Gender identity has a significant impact on how an individual navigates and experiences the world. This chapter provides an overview of the intersections of social identities, offers an introduction to intersectionality, explores the impact of systems of oppression on mental health and well-being, and suggests strategies for incorporating principles of intersectionality and identity construction into counseling practice. Locating individual identity within sociopolitical contexts and recognizing the mutually constitutive interplay of social identities cause a significant shift in how identities are experienced, studied, and treated within counseling relationships and educational contexts. Many practitioners ground their work in social justice principles, recognizing that power, privilege, oppression, and discrimination impact sense of self as well as life experiences and expectations. Intersectionality has been deepened and broadened by scholars in education, counseling, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, history, queer theory, feminist studies, ethnic studies, and many other fields.

Members of privileged groups have important roles to play in social justice efforts. Because they have social advantages and greater access to resources, they are in unique positions to address issues in ways that are more difficult for those with disadvantages, as they are somewhat protected from the negative outcomes of doing so. Thus, White people can work to reduce racism, wealthy people economic inequality, heterosexual people homophobia, and so forth. This chapter highlights how the participation of those in privileged groups is essential to the success of social movements. Sexism is a form of prejudice, and it is important to have a clear understanding of how it works. Many people in dominant groups define prejudice in individualistic terms, as a consciously held attitude. Everyday allies are men who practice supportive behaviors whenever they encounter the opportunity.

Advocacy is key for the clinical mental health counseling profession. Clinical mental health counselor advocates (CMHCAs) rely on the advocacy competencies to guide their assistance to clients in removing barriers and to secure deserving resources, or to advocate on behalf of clients, groups, or communities. This chapter addresses the importance of advocacy and social justice advocacy, and the strategic positionality of the clinical mental health counselor as an advocate for addressing social and institutional barriers that reduce client access, equity, and success. It identifies the advocacy competencies and approaches to advocate for clients care, and emphasizes the ways that they foster resilience and growth. Specific cases illustrate clients' and professionals' understandings of and access to a variety of community-based resources. The chapter also addresses strategies to advocate for the profession and for clinical mental health counseling professionals.

This chapter presents a type of culturally open pastoral counseling that requires a transformation of self and society beyond an educated mind and a politically sensitive vocabulary. It discusses the current state of multicultural competence and social justice discourses. The chapter offers a few guiding principles intended to foster a more culturally open approach to cross-cultural training for pastoral counselors and other helping professionals. Training cultural competence in pastoral counseling and related fields focuses on meeting the ethical guidelines established by professional organizations. Training and discussions of social justice in pastoral counseling and related fields are aimed at drawing attention to the injustices inflicted on marginalized populations and motivating privileged populations to address and eradicate the resulting disparities. The primary focus of cross-cultural training for pastoral counselors is awareness, knowledge, and self-reflection. Developing cultural competence requires heightened awareness of personal cognitive dissonance when confronted with conflicting beliefs.

This chapter offers practical utility to help expand rehabilitation counselors’ (RCs) and other mental health professionals’ thinking about the various considerations that underlie a culturally competent social justice approach to rehabilitation counseling practice. Rehabilitation counseling has demonstrated its commitment to the importance of cultural competency in improving the quality and availability of counseling and rehabilitation services to clients from traditionally under represented racial/ethnic groups. The chapter describes the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies (MSJCC), with particular attention directed to the social justice framework and how it may be used to assist in working toward equity in the context of changing demographics in American society. It then explains how individual and group racial, sexual identity, cultural, and identity development may impact the counseling process. The counseling literature recognizes LGBTQ individuals as inclusive under the umbrella of multicultural populations, as well as intersecting with other groups because of multiple identities.

This chapter draws from the literature, professional counseling and education organizations, and their professional experiences to discuss the multi-faceted areas associated with counseling children and adolescents. It also details the evolving requirements to enter the school counseling profession and the standards that guide professional preparation and ongoing professional, ethical practice. Additionally, the chapter explores the challenges associated with balancing multiple roles and the benefits associated with using the literature to engage in the ethical practice of counseling that meets the needs of diverse stakeholders and supports personal well-being and professional excellence. The authors offer this chapter as a resource to counselors-in-training and persons in professional practice to remain engaged in the profession. The authors encourage readers to ponder the convergence of counselor training, professional standards, empathy, advocacy and social justice and wellness on their work, well-being, and contributions to their communities and the profession.

The social justice counselor (SJC) is essentially a new breed of contemporary counselor who no longer works with blinders on regarding a narrowed vision of counseling that focuses on treating a client’s symptoms while ignoring any external contributing factors of client distress. This chapter describes social justice counseling, its emphasis, why it is needed, and why all counseling disciplines should stay abreast of the topic, its counseling strategies, and the premise as to why social justice needs to be considered in counseling. Social psychologists and sociologists have long studied the psychological ramifications of inequality regarding the reciprocal effect of individuals’ interactions with their environment. The chapter explores the economic, health, and psychosocial ramifications of inequality and oppression to provide counselors with insights regarding the worldview and daily lives of the poor and oppressed in American society.

Counselors must deal with a variety of ethical issues and dilemmas. Counseling and psychotherapy are also guided by encompassing ethical guidelines, defined as ethical principles (high standards for ethical behavior). This chapter describes the six core ethical principles underlying ethical analysis in the profession of counseling. These principles are autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, fidelity and veracity. The chapter contrasts principle ethics with virtue ethics. The concept of justice involves fairness and equality in access to resources and treatment. Distributive justice involves access to resources and services that may be considered scarce. The chapter discusses the processes of considering their application to ethical issues and defines the concepts of balancing, weighing, and assigning prima facie merit to principles. Ethical standards are specific profession-relevant directives or guidelines that reflect the best ethical practice of professionals. The chapter discusses the principles with attention to how they inform ethical standards and practices in counseling.

This chapter summarizes pertinent issues discussed throughout the text, especially reinforcing the multiple emphases on systems-of-care, ecological, salutogenic, social justice, and diversity approaches. In addition, the chapter identifies new frontiers for counseling practice, such as new opportunities for counselors within the Veterans Administration and TRICARE system, in hospital settings, in hospice programs and assisted living environments, in other community settings, in school-based programs, in college counseling centers, and in sports counseling. The chapter also addresses the influence of technology upon the counseling profession, discussing the Internet-based services, such as virtual counseling, and telecounseling. It provides a discussion of the ethical, legal, and practice concerns related to this developing branch of counseling. With our professional organizations and the advocacy efforts of our practitioners and educators, the future holds great promise for the further development of professional counseling as an important part of the field of mental health and wellness.