What does it mean for a counselor to adopt a social justice counseling paradigm? Use examples where applicable to illustrate your answer.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Adopting a social justice paradigm means the use of counseling as a platform to advocate and take action against social injustice to bring about positive social changes. This can be achieved in two major ways. With a multicultural consciousness, counselors intentionally advocate for social justice every opportunity they get in and out of the counseling process. For example, counselors use advocacy and activism to address inequality in all aspects of life including in education, politics, and employment that can help level the playing field for marginalized groups. The second way counselors can adopt a social justice counseling paradigm is adopting the worldviews that make it possible for them to appreciate what multicultural counseling represents in the 21st century. Such worldviews help a counselor to see the various obstacles faced by the oppressed and marginalized groups, motivate social justice actions, help in understanding the negative impact that oppression has on clients’ abilities to reach their potentials or self-actualize, and select and use interventions that address contextual issues along with clients’ ontological or personal issues.