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Article Excerpt
Social historians have long noted that periods of major reform in American political life seem to come around generationally, about once every 30 years or so (Wheeler, 1990). These periods of reform have been reflected in health care professions such as social work, psychology, and counseling, which have traditionally been viewed as having a more humanistic, liberal sociopolitical bias (Lillis, O'Donohue, Cucciare, & Lillis, 2005). A response to various reforms (or lack thereof) is social advocacy counseling, a movement within the profession of counseling with roots in the early 20th century (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). It has been suggested that the social advocacy movement is the "fifth force" within the profession of counseling (Ratts, D'Andrea, & Arredondo, 2004, p. 28), an outgrowth of the multicultural movement.
This movement promotes social justice as a fundamental principle of counseling through the systematic elimination of social illness caused by various forms of oppression and social inequality. The major focus of advocacy tends to be on issues related to power, privilege, allocation of resources, and various forms of prejudicial discrimination and violence toward underrepresented individuals or groups. The fundamental goal is the eradication of social illness by the leveling of power structures, equaling privileges, and combating discrimination. Many counseling professionals advocate for such concerns as a function of their professional and social responsibility (Smith & Chen-Hayes, 2003).
Social advocacy counseling entails interventions aimed at individual client needs as well as sociopolitical attempts to foster systematic change in society. Myers and Sweeney (2004) suggested a two-pronged approach toward social action to effectively advocate for the needs of clients as well as the profession. Akos and Galassi (2004) promoted a model of developmental advocacy as a way to enhance the effectiveness of the contemporary school counselor. Loretta Bradley (1998), a former president of the American Counseling Association (ACA), championed social advocacy in her address at the ACA Midwest Region Conference, Kansas City, Kansas, titled "Advocacy: A Voice for Our Clients and Communities." One of the first books on social advocacy in counseling, edited by Courtland Lee and Gary Walz (1998), proclaimed social action as a "mandate" for counselors. Myers, Sweeney, and White (2002) called for a national plan, because they believed that advocacy is a professional imperative.
* Call to the Profession
On the surface, the social advocacy movement in counseling indeed appears to be a called-for mandate. Ideas promoted by the movement, such as advocating for professional issues, advocating for the needs of underrepresented and disenfranchised individuals and groups, taking political positions on current social issues, and working to eradicate systems and ideologies that perpetuate discrimination and disregard for human rights are all seemingly logical, reasonable ideologies that identify important matters for counselors. However, we believe that the most pressing mandate for the counseling profession at this time is an in-depth examination of the social advocacy movement. Such an examination, through critical and deconstructive analysis, is required to firmly establish the movement in the profession and to understand its impact on the profession, individual members, and distinct groups. Only after undergoing such scrutiny can the mandate of social action indeed be justly determined, particularly as a professional and/or personal mandate.
We believe that the social advocacy movement lacks sufficient moderation and sometimes attempts to promote various agendas (e.g., personal, political) under the guise of "social action." It makes bold claims for which it has little or no substantive evidence, such as clinical effectiveness. We certainly applaud related research efforts conducted thus far (e.g., Eriksen, 1997a; Myers & Sweeney, 2004); however, the research is scant, and results are subject to design limitations and are, therefore, tenuous at best. It is our view that history does not support the claim that social advocacy is the fifth force and suggest that the recent movement is best viewed as a recurring wave in the profession. For example, advocacy was promoted within the profession more than 3 decades ago when Edward and Anita Dworkin (1971) wrote an article titled "The Activist Counselor" in which they outlined several social trends and a subsequent advocacy response to each one. The entire volume (49[9]) of The Personnel and Guidance Journal (Goldman, 1971) was dedicated to social issues of the time, and was subtitled "Counseling and the Social Revolution." In fact, it has been suggested that advocacy is a historical trademark for the birth of the counseling profession, with roots established in the early 20th century (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001).
Aside from anecdotal claims of being the panacea in counseling, the social advocacy movement raises more questions perhaps than it intends to answer, presents a host of new challenges, and calls into question the very definition of professional counseling (ACA, 1997). To fully understand its place (e.g., role, function, effectiveness, best practices) in the counseling profession, an in-depth examination and a thorough critique of the movement must be conducted. Therefore, we believe that it is time for a critical evaluation of the social advocacy movement in counseling and call for members to respond.
* Overview of Social Advocacy in the Counseling Literature
Historically, social advocacy and "activism" have been discussed in the counseling literature, beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The topics and focus of activism have been related to significant events in the history of the United States, including the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, multiple wars (e.g., World Wars I and II, Vietnam), and the impact these events have had on society. Kiselica and Robinson (2001) provided a time line of leaders and events in advocacy counseling, including Frank Parsons's founding of the Boston Vocational Bureau in 1908 and the publication of Clifford Beers's (1908) A Mind That Found Itself: An Autobiography, which brought mental illness to the forefront and launched the mental hygiene movement. Also included are Carl Rogers's introduction of the use of psychology and relationships to address social problems (beginning in the 1940s and continuing throughout his lifetime); the development of Menacker's (1976) theory of activist counseling to address environmental and institutional change; and, most recently, the formation of the Counselors for Social Justice division of ACA in 1999 (see Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). In addition, journals central to the profession of counseling have provided entire issues that focus on and/or contribute to social advocacy counseling, including the 1971 issue of The Personnel and Guidance Journal (Goldman, 1971) titled "Counseling and the Social Revolution" or the 1982 issue of the same journal with a special issue on political action in counseling (Barclay, 1982).
As noted earlier in this article, the focus of advocacy and activism in counseling has grown and changed throughout history and in relation to the changing social and political climate of the United States. Children and adolescents in the school setting were the early focus, as they moved from the workforce to education. Aubrey (1977) reviewed the history and implications of vocational guidance, the introduction of psychometrics and their impact on education, the focus on counseling introduced...
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