that breeds prejudice and discrimination against Muslims by Westerners. Outreach programs involving Islamic clerics would also help remove the terrorist tag associated with Muslims and enhance the appreciation of the Islamic culture and beliefs.

Social Justice

As a counselor, I would employ different strategies to advance social justice at the micro-, meso-, and macro-level. At the micro-level, I would seek to understand the Muslim family’s culture and lifestyle through family visits. This approach would help me deal with personal stereotypes first to support the client adjust to the American society. In addition, I would work with the client to define resources he/she could use to cope with prejudice or oppression in public spaces. At the meso-level, I would work with schools and community organizations through alliances to advocate for change at the community level. I would advocate for community-based support through community collaboration as a facilitator. At the macro-level, I would advocate for enhanced public awareness of the concept of Jihad to remove prejudice and biases against American Muslims.

References

Cohen, D., de la Vega, R., & Watson, G. (2001). Advocacy for social justice: A global action and reflection guide. Bloomfield: Kumarian Press.

Lago, C., & Thompson, J. (2006). Race, culture, and counselling. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Lee, C., & Rodgers, R. (2009). Counselor advocacy: Affecting systemic change in the public arena. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87, 284-291.

Lopez-Baez, S., & Paylo, M. (2009). Social justice advocacy: Community collaboration and systems advocacy. Journal of Counseling and Development, 87(3), 276-283.

Sue, W., & Sue, D. (2013). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Toporek, L., Lewis, J., & Crethar, C. (2009). Promoting systemic change through the advocacy competencies. Journal of Counseling and Development, 87, 260-268.

Vera, M., & Speight, L. (2003). Multicultural competence, social justice, and counseling psychology: Expanding our roles. The Counseling Psychologist, 31(3), 253-272.

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