This chapter presents an overview of the restorative justice movement in the twenty-first century. Restorative justice, on the other hand, offers a very different way of understanding and responding to crime. Instead of viewing the state as the primary victim of criminal acts and placing victims, offenders, and the community in passive roles, restorative justice recognizes crime as being directed against individual people. The values of restorative justice are also deeply rooted in the ancient principles of Judeo-Christian culture. A small and scattered group of community activists, justice system personnel, and a few scholars began to advocate, often independently of each other, for the implementation of restorative justice principles and a practice called victim-offender reconciliation (VORP) during the mid to late 1970s. Some proponents are hopeful that a restorative justice framework can be used to foster systemic change. Facilitation of restorative justice dialogues rests on the use of humanistic mediation.

This chapter describes some of the recent restorative justice innovations and research that substantiates their usefulness. It explores developments in the conceptualization of restorative justice based on emergence of new practices and reasons for the effectiveness of restorative justice as a movement and restorative dialogue as application. Chaos theory offers a better way to view the coincidental timeliness of the emergence of restorative justice as a deeper way of dealing with human conflict. The chapter reviews restorative justice practices that have opened up areas for future growth. Those practices include the use of restorative practices for student misconduct in institutions of higher education, the establishment of surrogate dialogue programs in prison settings between unrelated crime victims and offenders. They also include the creation of restorative justice initiatives for domestic violence and the development of methods for engagement between crime victims and members of defense teams who represent the accused offender.

This chapter examines the differences in facilitating a settlement-driven versus dialogue-driven mediation. It also examines the concept of introducing a humanistic approach to mediation and dialogue. The chapter presents the characteristics and qualities of an effective mediator in relation to the victim and offender, the facilitator’s responsibilities during preparation, the dialogue itself, and follow-up, including the significance of self-care. Nowhere else in the restorative justice process is the principle of respect and being non-judgmental more critical than in how the facilitator treats victim, offender, and other key stakeholders. Settlement-driven mediation is generally practiced within a conflict resolution context. In contrast, dialogue-driven mediation recognizes that most conflicts develop within a larger emotional and relational context characterized by powerful feelings of disrespect, betrayal, and abuse. Besides the governing values that define humanistic mediation, mediators must cultivate their emotional commitment to and connection with the highest principles they assign to the dialogue work.

This chapter defines restorative justice and discusses the various forms that this approach to wrongdoing and offending may take. It reveals the relevance of restorative interventions to social work practice. The chapter recognizes pioneers in the field of restorative justice with special emphasis on social work theorists. It describes the various forms of restorative justice from micro level victim-offender conferencing to community-level healing circles to macro level reparative justice. The chapter argues for greater social work involvement in shaping policies that include restorative justice options in situations of wrongdoing and social work involvement in facilitating victim–offender and anti bullying conferencing. The chapter also describes aspects of restorative justice that address competencies related to advocacy for human rights and issues of spirituality.

This chapter distinguishes between spirituality and religiosity. It reports on a study that begins to deconstruct the elements in restorative justice that might be considered spiritual. Spirituality is defined as a reverence for life. Sacred reverence is defined as being in awe of and deep regard or veneration. Religious leaders are often strong promoters at the forefront of many rehabilitative justice practices including restorative justice. By delineating specific spiritual components, the concept of spirituality is made clearer and more usable by social workers and other mediators of restorative justice practice. Bender and Armour examined texts about restorative justice using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Nine components of spirituality emerged from the research on the restorative justice literature such as: internal transformation, connectedness, common human bond, repentance, forgiveness, making right a wrong, balance or harmony, rituals and the spirit or supernatural.

This chapter provides an introduction to the three basic dialogue practices like victim-offender mediation (VOM), family group conferencing (FGC) and peacemaking circles and the expansion of VOM to include severely violent crime. It describes the components of a restorative justice dialogue that are a part of all approaches. The chapter delineates the stages in developing a dialogue including referral, preparation, dialogue meeting, and follow-up. Again these stages demonstrate how restorative justice values, principles, and core concepts are actualized in the process. The chapter describes the conditions necessary for creating the context that enables change during the dialogue. Those conditions include a process orientation, safety establishment, respectful interaction, and the flow of positive energy. Besides embodying restorative justice values, these conditions represent spiritual components. The components include: personal accountability in response to the harm, inclusivity, voluntarism, preparation for the dialogue, and the telling of story as personal truth.

This chapter promotes understanding of the intersection of social work case level practice skills and social welfare programs and policy. It describes the social work advocacy process, and explores how social and political values impact accessibility to social welfare programs. It assists social workers in developing competence in policy practice and in case and policy advocacy. The chapter also helps social workers recognize when social welfare and economic policies are not fairly distributed, and to become skilled in taking action at the micro-, mezzo, and/or macro level. It discusses the interaction of direct practice with case advocacy to underscore the critical need to understand and interpret policy to achieve social justice. The chapter further highlights the importance of social workers engaging in case and policy advocacy to achieve a socially just outcome for any individual or group, especially those impacted by involvement in the criminal justice system.

In order to be an effective manager, the key ingredient is to understand that the world, as it is perceived, is the world that is behaviorally important. As a manager, it is important to be able to differentiate between fact and inference. Managers should identify staff with high-power needs and understand that when those people feel powerless or not in control of a situation, they are more likely to be frustrated. As many managers view the appraisal process as intruding into their “regular” responsibilities, they tend to not want to go out of their way to concentrate on gathering, thoroughly evaluating, and digesting all the information needed to accurately assess a staff member’s performance. An ongoing and open dialogue between staff and management is critical to ensure that the manager is conducting him- or herself in a manner that fits into the parameters of social justice.

Social justice is the foundation for a democratic society and means that all people should have an equal chance to achieve economic, personal, and public success. Social change means that nonprofit organizations do not accept the status quo in the health, education, poverty, and other areas of public concern where they work. The problem in today’s financially uncertain world is that nonprofits have moved away from doing social change advocacy and concentrate more on their own staff, fundraising, and other management issues. This chapter traces the development and evaluation of a training program for present and future nonprofit leaders that combine management and social change skills and knowledge, which allow a nonprofit executive to take on social change challenges. The training considers social change as a part of the daily workload of a nonprofit and so it is integrated into each management course in the curriculum.

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 book presents a comprehensive list of leadership and management competencies from the Network for Social Work Management (NSWM) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) along with a list of competencies and practice behaviors that are located in each chapter. This chapter discusses NSWM human services management competencies and practice behaviors. There are twenty one competencies, which include: establishes, promotes, and anchors the vision, philosophy, goals, objectives, and values of the organization; possesses interpersonal skills that support the viability and positive functioning of the organization; possesses analytical and critical thinking skills that promote organizational growth; models appropriate professional behavior and encourages other staff members to act in a professional manner; manages diversity and cross-cultural understanding and develops and manages both internal and external stakeholder relationships; and initiates and facilitates innovative change processes and advocates for public policy change and social justice at national, state, and local levels.

This book presents a comprehensive list of leadership and management competencies from the Network for Social Work Management (NSWM) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) along with a list of competencies and practice behaviors that are located in each chapter. This chapter briefly describes the nine CSWE competencies and practice behaviors. Competency one: Demonstrate ethical and professional behavior; Competency two: Engage diversity and difference in practice; Competency three: Advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice; Competency four: Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice; Competency five: Engage in policy practice; Competency six: Engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities; Competency seven: Assess individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities; Competency eight: Intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities; and Competency nine: Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. It provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. The chapter focuses on music-based interventions in the personal/social domain for connecting students to the Civil Rights Movement through music. Music played a key role in the movement and marked pivotal milestones as the movement progressed. The music-based interventions explore songs related to the Civil Rights Movement and as an expression for discussing social justice.

This chapter provides an overview of social work values and how these values influence the definition of ethical conduct and practices. “Social workers’ values influence the kinds of relationships they have with clients, colleagues, and members of the broader society”. The profession’s values also inform the kind of interventions social workers employ with clients. For example, a social worker might advocate against separating immigrant parents from a child born in the United States based on the value of social justice. The social work profession’s values also provide guidance in resolving ethical dilemmas. The social work profession continually reexamines the value base of the profession as it evolves in today’s ever changing world. Direct practice social workers should pay particular attention to the standards addressing the roles, duties and interactions they have with the clients they serve.

Myriad statutory, procedural, and technological innovations have been made in the criminal and civil justice systems to increase access to courts and legal services for older people and people with disabilities. This chapter describes basic legal concepts that pertain to individual rights and explains some of the criticisms that have been leveled against aging and elder abuse policy on legal grounds. It points out the role that courts play in interpreting rights, determining when they have been violated, and finding that statutes and executive actions are invalid. It focuses on a few examples that have attracted scrutiny, particularly with respect to elder abuse and neglect. Among the constitutional amendments that are most relevant to elder justice are the Fifth, which limits the government's authority to infringe on life, liberty, and the pursuit of property without due process, and the Fourteenth, which provides equal protection under the law.

The phenomenological approach to qualitative research is rooted in philosophy and amplified in social justice and creativity. The general purpose of phenomenology is to seek the essence of its subject, and that may take the form of meaning making with a social justice context. Phenomenologist are interested in what lies at the heart of the matter. Phenomenology differs from other qualitative traditions in its unique quest for meaning making through essentialism. While all qualitative inquiry is an attempt to preserve a unique perspective, phenomenologists highlight the uniqueness as a community value, allowing the reader to engage in transference of a common purpose. This chapter helps to identify the paradigmatic hierarchy and understand how to increase rigor of phenomenological research. It describes the five types of phenomenological research and recognizes multicultural issues associated with phenomenological research.

This concluding chapter proposes an Elder Justice Agenda. The agenda suggests strategies that can be adapted by advocates, service providers, educators, planners, policy makers, and researchers, and offers examples for doing so. The chapter summarizes recommendations made throughout the book and organizes them into categories: practice, training, policy, public awareness and engagement, and research. It further suggests steps and actions for getting started. The agenda is neither complete nor definitive. Rather, it is offered to stimulate discussion, debate, problem solving, collaboration, and innovation. It is further provided to inspire thought leaders and those new to the field of aging and abuse prevention to share perspectives. It provides opportunities for critics and advocates to be heard, and young and old to join together to tackle today's unprecedented challenges and shape the future of an aging America.

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.

This introductory chapter presents a brief description of the book and its contents. It begins with description of the concepts of truth, justice, and the American way. This book assumes that advocates for older people can increase their effectiveness by achieving a clearer understanding of Americans’ not-so-self-evident nor inalienable rights. It explores how social justice and human rights principles have applied to older adults in the past and are viewed today. The book examines how the interests of older adults compare to and are intertwined with those of other groups. In essence, it frames elder justice as the intersection between aging policy and policy that promotes human rights and justice. Finally, the chapter describes the organization of the book and presents a brief overview of each chapter.

Aside from guidance in the case of a neglected, abused, or abandoned child or an offending juvenile, the forensic psychologist plays an important role in advocating for special needs children and advocating, on their behalf, enforcement of the antidiscrimination laws that apply to the educational system. This chapter is all about children of all ages. It discusses all aspects of children and the law through laws, psychology, and cases. The approach was chronological, in that the first part of the chapter addresses abused, neglected, and abandoned children (usually the youngest), then considers education, and ends with the main forensic psychology topic of juveniles in the justice system—that is, delinquents; their behavior, rights, and punishment; and the laws that affect them. Research into the adolescent brain was cited, as were several topical cases that illustrate the still fluctuating thinking about juvenile justice.

At every stage of the job search, the successful candidate will need to ensure positioning as a strong fit for the right opportunity. First, job seekers who have clear insight on what they have to offer will gather information to identify target organizations that are good prospects for a fit with their career goals. Having identified a list of their target organizations, the next step is to gather as much intelligence on them as possible to help these individuals customize their resumes and cover letters for specific opportunities. Most nonprofit organizations are dedicated to a mission of advancing social justice or making the world better in some way. In filling leadership level positions, they look for the candidate who will embrace the mission and has leadership skills that will spark the organization to generate an even greater impact.

Supervisors must keep the conversation of social location and issues of power and privilege front and center in the process and content of supervision. This chapter presents some ways in which supervisors can keep these conversations central in supervision so that discussions of diversity and oppression remain vibrant, intentional, and ever-present. It outlines four primary areas that can be attended to in the supervisor-supervisee relationship in order to do this: establishing a safe space for supervisory connection; working toward cultural knowledge/awareness and cultural humility; recognizing and managing privilege, power, and bias associated with social location for all involved; and embracing our role as agents of change in the areas of social justice and advocacy with our clients and in our profession. The degree to which the supervisor creates a sense of safety for supervisees to self-disclose influences the quality of the supervisory relationship.

This chapter emphasizes two different approaches to mixed methods research. The transformative mixed methods approach creates new social justice–oriented research by employing qualitative and quantitative methods within a single phase, sequential phases, or concurrently. The multiphase mixed methods tradition is specifically designed for large-scale investigations that employ separate and equally emphasized qualitative and quantitative methodological frameworks. The order of data collection and analysis can either be sequential or concurrent, and each phase builds on the previous thread culminating in a fuller understanding of the overall project objectives. The chapter comprehends the philosophical integration of transformative and multiphase research design. It recognizes how to maximize the rigor of transformative and multiphase design. The chapter defines the data analysis process for transformative and multiphase designs and explains how mixed methods traditions can enhance multicultural competency.

This chapter differentiates religion from spirituality and examines the prevalence of both in the African American community. It examines the history of the Black church as well as its overall impact on the African American community. The chapter then elucidates the beginnings of Black Protestant church during slavery followed by its historical and current role in social justice and activism endeavors. It explores Catholicism with a review of some of the differences from Protestant denominations, a historical examination of the African American Catholic Church, and an introduction to Black Catholic theology. Next, the chapter discusses Islam, including the Nation of Islam, and focuses on religion among same gender loving (SGL) African Americans and potential struggles with homonegativity. It concludes by focusing on how religion and spirituality can continue to support the African American community through educational programs, mental and physical health interventions, and support of SGL African Americans.

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.

Social justice and social change are theoretical orientations and organizing principles to guide action. This chapter explores the “traditional” nonelectronic mechanisms for cultivating donors and surveys the broad range of tools traditionally used to cultivate donors. Successful fundraising requires the connection of the donor’s values and priorities with a nonprofit’s core values, and mission. In general, an individual donor’s contributions typically are unrestricted and can be used for funding an organization’s general operating expenses. The nonprofit sector is supported by four types of funders: government, individuals, foundations, and corporations. Private and corporate foundations’ contributions are typically restricted or directed at covering the expenses of a particular program in an organization’s management portfolio. Managers often justify corporate giving on the basis of its claimed benefits to shareholders; benefits may include goodwill that is created by corporate involvement with charitable causes, which may lead to enhanced employee morale and increased customer loyalty.

Counselors and clients are immersed in a social and cultural context and embedded in multiple systems and subsystems, such as family, workplace, community, and society. This chapter addresses system views, integrated care, barriers to treatment, multicultural issues, and the use of multicultural and social justice skills in the provision of clinical mental health counseling. Specific topics include a discussion of systems, holistic care, barriers to healthcare, and culturally competent counselors. The chapter further explores the connections between culturally competent care and the potential role for clinical mental health counselors in ascertaining the systemic need for new agency- and integrated healthcare-based programs. The student is introduced to basic tenets of system worldviews, developing integrated new programs aimed at meeting the clinical mental health needs of diverse and varied clients, and the application of multicultural and social justice skills in clinical mental health counseling.

In addition to traumas that heterosexual and cisgender people experience, queer and transgender people face a heterosexist and cissexist culture, in which marginalization and trauma against them is normalized or minimized. In this chapter, the experience of hate crimes and violence, relational and interpersonal trauma, religious based-trauma, and sociocultural and political-based trauma are covered in relation to how it impacts Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer (LGBTQ) people. Clinical and counseling implications are discussed. The increase in mental health challenges is explained via the minority stress model. Implications for diagnosis and trauma-informed practices for queer and transgender people are discussed. Additionally, the role of the mental health professional as a social justice advocate is explored, including how social justice frameworks can be incorporated in the counseling environment.

The distress of populations affected by genocide, war, and the specific phenomenon often referred to as “ethnic cleansing” and political violence is typically viewed through the lens of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (the word “war” is used in the rest of this chapter to refer specifically to “ethnic cleansing”). However, there have been increasing critiques of the assumed universal applicability of the trauma paradigm, from psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as anthropologists and sociologists, engaged with individuals and societies affected by mass violence. This chapter reviews how the specific characteristics of genocide, war, and political violence pose challenges to biomedical and Western psychological framings of trauma. It argues the need for greater attention to cultural context, intersecting structural oppressions, and social justice and considers how narrative- and arts-based tools, underpinned by principles drawn from multicultural and decolonial approaches, may assist in this endeavor.

In this chapter, the authors review important concepts related to diversity, inclusion, racial power dynamics, and racial justice overall and in school settings. Brief historical reviews of Brown v. Board of Education and the cycle of school segregation accentuate the need for addressing social justice within school settings. This chapter also highlights many other important concepts/theories to promote social justice and equity, including a focus on the strengths perspective, cultural humility and competence, work with diverse families, and consideration for special subpopulations. The chapter provides activities and classroom assignments to engage students in thinking critically about social justice, diversity, and social work practice in schools.

Over the years, many of the participants in the authors’ facilitative leadership training programs have worked to implement facilitative leadership in their agencies and community organizations. The authors have asked them for recommendations on how to increase facilitative leadership skills. While the authors had attempted to demonstrate that facilitative leadership is greater than the sum of leadership and facilitation skills, having some materials that build both of those skills can greatly benefit individual social workers and their agencies. Whenever possible, persons with good facilitative leadership skills within the agency or community organization and outside facilitators are paired with other individuals so they can observe the skills being put into practice. Asking group members with limited experience in serving as the formal facilitative leader to take various parts of the group process is an excellent way for them to build skills. Facilitative leadership and social justice are two strong, stand-alone concepts.

This chapter provides an overview of leadership and discusses several historical and current leadership theories. One’s path to becoming a facilitative leader involves learning about some of the theories and research about leadership. Equally important as the concepts of leadership are the views those theories articulate about followership. The trait theories come from historical roots that the leader is a great man and a hero. Leadership is often presumed in people with high positions, including corporate CEOs and directors of agencies. Administrator is a neutral position, and persons in that position may be perceived as positive or negative according to the leadership values they bring to the job. Social workers must engage in leadership and also that their efforts should address issues of social justice and injustice. Like Theory X-Theory Y, situational leadership is a theory designed around how those in leadership positions perceive followers.

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book reviews both the management and social change skills and knowledge needed by nonprofit executives to succeed as nonprofit leaders. The value of social justice and advocacy is very important for a nonprofit leader to incorporate in the organization’s work. The book promotes an integration of business and social service with a focus on social justice advocacy, it would be ideal to have an organizational culture that is supportive of this work, that is, all staff united with a culture of care rather than complaint. Hiring and supporting a diverse workforce are inextricably linked for nonprofit leaders who want to develop and maintain a nonprofit agency committed to social justice. Our goal is to make a commitment to social justice and advocacy key to the organizational culture of the nonprofit organization.

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book illustrates the emerging importance of social justice when developing the nonprofit leader of the future. It describes the importance of financial management skills for the nonprofit leader. The book explores the changing role of a nonprofit board that includes more accountability and a higher level of demands. It analyzes many diverse functions within the nonprofit ecosystem and discusses how social justice is now an absolutely essential skill set when developing leaders in this field. The book examines the evolution of nonprofit boards from its humble beginnings as a neighborhood organization to its current state of a more formal entity. It indicates the definition of ‘social justice’ as creating an egalitarian society that is based on equality and solidarity where human rights and the dignity of each individual is of utmost importance.

This chapter refers to the most important federal tax laws relating to nonprofit governance. It addresses the relationship between tax-exempt status and advocacy for “social justice” that is an important public policy issue. The chapter describes the type of nonprofit organization, the primary responsibilities of directors, trustees, and officers, how to address conflicts of interest and related party transactions, important governance rules related to fundraising and what legal rules affect nonprofit organizations engaging in advocacy for social justice. A nonprofit status is generally a state law concept that may make an organization eligible for benefits such as state income, sales, and property tax exemption. The ultimate legal authority and responsibility for a nonprofit organization lie with the governing board, which is composed of directors or trustees. The chapter concludes by extracting some general principles and best practices for good governance of nonprofits.

This chapter presents a summary of authors’ perspectives as Fordham Graduate School of Business lecturers who had the opportunity to teach in an entirely different environment with students seeking to develop their skills in the field of nonprofit leadership for social justice. There are many similarities between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors in terms of the need to focus on leadership, management, strategy execution, organizational design, measuring performance, and developing talented individuals. The chapter reviews the principles and methodologies of strategic planning and the planning process used in for-profit organizations. It focuses on the assignment and discussion of an actual case study of the Madison Community House (MCH) as an example of a nonprofit strategic planning process and also on developing a course that would foster a robust learning environment. A theme of the course is to create a culture of integrity and ethical behavior.

This chapter provides a brief history and identifies the size of the nonprofit sector, and explores theories that explain the existence of the nonprofit sector. It examines the political and economic aspects of the operating environment of nonprofit organizations (NPO) and addresses the importance of keeping the social justice missions to the organizational sustainability of an NPO in today’s environment. The nonprofit sector emerged as major historical forces, laws and regulations, social institutions, political and economic trends, and events developed within the unique social context of the United States. Throughout the 19th century, religious organizations played a key role in the development of nonprofits. Historians believe that nonprofits reflect the rich voluntary traditions of America. Supply side theory further highlights the altruism and giving traditions of nonprofits. As the history of nonprofits has shown, nonprofits believe that they can and should contribute to building a more inclusive social justice movement.

Narrative Therapy was first introduced in the early writings of Michael White and David Epston in the early 1990s. Narrative theory presents stories as the performance of identity, not as representative of identity. The uniqueness of Narrative Therapy in today’s society is that it emphasizes and brings in a different perspective about looking at and situating human beings in their environment. With a strong appreciation for social justice, Narrative Therapy does attend to inequities of gender, race, economics, sexual orientation, and more. The process of supervising and training a narrative therapist parallels the process in the therapist-client relationship. The utilization of definitional ceremonies in the therapeutic process also enhances the reflecting team’s effectiveness. Definitional ceremonies are typically provided to underserved populations whose personal narratives are affected by issues of diversity, privilege, power, and marginalization.

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.

Throughout history, social work has played a significant role in the changing healthcare delivery system. This chapter highlights the history of healthcare and social work, including the roles social workers are engaged with diverse populations. It underscores the unique contributions and challenges that social workers are involved with in practice, policy, and research. Social workers have advocated for human rights and social justice throughout history. Social workers can help to change the healthcare delivery system that embraces collaboration with the individuals, families, communities, and other disciplines to insure good health for all members of society. Social workers recognize the dignity and worth of all people as well as the influence of the environment on human life. The recognition of healthcare disparities that continue to exist in society is a major concern of social workers responding to the needs of vulnerable populations.

Perhaps nowhere are the challenges to preserve individual rights and justice greatest than in the face of illness, disability, and death. This chapter calls attention to common violations of individual rights at the end of life such as the disregard of advance directives like “living wills” and “do not resuscitate” orders. It highlights the perils of these instruments, which were created to preserve autonomy but can be weaponized to exploit. The chapter then explores highly controversial rights of individuals to control their own deaths and enlist others to help them. It suggests how the “right to life” takes on new meaning in light of technological innovations that seek to extend life to previously unimaginable lengths and their implications for individual and collective rights. Finally the chapter also explores the implications of its corollary the “right to die”.

Much of what has been accomplished in elevating elder rights and abuse prevention internationally has been accomplished by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that work in collaboration with the United Nations (UN), are supported by the UN, or that focus on influencing UN policy and programs. The UN also has “specialized agencies”, committees, councils, and commissions that play significant roles in promoting elder justice. UN entities employ a wide range of strategies to address aging issues, which are International Assemblies, Sustainable Development Plans, Treaties and Conventions, Public Awareness Events and Observances, and Special Procedures. American advocates have much to gain from participating in the systematic, deliberative, and inclusive processes that the UN and international NGOs have applied to aging, elder rights, and elder abuse prevention. This includes the UN's tripartite approach to age as a matter of human rights, public health and social development.

This chapter applies an “elder justice lens” to the field of elder abuse prevention and suggests how it applies to policy, practice, and public consciousness. Adopting an elder justice approach to elder abuse prevention requires ridding the system of ageism and adopting approaches that advance personal autonomy, independence, respect, and self-determination. It further requires that help be provided in ways that are fair and equitable, which requires addressing systemic as well as interpersonal risk factors and social determinants. An elder justice approach to elder abuse prevention requires that individual rights and social justice principles are reflected in abuse prevention theory, practice, policy, and public understanding of the problem. Adopting elder justice approaches to elder abuse starts by changing how we think about abuse. This begins by adopting a conceptual framework that reflects a social justice and individual rights perspective. The ecological model is best suited for incorporating elder justice principles.

This chapter identifies the four tools of effective academic writing. It creates concept maps to support theory development and research criteria for literature reviews. It also addresses multicultural context in academic writing including employing bias-free writing and describes the purpose and structure of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) as a tool for successful academic writing. The chapter explores the connection between writing and thinking by way of an approach for researching and writing a literature review, which includes creating concept maps to support the theoretical foundation of a literature review and addressing multicultural issues in academic writing. It begins with the multicultural and social justice–competency as a framework. Cultural considerations in writing are expansive and can include the mechanics of language through to the context by which information is framed and communicated to an audience.

Elder justice has emerged from multiple fronts. It comes from researchers who are discovering that chronic illnesses, disability, and elder abuse are linked to poverty, discrimination, and social exclusion. This chapter calls for a new paradigm of elder justice that is based on the principles of human rights and social justice as they apply to older people. It builds on and reinforces past progress, revisits old assumptions and unfulfilled promises, and identifies new needs and challenges. The chapter then lays the groundwork for an elder justice agenda by suggesting the need for a new conceptual framework and elements to include. It builds upon principles of human rights and justice and employs public health methods to identify needs and suggest solutions. Finally the chapter connects the dots among existing policies and practices, building on those that have proven successful and rejecting those that have not.

A dramatic shift has occurred in the field of long-term care in recent decades in how providers talk about those they serve. This chapter explains what consumer rights are and suggests how they might apply in long-term care. It considers obstacles that older consumers with physical and cognitive disabilities may face as well as barriers imposed by the markets themselves, such as the failure of healthcare to respond to market forces that are supposed to drive prices down and lead to new and improved products. It acknowledges the special rights of users of medical care, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and health plans as articulated in patients' rights and residents' rights declarations and agreements. The chapter finally makes the case that consumers' rights should be a component of elder justice and that elder justice advocates and the public need to understand how to exercise and protect them.

Public policy bearing the labels of elder rights and elder justice is scant and only recently appeared on the scene. The terms “elder rights” and “elder justice” have been largely appropriated by the field of elder abuse, which has applied them narrowly to policies and programs that address elder and dependent adult abuse and mistreatment. But “aging policy” in the United States is grounded in social justice principles and goals. This explains how Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Supplemental Security, the Older Americans Act, and the Elder Justice Act have advanced individual rights and social justice. It also explores how discrimination against older people has been addressed, explicitly, through measures like the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and by policies that protect older people as members of other groups. This includes laws and regulations that protect people with disabilities, residents of institutions, consumers, crime victims, prison inmates, and others.

Public health seeks to achieve optimal health for everyone, employing the “ecological model” to identify and respond to individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors that pose health risks to entire populations. Public health is increasingly focusing on the “social determinants” of disease, disability, and premature death. This chapter proposes that public health be included as a key component of elder justice, providing an alternative or complement to the medical model that is more compatible with social justice goals. Public health theory and practice provide powerful tools for elder justice. Adopting public health principles and practices to elder justice will require: applying the ecological model beyond elder abuse and Alzheimer's disease to encompass a wider array of elder justice issues, expanding on the use of epidemiological research to identify health disparities, building upon and prioritizing prevention strategies, forging new alliances and collaborations, and achieving public support.

Diverse components of the aging networks have been involved in research, education, and practice in the area of emergency and disaster planning. This chapter covers a broad array of topics related to the well-being and the rights of older adults, including elder justice, the Ombudsman program, and legal assistance. It is important to view the supports for older adults from the perspective of empowerment and autonomy rather than from where we have been in the past with programs that foster dependence and operate from a paternalistic attitude about aging, including the view that professionals know what is best and, at the very least, someone other than the older adult knows what is right and what is needed. The aging networks can achieve this by promoting programs that are “active aging” focused and grounded in the social determinants of health as the organizing principle.

This chapter examines five areas of social work that have been primarily developed in more recent social work eras: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights, ethics, environmental social work, trauma and neuroscience. It provides some basic information on these areas, along with one individual who had contributed to this area of social work. These individuals have been selected as examples of leading areas of social work, but are by no means the only leaders in the field during this new century. It would be impossible to recognize here all of the people who are creating, developing, and inspiring the field of social work today. Social workers are moving into new areas of the field, and are collaborating with professionals from many other areas related to mental health and social justice.

Social justice requires fairness in how governments distribute resources, provide services and opportunities, and protect rights. This chapter considers fairness with respect to older people from two perspectives: (a) fairness vis-à-vis other segments of the population, or “intergenerational equity”; and (b) fairness among older adults. It proposes to rectify intergenerational inequities by adopting an “across the life span” approach to allocating resources for health, social, legal, and protective services. It further urges policy makers and program developers to design policies and programs to reflect America's demographic profile, trends, and the special needs of different age groups. In addition to ensuring greater fairness, the approach combats the counterproductive “generations at war” narrative. The chapter further calls for programs for older people to acknowledge challenges and barriers faced by older people of color; women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT); immigrants; and other socially and economically disadvantaged groups.

Native Americans are a young and growing population. Poverty, racism, and trauma are common factors in the lives of many Native people, and these provide a context for significant social and health disparities. It is also important to recognize the resilience and tenacity that have allowed Native people to survive as distinct cultural and political groups in spite of centuries of colonization. Helping professionals can play an important role in assisting Native clients to access needed services and nurture their resilience. Professionals can also bring a strong grounding in social justice to combat many of the struggles that affect Indigenous Peoples. This chapter discusses the demographic profile of the Native American population. It also discusses the psychosocial risks and needs of Native Americans. The chapter provides the assessment treatment approaches for social and health problems, although few have been developed or adapted for Native Americans.

In Chapter 5, the authors review important concepts related to human rights and social and economic justice for school social work practice. This chapter defines human rights based on the principles outlined by the United Nations and reviews key concepts for enacting social justice as fundamental to human rights. The authors examine various forms of justice (e.g., social, economic, environmental, and educational justice) that impact students, their families, and their educational experiences. The authors pay particular attention to the plight of immigrant children or immigrant students. Further explored in this chapter is the role of discrimination in school settings that lead to disproportional representation of marginalized students. Reviews of critical race theory, Latin critical theory, and anti-oppressive social work practice are also highlighted in response to educational and social injustice.

The Council on Social Work Education underscores that social workers should be educated to advance human rights, and social, economic, and environmental justice. This chapter explores empowerment theory and practice as a strategy that social workers can use to promote rights, justice, and well-being for individuals, families, and communities. Empowerment theory is geared toward elevating the rights and needs of individuals, groups, and communities that have been facing oppression throughout history. The history, central concepts, and themes of empowerment are multidimensional and are related to intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and political domains. The close alliance of empowerment practice with human rights, oppression, and ecological systems theories has been a powerful force in assisting the population we commonly serve to embrace and liberate their personal and collective empowerment. Case examples of an individual and community are provided to illustrate how empowerment unfolds in the natural practice environment. Empowerment as a concept and practice serves an important role in understanding and achieving equality, rights, and justice for all. It also is an essential mechanism in achieving individual, family, group, and community well-being for people of all ages across the globe.

The task taken up by this last chapter entails a review of the dominant and stable array of policy agendas arising from different interests and segments of the body politic. A pragmatic understanding of the policy priorities and arguments of the health care system’s key stakeholders is needed when considering any effort toward health care reform, whether incremental or fundamental. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is critiqued in accordance with the central principles of alternative theories of social justice, and its accomplishments, deficits, and prospects for survival as coherent social policy are then considered. The chapter concludes with a synopsis of an approach to health care reform that would satisfy the demands of justice articulated in the theory of John Rawls. In the U.S. health care system, one is “enfranchised”, or eligible, to receive nonstigmatized health care on the basis of health care insurance.

The premise of this chapter is that relatively few students in public health, medicine, nursing, and social work have more than a superficial acquaintance with specific theories of social justice. It briefly describes five theoretical perspectives on positive rights to health and health care. As readers might have concluded by now, the five social justice perspectives considered in this chapter (libertarian, utilitarian, Marxist, liberal, and capabilities approach) indeed differ on their appraisal of health care as a basic right. Some theoretical perspectives go even further, by extending their arguments to entitlements or positive rights to not just health care, but to health itself as well. The chapter briefly summarizes these alternative theoretical perspectives on the right to health care, and then reviews the reasons for choosing the “Justice as Fairness” liberal theory of John Rawls as the optimal framework for the analysis of just health and health care policies.

The clinical implications of social group oppression are twofold: (a) recognizing and treating the psychological impact of oppression on marginalized groups and (b) recognizing and addressing the barriers to care that are in place for oppressed peoples. This chapter provides an overview of both of these clinical implications for oppressed peoples. It begins with a description of traditional theoretical frameworks that the field of psychology utilizes to help people with their psychological well-being and mental health, followed by a discussion of how such frameworks may be limited in their ability to incorporate oppression as a major psychological well-being and mental health issue for marginalized social groups. The chapter then goes on to provide a discussion of social justice frameworks for addressing oppression and how such frameworks may be integrated with clinical psychology practice to help us better serve clients who are members of marginalized groups.

The root causes of social injustice are in part centralized around wealth inequities, politicians and legislation favoring the wealthy, discrimination, and a Darwinian mentality (Greenwald, 2011; Marini, 2012b; Warren, 2014). This chapter explores the ramifications of social injustice in America focusing on those with disabilities. It discusses the ripple effect of poverty, oppression, and disability, and its subsequent deleterious impact for equitable treatment and opportunity. Beginning with prevalence statistics regarding poverty in general and disability specifically, the chapter segues into an exploration of the domino and vicious cycle effect of inequitable education, employment, health care, and health. The resulting psychosocial impact on minorities and those with disabilities is a reciprocal occurrence among these populations interfacing with an arguably apathetic societal and political populace. Finally, the chapter discusses a dialogue regarding the social justice counselor and strategies for counseling and advocating for this most ignored and disenfranchised population in America.

Rehabilitation counseling (RC) recognized family impact on service outcomes decades ago (Power & Hershenson, 2003; Westin & Reiss, 1979), but failed to develop substantive research (Bryan, 2009), practice, or policy (Kneipp & Bender, 1981) on their behalf. The cursory overview of family counseling approaches presented in this chapter is informative as a gestalt of theories and as a collection of unique tools. From the Community-based Rehabilitation Counseling (CRC) perspective, the therapeutic tools of family counseling can be repurposed for inclusive community development outcomes through community processes in all of the nested and networked communities that populate our lives. Thinking about counseling in systems and inclusive community development provides the backdrop for a CRC consideration of the models and tools of family counseling. The chapter describes models that align with social justice and integrated author’s own thinking in the hypothetical discipline of the CRC.

This chapter explains that established zero-tolerance policies within school districts and the regiment of disciplinary actions within schools have an inequitable and unfair impact on certain students, not only on minority and/or lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, LGBT adolescents. Many of these children and adolescents are already vulnerable and at risk for difficulties because of certain individual, family, or community-based characteristics, experiences, or harms. Maltreatment victimization neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse has a wide range of harmful outcomes and increases the risk for further problems. There are also disproportionate impacts on youthful offenders of color who are involved with the juvenile courts. Adolescents of color are overrepresented at each decision-making point within the juvenile justice system, from arrest to charges to disposition, with the greatest disparities the further a youthful offender penetrates the system. This problem is known as disproportionate minority contact.

Although culturally relevant interventions and social justice advocacy will be integrated throughout the text, this chapter focuses on marginalized communities, antiracism practices, and the Black Lives Matter movement as it relates to serving BIPOC students and discusses the impact of cultural mismatch and culturally incompetent school-based interventions. Resources for cultural awareness, knowledge, and skill development will be discussed, as well as the opportunities for addressing the school-to-prison pipeline, historically underserved populations, and the opportunity gap.

As with any profession, the roles, responsibilities, and foci areas will evolve as the technological and societal needs change. This chapter begins by providing foundational knowledge about the school counseling profession and its historical pathway. Key events in the United States have shaped the profession in recent years, leading to identification of the current trends affecting school counselors. Advancements in technology, increasing responsibilities, and future directions will be discussed.

In this chapter, students will explore the concept of strengths-based counseling and related interventions as the various roles and specific interventions are applied through this lens as the very foundation to the work of school counselors. Research-based support for this perspective and practitioner guidance is included. Case studies and scenarios demonstrating the difference between a traditional “deficit-based” perspective where a clinician or counselors initial view of a student is considering a “what’s wrong” approach will be compared to a “what’s going well” approach where school counselors collaborate with school staff and partner with students to build on student strengths to ensure academic success and improvement.

There are two key foci of the ASCA Student Standards. The first focus is the ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success: K-12 College-, Career-, and Life-Readiness Standards for Every Student, which are standards used by school counselors to support students’ academic success, social and emotional learning, and college and career readiness. The second focus is the ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards and Competencies, which delineates standards for school counselors’ professional development and promotes the planning, delivery, and evaluation of comprehensive school counseling programs. Moreover, the authors provide examples of school counseling interventions and ways to overcome potential roadblocks for successful implementation, as well as recommendations for integrating social justice advocacy when using the ASCA Student Standards.

This chapter discusses the effect of disability on biopsychosocial functioning throughout the lifespan, the effect of culture, race, and ethnicity on behaviors, attitudes, and identity, and the effects of discrimination and stereotypes on behaviors, attitudes, and identity. It describes the influence of sexual orientation on behaviors, attitudes, and identity, the impact of transgender and transitioning process on behaviors, attitudes, identity, and relationships, and systemic (institutionalized) discrimination (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism). The chapter then explains the principles of culturally competent social work practice, sexual orientation concepts, gender and gender identity concepts, and social and economic justice. It elaborates the effect of poverty on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, the impact of social institutions on society, criminal justice systems, and the impact of globalization on clients/client systems (e.g., interrelatedness of systems, international integration, technology, environmental or financial crises, epidemics).

There is a considerable need to educate school personnel, parents, legislators, and the general public about the value of school psychological services. This chapter provides an overview of the field of school psychology. In particular, it defines the profession, describes the ways in which school psychology differs from other related professions, presents the 10 domains of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Practice Model, and describes the typical roles and functions of school psychologists in the schools. The NASP Practice Model provides a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing service delivery in school psychology. The NASP Practice Model is referenced frequently throughout the remainder of the book; thus, the figure provided in this chapter may assist readers in understanding how various components of practice are interrelated. The chapter defines the term social justice and multiculturalism, and presents a rationale for the orientation of this book.

This chapter outlines some of the main reasons people with White privilege have difficulty recognizing racism. It describes the systems that exist that help perpetuate and maintain race privilege and defensiveness. It highlights the unconscious workings of the socialization process which remain invisible to most individuals with privilege. The chapter also explains the role critical consciousness plays in discovering the range of misinformation and lack of information imposed during the socialization process and how it can lead to recognizing larger structural forces that collude with White domination and create a path toward advocating for racial justice.

Competent school psychologists consider human diversity in all aspects of their psychological service delivery. Diversity within the student population provides educators with an important opportunity to teach students how to live in a pluralistic U.S. society and an increasingly global world. This chapter explores the importance of valuing and incorporating diversity in the delivery of school psychological services. It discusses how the use of multiculturalism can guide school psychological service delivery and describes the recommendations for multiculturalism and social justice orientations to school psychology practice. School psychologists should consider diversity in all aspects of their service delivery. The use of multicultural and social justice frameworks provides a practice foundation for engaging diverse clients. The ever-increasing diversity of the U.S. population necessitates school psychologists’ critical attention to providing culturally relevant, competent, and effective service delivery to diverse children, families, and schools.

This chapter explores how to conduct a practice evaluation. It begins with a discussion of informal approaches to evaluating one's social work practice followed by a discussion of formal practice evaluation using single-subject design (SSD) methodologies. The chapter reviews components of an SSD evaluation as well as common designs. This is followed by a section on analyzing SSD data, an SSD case example and a discussion of the ethics and social justice issues associated with SSD practice evaluations. The chapter helps the reader to describe two approaches to informal practice evaluation; engage a client in a social work practice evaluation; and identify three common single subject designs. It conducts SSD practice evaluations; creates a line graph with a celeration line. The chapter visually and statistically analyzes SSD data; and identifies ethical issues associated with SSD practice evaluations.

One of the primary functions of the K–12 education system is to prepare children to be ready for college or a career. Central to college and career readiness is students’ proficiency in three key academic skill areas: reading, writing, and mathematics. Given the importance of academic skills, a core skill for school psychologists is the ability to collect and use assessment data that inform an intervention targeting students’ academic skills. This chapter introduces readers to the importance of evaluating the environment in which a student is receiving instruction, assessment instruments used within schools for identifying and monitoring the progress of students with academic intervention needs, and the three tiers of multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). This chapter reviews the essential components of academic assessment and intervention as well as couches them within a MTSS. It describes the relevance of social justice in implementing academic MTSS.

This chapter highlights the important role dialogue plays in the fight for racial justice. It outlines the essential elements of dialogue and presents several models that can be used by educators and community leaders. It also describes how race must be taken into consideration when conducting racial dialogues and offers suggestions on how this can be done. Finally, it describes how dialogue not only increases participants’ awareness of racial justice and advocacy but builds inter/intraracial relationships.

The existence of individual differences in cognitive aptitude for learning from instruction is the most longstanding, well-established fact in educational psychology. Indeed, in virtually every classroom, it is common for teachers to observe that some students struggle to acquire certain knowledge and skills, while others learn that same material quickly and with ease. Intelligence tests were originally developed to improve educational efficiency by identifying children and youth who were at risk for educational failure. Such tests were used to classify students to fixed educational structures on the basis of general intellectual ability. This chapter reviews the current status of intelligence testing in the schools. It defines intelligence, its structure, and distribution, and discusses the origins of individual differences in intelligence and its malleability. The chapter examines how intelligence is measured and how tests of intelligence are used in the schools. It concludes with a discussion of intelligence and social justice.

The field of school psychology has broadened its focus over time, gradually moving toward a systems-focused prevention and intervention orientation. School psychologists are uniquely poised to proactively advocate for systems change that enhances school and student functioning. This chapter provides school psychologists with information on systems change and the practitioner leader’s role within it. It first introduces the value of systems change, factors that influence the change process, and prominent models of systems change. Next, it outlines considerations for leading systems change and educational reform efforts, including necessary skills for practitioners and considerations for maximizing success. The chapter then defines program evaluation and describes how school psychologists can engage in process and outcome evaluation of their systems change efforts to drive further improvements. Finally, the authors assume a social justice perspective in which school psychologists are viewed as advocates for equitable service delivery for all children and families.

The field of school psychology offers a wide range of important career trajectories that serve the academic and mental health needs of children and youth. There are several diverse career options within this field. Some of these career options involve working in pre-K–12 school settings, whereas others involve working in hospitals, private practice, postsecondary institutions, and other settings. Early awareness of career options in school psychology allows preservice professionals to prepare themselves for the jobs of their choosing. This chapter delineates the range of career options in school psychology. It reviews considerations in selecting graduate training programs and degree tracks. The chapter identifies strategies for optimizing specialized coursework and supervised clinical experiences aligned with career goals. It discusses considerations for mentorship that enhances professional skills and scholarly productivity to facilitate acquisition of competitive internships and jobs. Finally, the chapter provides guidance on acquiring preservice social justice advocacy knowledge and skills.

Social identity is a central concept in understanding how race and racism are internalized, the relationship of individual and group identities, and for understanding how identities influence organizations, communities, nations and are an essential part of the clinical process. This chapter reviews and critiques theories of identity, social identity, and racial and ethnic identity. We then present our model of multidimensional identity development, which is not linear and does not place value or judgment on how people resolve and integrate their identities. We consider the specific dynamics and challenges for multiracial people. We conclude the chapter with a description of how identity shapes intergroup dynamics and consider the implications of this when working towards racial justice.

In this chapter, the web of resistance is presented as a tool that can be used to understand the several interlocking elements of resistance and activism when seeking racial justice. It explains the core principles that can be recognized and encouraged in the internal and external realms of advocates for racial justice. It offers various examples of activism and advocacy as well as emphasizing the importance of collaboration and self-care.

The chapter will serve as an overview of the ASCA National Model and provide a clear connection with the translation from an aspirational ideal of school counseling to the reality of school counseling practice. The four main components of the National Model will be presented, including define, manage, deliver, and assess. This chapter will address and provide examples as to how these components are often offered in current models of PK–12 education—both in brick-and-mortar schools and online academies.

School psychology has a rich history of professional self-examination and planning for the future. The field has made great strides in identifying a professional identity, developing and implementing standards that support that identity, and establishing the importance of school psychological services in producing positive outcomes for students. This chapter offers predictions regarding future directions of the school psychology field through a review of historical trends and contexts. In particular, these predictions pertain to the composition of the workforce, the roles of school psychologists, and professional practices. The chapter identifies likely responses of school psychology professional organizations to current challenges, including shortages, standards revisions, and the evolution of professional roles. It discusses urgent challenges as one move into the future, including diversity, social justice, and technology. Finally, the chapter describes specific action steps for individual school psychologists in creating a robust future for the field.

Racial and ethnic minorities may be represented only seldom in mainstream media, and when they are represented, they may be portrayed along narrow lines that reflect the stereotypes and prejudices of the dominant group. Stereotypes are used to prejudge members of that group rather than to evaluate them on their individual characteristics. Prejudice may often be used to promote a hostile social agenda such as racism, sexism, or religious bigotry. Mass media has incentives to cater most to the dominant and most lucrative group of individuals within a culture. Few issues in media portrayals of ethnic minorities have been as controversial as the portrayal of African Americans. Media tends to reflect the interests of dominant cultural units. Discussions of race and ethnicity and social justice are likely to change both the dominant culture’s views and media portrayals of race.

All the cases that come before an evaluator are difficult and high-conflict, but some cases bring special circumstances that pose additional dilemmas to the evaluator. The general guidelines for parenting plan are to provide stability for the child. Young children, especially those younger than age 3, need a parenting plan that preserves their primary attachment with their primary caregiver parent. Children who are exposed to long-term parental conflict are more likely to have academic problems; to be more aggressive, sexually active, anxious, depressed, and withdrawn; to abuse alcohol and other illegal substances; and to come into conflict with the juvenile and adult justice systems. A parent who has been away or absent for a lengthy period needs to build trust gradually and allow the child to get to know him or her. There are probably other guidelines one can think of that are also reasonable for all cases.

This chapter informs readers of major concepts in Adlerian theory, with an emphasis on the contemporary relevance of Adlerian approaches for rehabilitation counselors and related professionals. It highlights the importance of a holistic understanding of individuals, as well as the significance of one’s social context. The chapter helps the reader to develop an understanding of key concepts, including holistic understanding of individuals, the significance of social context in Adlerian approaches, and the importance of goal-directed behavior and ‘lifestyle’. It also helps the reader to understand the counseling process in Adlerian approaches and the role of the counselor in providing encouragement while facilitating change, consider the level of evidence-based support for Adlerian approaches and appreciate the relevance of Adlerian theory in rehabilitation counseling, including the significance of the environment, the need to address problems in the environment, and implications for social justice.

This chapter briefly explores the diversity composite of United States colleges and counseling centers (CCC), articulates the standards and requirements of ethics as related to diversity, and provides readers with information and tools for expanded attention to diversity and inclusivity excellence within CCCs. CCCs are required to follow the multicultural ethical guidelines set by the broader psychological community and guidelines specific to college counseling. The results of a multicultural organization include improvement in services, productivity, and education. Fully integrating multicultural competence and diversity and shifting toward a multicultural organization and social justice agency can be a daunting task for which many counseling centers may feel underprepared. The identified areas of competence on the College and University Counseling Center Multicultural Competence Checklist (CUCMCC) include: diversity vision, mission, and values, physical environment, leadership and policy, staffing, performance evaluation, and promotion, training and supervision, professional development, clinical services, and consultation, outreach, and advocacy.