Day 6 - Counseling’s call to action

-

Photo by Thomas Ashlock on Unsplash

Day 6 – In 2015, the American Counseling Association (ACA) endorsed The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2015), in a “call for counselors to ‘develop knowledge of theories that explain how their privileged and marginalized status influences their experiences and worldview’ (p. 5)” (Singh, Appling, & Trepal, 2020, p. 261). 

Singh, Appling, and Trepal (2020) outline the importance of counselors developing “a critical consciousness about the power that both counselors and clients hold in the counseling relationship, especially as this power relates to privilege and oppression” (p. 261). They recommend using four theories of multicultural and social justice perspectives to examine assumptions inherent in traditional theories of counseling which reinforce or are rooted within oppressive structures within the larger culture. 

Singh, Appling, and Trepal (2020) note “Being historically and culturally situated, all counseling theories may reproduce North American and European colonist ideologies related to power, marginalization, and oppression if not framed and questioned alongside multicultural and social justice competency and commitment” (p. 262). 

Are we also teaching expressive arts therapy students to question the ways that theories of expressive arts therapy “reproduce North American and European colonist ideologies related to power, marginalization, and oppression?” Perhaps our marriage with counseling can allow us not only to push against traditional theories of counseling, and the problems these theories have caused in the ways we attempt to “heal” and “help,” but also allow us to reimagine and reconceptualize what our theories can be. I’ve been thinking about the fact that because there are so many more “counselors” and “counseling educators” (more than creative arts therapists and arts therapy educators), there is more being written about these ideas of social justice and decolonization within theory and practice. How might these ideas inform this moment of re-imagining for the arts therapies? 

Singh, A. A., Appling, B., & Trepal, H. (2020). Using the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies to decolonize counseling practice: The important roles of theory, power, and action. Journal of Counseling and Development, 98(3), 261–271. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12321 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Creating a forum for discussion

-
For some time I've been discussing the possibility of creating a blog for expressive therapy on my website with one of our alum, Eve Lyons. Well, there's nothing like a pressing project (how will I motivate myself when my dissertation is done?!) to get you moving! My hope is that this can be a way to make expressive therapy even more of a living process for those of us who are interested in learning more about it. So, here we go!
Read more

100 days of dialogue!

-
Image
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Day 1:  I'm on sabbatical again - thank you Lesley University!! I have 100 days before I'm due back on campus. So I've decided to do a small project of choosing something I'm researching, reading or writing about to share on this blog each day. I've been writing about expressive arts therapy.  My goal has been to articulate a critical perspective on expressive arts therapy, but as usual, writing is never easy, and I feel pretty alone in the writing process.  I like to write (sort of). I like to read (definitely!). And I know there is a connection between the two.   For me, research, theorizing, and critical reflection are not only for me.  Although I do enjoy the process of playing with ideas, writing (and by extension teaching and practice) for me is my work - my attempt to be part of a future building and change process that is done in community! I've been feeling a bit bereft of community, so here is my attempt to bu
Read more

40th anniversary of the Lesley University Expressive Therapy Program - save the date!

-
Image
Photo:  Norma Canner, 1970s SAVE THE DATE…. 40th Anniversary of the Expressive Therapies Program at Lesley University Conference and Celebration Saturday, September 20, 2014 Please stay tuned for further details as  an official save the date and invitation from the Alumni Office is forthcoming!   We hope to see you there! Expressive Therapies celebrates 40 years of making powerful inroads in the world In 1974, The Institute for the Arts and Human Development, housing both Expressive Therapies and Creative Arts in Learning, was founded at Lesley University. The Expressive Therapies program established in that year was one of the original graduate programs in the United States to train professionals in the emerging arts therapy field and the first to integrate all of the arts. Forty years la
Read more