Open AccessCounselling Psychology and Under-Represented Groups: A Vision for Advocacy as Mutual Transformation
Author(s) -
Janelle L. Kwee
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
canadian journal of counselling and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1923-6182
DOI - 10.47634/cjcp.v54i4.70673
Subject(s) - social justice , psychology , counseling psychology , community psychology , social psychology , applied psychology , criminology
The discipline of counselling psychology in Canada has aligned consistently with social justice principles. Consistent with this, a working group at the 2018 Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference was assigned to consider the role of Canadian counselling psychology in advocating for the needs of members of under-represented groups. This brief report captures insights from the working group and focuses on two primary themes: a critical reformulation of advocacy as mutual transformation for personal and social change and a need to engage with change processes at multiple levels. The group conceptualized effective advocacy as recentring historically marginalized perspectives while decentring “expert” roles and traditionally dominant perspectives.