Grasping at the Root: Transforming Counseling Psychology

Abstract

In her 2022 Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP) Presidential Address, Amy L. Reynolds reflects on the need for transformation within counseling psychology through critical consciousness and radical action. With a focus on transforming our curriculum, centering Indigenous people and perspectives, and disrupting anti-Black racism and white supremacy in SCP policies, structures, and practice, Reynolds proposes using reparations and accountability as critical frameworks for counseling psychology.

Are Training Programs Addressing Anti-Black Racism and White Supremacy? A Descriptive Analysis

“…Although the population-specific approach used in most multicultural classes is helpful in allowing students to better understand the host of different clients who may present to therapy, it does not address the interpersonal aspect of therapy or how oppressive systems result in the very mental health concerns they seek to treat. Even where one could argue that classes were, by design, narrowly focused on topics such as gender, sexuality, or religion, an intersectional systems-level frame would suggest that sexism, cissexism, heterosexism, and Christonormativity have their roots in White supremacy (e.g., Grzanka et al, 2019;Liu, 2017;Reynolds, 2022). Additionally, anti-Black racism uniquely intersects with each of these axes of oppression; for example, Black women experience gendered racism which results in detriments unique from sexism alone (Lewis et al, 2013(Lewis et al, , 2017Wright & Lewis, 2020).…”

“…Gushue et al found that when counseling psychology students had higher levels of critical consciousness, they had lower levels of color-blind racial attitudes and, in turn, greater social justice self-efficacy, interests, outcome expectations, and commitment. Reynolds (2022) and Wilcox (2023) argued that scholars of Color have provided a myriad of pedagogical tools that, despite answering repeated calls for concrete social justice recommendations, nonetheless are not integrated into the curricula and collective understanding, resulting in the lack of adequate education and training posited by the above-referenced scholars. We argue that, just as Reynolds (2022) described the SCP processes, counseling psychology training programs may make efforts toward social justice but, in the absence of structural or institutional change, they fade with time.…”

“…Addressing Anti-Black Racism and White Supremacy Amongst the renewed calls for counseling psychology to advance its social and racial justice work is former SCP President, Dr. Anneliese Singh (2020), urging that we "build a counseling psychology of liberation that centers Black liberation with every breath we take, because in working for Black liberation we all get free" (p. 112). Reynolds (2022) adds that although the "singular focus on anti-Black racism may make some uncomfortable" (p. 1136), anti-Black racism is the foundation of all other forms of racism and intersectional oppression. Anti-Black racism is arguably foundational to the United States due to its national origins in colonialism and slavery (Bell, 1992;Grzanka et al, 2019).…”

“…Reynolds (2022) and Wilcox (2023) argued that scholars of Color have provided a myriad of pedagogical tools that, despite answering repeated calls for concrete social justice recommendations, nonetheless are not integrated into the curricula and collective understanding, resulting in the lack of adequate education and training posited by the above-referenced scholars. We argue that, just as Reynolds (2022) described the SCP processes, counseling psychology training programs may make efforts toward social justice but, in the absence of structural or institutional change, they fade with time. It is perhaps for these reasons that the needle, as it pertains to outcomes, seems to have been largely stagnant for four decades.…”

Building Program Structures to Advance Vocational Research on Women

“…In recent years, stronger calls to transform into an antiracist and antioppressive profession have been made, both within the APA (2021) and the Society of Counseling Psychology (Reynolds, 2022; Singh, 2020; Wilcox et al, 2023), and efforts are underway to support this transformation. Vocational psychology scholars have been pushing the field to consider how oppression is reflected in our language and terminology, research, and theories for some time (e.g., Blustein, 2001; Blustein et al, 2005; Brewster & Molina, 2021; Richardson, 1993).…”