Abstract
The social science and education fields are increasingly looking to non-traditional pedagogical methods as a way to increase students’ awareness of social justice issues. Critical inquiry projects, human rights education, and service learning models are some of the theoretically grounded approaches that advocate for novel ways of increasing social justice awareness in education. In this article, we propose a model of social justice consultation training activities that build on key principles of social justice work, core components of social justice competencies, and the American Psychological Association Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. We present the Climate Initiative case study to illustrate consultation training activities designed to promote social justice competencies. The Climate Initiative was a collaborative project between class members in a multicultural issues in counseling course and a social justice–oriented prison education program. We have included a summary of self-reflection experiences and evaluations of the process by counseling psychology trainees and students. Future recommendations for utilizing the consultation approach as a non-traditional teaching method are also provided.
As a society, we have reached the point where issues of political and social inequity simply cannot be ignored. The stark dichotomies of privilege and oppression as well as the lack of awareness around social justice issues only further contribute to a society that is becoming increasingly imperceptive and tolerant of disparities (Spencer-Rodgers, Williams, & Peng, 2010). The social science and higher education fields have recognized the need for a pedagogical overhaul that would transform our current educational system to one that is more inclusive of an awareness of social inequities (e.g., Hackman, 2005). With a growing recognition of the need to include social justice pedagogy within higher education, there is also awareness that this need is not likely to be fully met within a traditional classroom setting and, instead, requires creative approaches.
A growing body of literature on non-traditional pedagogy calls for students to step out of the normative role as the receivers of knowledge and instead fulfill the role of contributors to, and active participants of, their education (e.g., Butin, 2005; Fenwick, 2001; Gough, 2004; Prentice & Garcia, 2000). Educators are likewise challenged with creating opportunities that offer an integration of both discursive and didactic pedagogy, such that students can experience social justice learning in a transformative way (e.g., Butin, 2008; Carrington & Iyer, 2011; LeGrange, 2007; Prentice & Garcia, 2000). The process of consultation can be an avenue for students to engage in social justice efforts and can also serve as a valuable learning experience. As consultants, students work with an interested community to identify areas in need of change and are active participants in the development of methods to address the community’s needs. This process also helps students expand their own cultural competencies (i.e., awareness, knowledge, and skills; American Psychological Association [APA], 2003; L. A. Goodman et al., 2004; Pope, Reynolds, & Mueller, 2004; Sue & Sue, 2013).
The purpose of this article is to describe a social justice consultation project—the Climate Initiative—as an example of a pedagogical activity that could be adapted to other settings to promote social justice intervention skills among emerging professionals. The Climate Initiative was a consultation project conducted as part of a multicultural issues in counseling course. The course instructor and counseling psychology doctoral students enrolled in the course served as the project consultants. The director, volunteer workers, and students of the Educational Justice Project (EJP), a prison-based higher education program, were the consultation project’s client. In the first part of the article, we define social justice and then provide background information on EJP and prison education in general as a way to situate the consultation training within the mission of social justice. We also include a brief overview of the Climate Initiative.
In the second part of the article, we propose a social justice consultation model as one way to guide a graduate training pedagogical activity. The proposed model is grounded in L. A. Goodman and colleagues’ (2004) work on key social justice principles in counseling psychology, D. J. Goodman’s (2013) Cultural Competence for Social Justice model, and in the APA (2003) Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. We use the Climate Initiative to illustrate aspects of the proposed model. To further describe the influence of the social justice project on the counseling psychology graduate student course members’ learning (in their role as consultants) and on the EJP students who represent a segment of the client, we include written reflections of the activity. It is important to note that these reflections were written in our roles as participants of the project and authors of the article. Throughout, we refer to authors as CPP (Counseling Psychology Program) student authors (i.e., the CPP graduate students) or as EJP student authors (i.e., the incarcerated men enrolled in one or more EJP courses). We thought it was particularly important to include reflections from the EJP student authors, as the voices of incarcerated men are rarely included in the production of new knowledge. We end with a discussion of changes made in the EJP as a result of the Climate Initiative.
Defining Social Justice
There is no consensus about the definition of social justice, partly because different fields of study interpret the term from varying conceptual and theoretical frameworks and because the term is vague and difficult to operationalize (Gewirtz, 2002). Scholars are in agreement that social justice refers to a society which values diversity by providing all people and groups with respect, dignity, fairness, basic rights, and opportunities (Maschi, Baer, & Turner, 2011; North, 2006; Rawls, 1971, 2001); thus, most definitions incorporate aspects of liberty and equality (Vera & Speight, 2003). The key difference in the definitions rests in whether scholars include internal or psychological resources (e.g., psychological health, critical thinking, and/or awareness) in the definition alongside the typical external sociopolitical resources (e.g., economic, legal, political rights; Maschi et al., 2011). Our definition of social justice incorporates the fair and equitable distribution of both internal and external resources in the society; this includes a broad vision in which all members in the society have access to psychological goods (see Maschi et al., 2011) or what some refer to as a good life (see Vera & Speight, 2003).
From this framework, social justice–oriented counseling psychologists could work within systems to either transform organizations to promote psychological goods among marginalized populations and/or work with like-minded organizations to strengthen efforts to address inequality among marginalized populations. This article focuses on the latter. The logistics of working to transform a system seems unrealistic as a training opportunity for graduate students. Instead, we suggest that working collaboratively with an existing social justice–oriented organization is more tenable in terms of creating successful training opportunities for students.
The EJP Climate Initiative: A Site of Social Justice Practice
We argue that the EJP is a site of social justice practice. We begin this section by situating EJP within the broader prison education discourse. After briefly identifying key features of EJP, we outline the Climate Initiative.
EJP promotes the psychological and educational well-being of incarcerated men, most of whom are people of color who grew up in disenfranchised communities. EJP is part of a long history of educational programs in prisons, which in the Western world date back to at least the 16th century. These early programs mostly provided religious and vocational training. The program credited as the first comprehensive college-in-prison program in the United States was based at Southern Illinois University and brought for-credit classes, guest speakers, a journalism program, and other extracurricular activities to Menard State prison in the 1950s.
The current state of post-secondary education in prisons—often referred to as post-secondary correctional education—is varied. Within state prisons, almost 60% offer vocational training, but only 26.7% offer college courses (Harlow, 2003). Of the academic offerings, over half are lower division courses (i.e., 100- and 200-level) offered by local or regional community colleges that are under contract with the state department of corrections (Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005). In addition, there are about 30 educational programs in the United States working from an alternative model (Holding, Dace, & Schocken, 2010); these are often referred to as independent prison-education programs. These programs do not operate under contract with departments of corrections and, as a result, do not receive state dollars (Morris, 1966). Instead, they rely on a combination of support from their home institutions (which may or may not be public), grants, and donations. These programs also tend to have a strong social justice mission and draw instructors not through the promise of a job, many do not pay their teachers, but with the opportunity to make a meaningful difference by providing education to a marginalized population. Offering college education in prisons provides opportunities for incarcerated men to transform their lives by increasing their sense of empowerment and dignity.
The EJP is an example of an independent prison education program, offering academic programs to men incarcerated at Danville Correctional Center in Illinois. The core of EJP’s program is upper-division college courses, which are taught at the prison by university faculty and advanced graduate students (see EJP, 2013). In addition, EJP students at the Danville Correctional Center and EJP faculty produce critical scholarship about prison education. These works provide a critique of the prison system in the United States, analyze the role and importance of education programs in prisons, and, as in the case of this article, summarize a prison education initiative. EJP students also produce creative works, such as collections of poetry and memoirs, which are made available to a general audience. In addition, EJP conducts outreach to family members of EJP students and to released EJP students (the alumni).
The EJP Climate Initiative emerged from a long-standing professional connection between the class instructor and the director of the EJP, both of whom are co-authors of this article. For quite some time, the instructor had been interested in further incorporating social justice training in the multicultural issues in counseling course but had not cultivated a relationship with an outside agency to support a training experience. After having a conversation with the EJP director regarding the perceived insensitive (and unconscious) attitudes/behavior of some EJP volunteers, as well as the complexities in addressing these concerns, the multicultural counseling instructor posed the idea of a semester-long consultation project between the two parties. They agreed that such a project would be mutually beneficial, as it would assist the EJP in addressing a concern identified by the EJP students and would provide the CPP instructor an opportunity to develop a concrete class project to help graduate students develop social justice intervention skills. The goals and format of the consultation project remained fluid and evolved as we sought feedback from the EJP students and volunteers. The project was named the Climate Initiative primarily because of its overarching goal to gather information about ways to strengthen the core values around openness and inclusivity in the EJP.
Social Justice Consultation Pedagogical Activity: A Proposed Model
Several models exist that endorse non-traditional methods for teaching social justice. For example, the Human Rights Education (HRE) Model (Ty, 2011), which draws from Paulo Freire’s (1970) critical pedagogy, encourages learning from the standpoint of the oppressed group. Students are encouraged to step outside of their comfort zone, engage in activities where they will witness marginalization, and critically reflect on the experience. Similarly, the Integrative Model for Multiraciality (Wann & Johnston, 2012) draws from elements of racial formation theory (Omi & Winant, 1986), critical race theory (Crenshaw, 1995; Delgado & Stefanic, 2001), and racial identity theory (e.g., Helms & Cook, 1999) to help students critically analyze community experiences in which they engage. A common factor underlying all of these models is the emphasis on continued exploration of one’s awareness, knowledge, and skills (Vera & Speight, 2003).
We assert that group-based consultation professional training projects can provide students with a unique opportunity to develop social justice competencies. The call for consultation to address social justice issues is not new, with many scholars acknowledging the importance of consultation occurring within a multicultural framework when addressing social justice needs (Cooper & Leong, 2008). There has also been a departure from traditional psychological or group-based methods in consultation, toward interventions aimed at helping an organization or unit achieve its desired goals (Hoffman et al., 2006).
Building on the work of Sue (2008) and others on multicultural consultation (see Cooper & Leong, 2008), we propose training activities that can be implemented as group-based class projects designed to promote social justice competencies. Multicultural consultation includes a strong social justice component, as the goal is to help organizations understand the meaning of multiculturalism, diversity, and the various forms of bias that exist in both individuals and organizations (Sue, 2008). This type of consultation “is concerned with how race, culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation affect individuals, organizations, and society” (Sue, 2008, p. 158). The goal of many organizational consultations is to enhance the unit’s ability to adapt to different cultural groups and to effectively utilize diversity to improve the services they provide (Sue, 2008). Many organizations strive to be culturally competent and are committed to equity and justice; however, they sometimes lack awareness or insight into how to accomplish these goals. Consultation can help initiate a dialogue around diversity issues, opening the door to conversations around access, equal opportunity, cultural competence, climate, and the overall structure of an organization (Romney, 2008). The role of the consultant, thus, is to enhance an organization’s ability to recognize diversity and to adapt, or maintain, practices that facilitate equal access and opportunities.
This process also presents a valuable learning opportunity for students. By working to engage an organization in dialogues around cultural competence, students are required to not only understand these concepts themselves but also convey how these principles would look in a real-world setting. The steps that someone could take to engage in a culturally responsive consultation are the same ones we challenge students to engage in as they deepen their competencies in social justice work.
The primary goal of the social justice consultation as a pedagogical tool is to promote social justice competencies among graduate students. Our operationalization of social justice competencies for counseling psychologists builds on the work of L. A. Goodman and her colleagues (2004) and D. J. Goodman (2013). We chose these models as the foundational basis for our consultation approach because they complement one another. One model describes core values or principles that should guide psychologists in their social justice practice (D. J. Goodman, 2013) and the other outlines core competencies for social justice action (L. A. Goodman et al., 2004). Thus, the values provide the underpinning for the competencies.
In our proposed model, we draw on five of the six L. A. Goodman et al.’s (2004) principles designed to guide social justice counseling psychology practice: ongoing self-awareness, consciousness-raising, sharing power, giving voice, and sharing tools. The principles of sharing power and self-examination involve understanding and sharing societal power. The principles of giving voice, sharing tools, and consciousness-raising all instill the socially privileged practitioner with the responsibility of exploring and inciting action within the client (individual or community). The principle of strength identified by L. A. Goodman et al. provides the overarching approach to any social justice practice and thus this principle is not included the table. This principle requires social justice practitioners to build and nurture strengths as they attempt to transform environments, as opposed to concentrating on deficits of organizations and individuals. In our proposed model, we additionally incorporate five of D. J. Goodman’s (2013) components of social justice practice: self-awareness, understanding and valuing others, knowledge of societal inequities, skills to interact effectively with diverse people in a variety of contexts, and skills to build equity and inclusivity (see Table 1).
Social Justice Consultation Activities Based on Cultural Competencies and Principles.
Cultural competencies were adopted from the American Psychological Association (2003). Guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice, and organizational change for psychologists.
principles were adapted from L. A. Goodman et al. (2004)
cultural competencies for social justice were adapted from D. J. Goodman (2013).
We mapped five of the L. A. Goodman et al. (2004) principles and five of the D. J. Goodman (2013) components for practicing cultural competencies within a social justice framework onto the tripartite multicultural cultural competency domains (APA, 2003). Table 1 visually represents the connection among the broad areas of multicultural competencies (i.e., awareness, knowledge, and skills), the five social justice principles, and the five social justice competencies. We elaborate on these interconnections to further illustrate the pedagogical model.
Awareness
We include the principle of ongoing self-examination within the awareness competency domain. Ongoing self-examination promotes building awareness of one’s biases, prejudices, and stereotypes (Sue & Sue, 2013) as well as how these factors affect one’s worldview in subsequent interactions with others (APA, 2003).
Knowledge
The principle of consciousness-raising was included within the knowledge competency domain. According to L. A. Goodman et al. (2004), consciousness-raising is achieved by obtaining a conceptual understanding of the sociopolitical and historical contexts that foster both privilege and oppression.
Skills
The principles of sharing power, giving voice, and sharing tools were included as dimensions of multicultural skills because each of these principles should manifest themselves in actual clinical practices. Sharing power is important, both from a clinical stance (Ivey et al., 2002) as well as from a consultation stance (Sue, 2008), as it promotes autonomy for the consultation partner. The principle of giving voice both empowers people to volunteer their perspective and encourages them to share goals and lived experiences with others. This notion is more about encouraging as opposed to giving voice, as the goal is to create a space where people can empower themselves and bring their own voices to the forefront (Rappaport, 2000). Finally, leaving the client with tools has both clinical and consultative benefits, as they are aligned with best practices for multicultural consultation (Sue, 2008) as well as with the multicultural guidelines for counseling psychologists (APA, 2003).
Application of the Social Justice Pedagogical Model: The Climate Initiative Case Study
The overall purpose of the Climate Initiative project was to assist the social justice organization EJP in further actualizing its vision of creating a space of inclusivity. The general activities of the consultation involved (a) regular consultation meetings between the multicultural issues in counseling course (i.e., the consultants) and the EJP director (i.e., a key client representative), (b) conducting five group discussion meetings—we conducted three discussion groups with EJP volunteers/staff (n = 17) and two concurrent discussion groups with EJP students (n = 17), (c) EJP document review (e.g., instructor manual), and (d) developing, presenting, and revising recommendations for review by the client, which included receiving feedback from the EJP students, EJP volunteers/staff, EJP director, and EJP Advisory Board. These activities are discussed in more detail next.
Those involved in the EJP consultation project reflected a diverse range of racial and ethnic identities. The instructor was an African American woman and the multicultural issues in counseling psychology class members included an African American man, a Korean woman, a Latina woman, and a European American woman. In addition, an advanced doctoral student, a Mexican American woman, participated in the project. The EJP does not collect information on the racial or ethnic composition of EJP students or members. The director is a woman of color. As a rough estimate of the EJP male student discussion groups, over half of the 17 participants were African American, a handful were Latino and about 3 were European American. We estimate that over half of the EJP volunteer members—that is, faculty, graduate students, staff, and community people—are European American. In the semester we conducted the project, about 20% of the EJP graduate student volunteers were international students. The three discussion meetings (n = 17) with EJP staff appeared to reflect the demographics of the EJP.
The core principles of ongoing awareness (i.e., self-reflection) and consciousness-raising guided all aspects of the Climate Initiative project. We believe an initial consideration when engaging in social justice consultation is to reflect on the role of power and privilege. Indeed, the ability to confront the sociopolitical systems of power and privilege inherent in organizations (Sue, 2008) is an important aspect of culturally competent consultation. Thus, some of the early training activities were geared toward increasing CPP students’ awareness of issues of power and privilege as they related to their experiences as graduate students (e.g., holding a certain amount of social capital, compared to the limited power incarcerated men have in determining basic rights). The importance of power and privilege is especially salient within a correctional facility and when collaborating with an organization that provides services to incarcerated individuals, because prisons actively seek to maintain power and privilege over incarcerated individuals. Prisons and correctional staff hold a large amount of power over incarcerated individuals, both by way of social policies and laws (e.g., mandatory drug testing, early release policies) and by way of the rules that govern behaviors in the facility. In addition, correctional officers hold a large amount of discretionary power with their ability to determine privilege levels, their use of authority, and their ability to contribute to the reports that are ultimately used to inform decisions about categorization and release (Crewe, 2011). Furthermore, within the EJP project and other educational programs in prisons, incarcerated individuals have to earn the right to participate. In fact, EJP student authors were delayed for over a month in being able to contribute their reflections and edits to the article due to a prison lockdown.
The reality of power imbalances is one that cannot always be changed, but must be recognized. This inherent discrepancy requires that consultants acknowledge the power and privilege they possess and examine how this power imbalance challenges the potential to develop a collaborative relationship. If this is not acknowledged, then consultants risk further disenfranchising the incarcerated persons by not acknowledging their lived experience, and in the case of the Climate Initiative project, inhibiting an honest conversation emerging around issues of openness and inclusivity.
To increase awareness around issues of power and privilege, a number of activities were included in the consultation process. The EJP director met with the multicultural class on a number of occasions to help educate students in the class about prison education, particularly power and privilege relative to prison education. Part of these education activities included a brown bag discussion presented to the larger counseling psychology group about EJP. The conversations with the EJP director, the brown bag lecture, the focus group training, the first set of focus groups with EJP volunteers, and the process time before and after each Climate Initiative activity, provided students with a general understanding about what to expect when they entered the correctional facility and interacted with the EJP students. Although not included in the Climate Initiative project, it became clear that it would also be important to include readings about social justice consultation in general, and specific readings about racial inequities and how they are manifested in the prison system. The latter information would have provided students with a larger context to understand the prison education program as a site of social justice.
In addition to building knowledge around issues of power and prison education, a range of activities was incorporated to provide trainees with beginning skills to communicate sharing power, giving voice, and resource sharing. Specific activities included providing a 2-hr focus group training session in which issues related to creating space, facilitating difficult dialogues, and navigating focus group logistics were covered. Debriefing and analysis sessions were conducted after the focus groups, during which feedback from the EJP director was sought. The CPP student authors were also provided opportunities to develop recommendations based on the course instructor’s review of the group discussion, consultation with the EJP director, and review of the EJP documents. Some of the trainees also presented recommendations to EJP volunteers and learned about the process of receiving feedback and revising the recommendations on the basis of the consulting partners’ vision. Trainees also developed requested documents as part of the resource sharing process (e.g., a resource list on conducting difficult dialogues which included specific ground rules for creating safe discussion spaces).
Personal Reflections of the EJP Climate Initiative Project
An important component of a successful consultation process includes an examination of the processes’ potential to create changes in policy or to encourage the implementation of positive outcomes for the organization in need (Sue, 2008). Both the counseling psychology students (CPP student authors) and the EJP students (EJP student authors) wrote personal reflections on the experience with the Climate Initiative project. The reflections provided by the CPP student authors highlight the ability of consultation activities to potentially support the development of multicultural competencies through social justice efforts, and the EJP student author reflections provide valuable feedback about the implementation of the Climate Initiative project and the challenges inherent in such an effort. Below are the key themes that emerged in the authors’ independent written reflections. Both the CPP student authors and the EJP student authors identified a number of challenges and aspects of the Climate Initiative project experience that were problematic. These frank observations are an essential aspect of reflection and provide directions as to the areas that can be improved. It should be noted that although the personal reflections do offer valuable insight into the consultation process, an empirical evaluation of the Climate Initiative project was not conducted and therefore claims to the effectiveness of the project on the EJP organization are not possible.
CPP Student Author Reflections
CPP student authors identified ways in which they were challenged during this consultation project. They wrote about how they developed an increased self-awareness of their own social location and knowledge about social disparities. They also wrote about how they began to develop skills to work toward social justice goals within an organization. We provide a brief description of each of these areas of growth, which include direct quotes from the CPP student authors’ reflections.
Awareness
A common experience shared by the CPP student authors was the opportunity to challenge their stereotypes and prejudices, particularly their preconceived notions and ideas about men in prison. The CPP student authors identified an increase in awareness of biases, prejudices, and stereotypes as a result of the consultation activity. As one student author noted, “My experience with the EJP project was especially important in helping me think about my own prejudices and stereotypes as they relate to incarcerated men.”
Knowledge
By working with all stakeholders in EJP, the CPP student authors also discussed an increase in awareness of disparities and their own privilege, both in society and within the organization. For example, CPP student authors became more aware of issues of inequality within the jail as well as of the structural limitations that many of the incarcerated men face on a daily basis (e.g., living in an environment of surveillance, jail policies that restrict programming). When reflecting on the vision of social justice, where all groups have full and equal participation (Vera & Speight, 2003), one student remarked about the constraints when working in a correctional setting that makes this vision unattainable: “This does not mean that power will be equal, as this is not possible in this context, but instead there needs to be a recognition of the unequal distribution of power.” In this example, knowledge about the ways in which the prison system operates in the United States helped some CPP student authors gain an increased empathy toward people who are incarcerated. This empathy, in turn, helped the CPP student authors to better connect with the EJP students and to the overall social justice project. The consultation project also increased the CPP student authors’ knowledge about the ways in which incarceration completely restricts one’s access to communication (e.g., access to the Internet and limited written communication).
Skills
A final theme that emerged from the CPP student author reflection logs was an awareness of acquired skills, particularly on issues of facilitation, objective consultation, and personal risk taking. The student authors agreed that acquiring these skills was not an easy process and often required them to go beyond their own comfort level. Self-reflection was also required to help the students understand what their limitations were and when it was appropriate to push their own limits. Therefore, the acquisition of these skills required both a willingness to challenge one’s own limits as well as a need to feel safe doing so within a learning context. Yet, one CPP student author noted,
Although I believed that I could learn, because I stepped out of my safety zone (by going to the correctional facility), there needs to be more sensitivity to address the voluntariness of visiting of prison in class. Because we have a small class and everyone was willing to visit the prison, I had to say, “yes” with both internal and external pressures.
The CPP student author in this quote referred to the ways in which the overall training at the institution is set up to explicitly incorporate developing multicultural competencies as a core value and learning objective. This general learning objective provides an atmosphere in which students are expected and encouraged to explore their own attitudes and beliefs and to take risks by placing themselves outside of their comfort zone to grow as a professional. The CPP student author’s observation raises some interesting questions about the “voluntariness” of such a classroom training experience. Although students in this specific course were provided the option to “opt out” of the Climate Initiative training experience, some CPP students may have perceived an unstated pressure to take part of the training especially given the small size of the class. In the future, the CPP instructor will explicitly address perceived pressure to participate in such a training activity and will offer concrete alternatives designed to increase other aspects of social justice competencies in which students may choose to participate instead.
EJP Student Author Reflections
EJP student authors identified many of the domains that are important when engaging in multicultural consultation in general (Sue, 2008). The reflections and analysis highlighted areas of importance that should be considered in similar consultations.
Suggested approaches for consultation activity
An important goal of the consultation process was to be inclusive of all the voices. As such, focus groups were conducted separately with prison education volunteers and EJP students. In addition, multiple meetings were held with the director of the EJP program. Although these focus groups yielded valuable information from many different perspectives, the EJP student authors reflected that the larger group size likely prevented some of the more sensitive conversations from occurring. They proposed that smaller groups or one-on-one interviews would allow for more voices to be heard. As one EJP student author remarked,
I would have been interested to see if one-on-one interviews with students would have yielded the same results. My reason for this thought is that I am always concerned that within the group dynamic some voices may not be heard.
This concern was echoed among other EJP student authors and is especially important considering the marginalization of the EJP students. As a student author remarked, “Thought should also be given to the fact that incarcerated individuals dwell within a very particular sub-culture, one in which much of what they actually feel and think cannot be made public without fear of consequence or reprisal.” Consultation processes must be sensitive to whether they are truly allowing all voices to contribute to the dialogue, as having a seat at the table does not automatically mean that you actually have a voice at the table.
Indeed, following the initial EJP student group discussions that were part of the Climate Initiative project, the EJP conducted 30-min dyad interviews, which included the EJP students, the director, and a volunteer. This one-on-one conversation proved to be very powerful. An EJP student author reflecting on this activity explained that there was a mixture of laughter and sadness in the room, remarking, “sharing those things helped me realize that we’re all so much alike, we all have our regrets, but good memories too.” This process simultaneously empowered people to use their voice and fostered personal connections and the ability to see each other as fellow humans.
Empowerment of voice
It is important within a consultation to find ways to foster the voice of many participants. To have a voice in the change process and in an organization is powerful. Most of the EJP student authors reflected on the voice they felt they had within the consultation process, as one EJP student author remarked, “The consultation process itself I felt was done in a manner that respected the differing voices in the room.” Actively seeking to hear all participants’ voices in itself can be an effective tool for creating a safe space in which participants feel comfortable sharing their opinions and learning from the diverse viewpoints of others. Another EJP student author offered the consultation process “has helped me to appreciate better something that I have taken for granted: the need for the incarcerated person to have his dignity restored by valuing his voice.” In addition, one of the EJP student authors emphasized how the consultation process presented an opportunity for individuals to speak up even if they are generally silent, “During our first meeting, I heard brothers speak for the first time . . . I believe that many of the brothers took off their EJP mask for a moment and allowed their true self to be seen.”
Safe space
Part of being able to faciliate voice among participants involves creating a safe space or welcoming environment that encourages discussion. One EJP student author made this point, expressing “. . . success hinges upon the ability to provide students with a ‘safe’ environment in which to fully speak their minds and express divergence.” Creating this safe space can be more challenging when working within systems of oppression and marginalization. As stated by one EJP student author, the correctional system “has systematically discouraged the voices of its incarcerated for the purposes of security.” This inevitable reality requires consultants to recognize the potential limits of the information they have gathered and to wonder what might be missing from it.
Need for behavioral application
It is important that participants and clients own the consultation process. Initiatives will only be effective if the program who is the client is invested in making changes. The EJP student authors highlighted the importance of taking the recommendations provided by the consultants and making them EJP guidelines. As part of the consultation process, the CPP student authors offered 14 recommendations and the next steps that EJP could take. An EJP student author explained, “The 14 recommendations really were reflective of the issues raised in the spring and provided us in the second meeting in the summer a great platform from which to move forward.” The EJP students and volunteers were able to have a conversation about the recommendations they felt were important and best met their needs. In addition, the CPP student authors recommended ground rules that would help foster safe places and an atmosphere where more voices could be heard. One EJP student author commented, “We [EJP] adopted the ground rules recommended by the consultation group, and although we felt they needed some revision, it was a good start.” The EJP students and volunteers built from the momentum garnered in the consultation process and owned how the rest of the process would proceed.
Need for continuity
Finally, the EJP student authors agreed that continuity was needed to maintain the momentum generated by the consultation process. One EJP student author stated, “After the meeting, things went back to the same routine and the climate process was in the mind of a few, but not all.” Indeed, one of the EJP student authors argued that change needed to be consistent; the consultation process was a starting point, but did not encompass the whole change process. He wrote, “Our endeavor cannot be cosmetic. If we simply move throughout this experience with a uniformed behavior then we will have failed in our mission. We must get our hands dirty.”
Part of the issue of continuity had to deal with the inability for the university team to meet multiple times with the EJP students, which highlights the need to consider system-level factors. One EJP student author wrote,
Maybe EJP is unique in the sense that it relies heavily on the participation of a limited number of volunteers, and because those volunteers do so much there is only so much time to devote to certain initiatives, but I think a follow up consultation with some of the original consultants would have gone a long way to keep the momentum the original consultation generated going.
The inability to have multiple meetings with the EJP students was an obstacle inherent in a semester-long project given the structural barriers of the prison. The semester did not provide enough time to receive correctional facility clearance for any of the consultants to visit with the EJP students more than once.
Changes in EJP as a result of the consultation
The EJP director continued with the Climate Initiative project after the end of the semester. The EJP director met with EJP staff and volunteers about the recommendations. Through this process, EJP has implemented the following:
Inclusion of eight Climate Initiative strategies in staff/volunteer training and student training manuals.
Conducting dyad interviews (e.g., student–student, student–staff interviews) to foster openness and reciprocal sharing of lived experience.
Offering related workshops/training (e.g., facilitating difficult dialogue).
The intent of the aforementioned changes was to tackle one of the initial aims of the project: to address concerns about attitudes and behaviors of EJP stakeholders that did not fully encompass the program’s core values (i.e., openness, respect, inclusivity). As a result of the consultation process, the EJP has established a requirement for continuous program-wide training and endorsement of the Climate Initiative. It is the authors’ hope that the initial concerns were not only addressed in a productive manner, but that the experience as a whole opened up spaces where people feel empowered to learn and teach one another in a safe and open way.
Conclusion
Social justice is an important goal of counseling psychology. The consultation activities and the case study described in this article provide a framework for promoting social justice competencies among students. The proposed group-based consultation training activities are designed to move beyond theoretical discussions of social justice to engaging in these principles in a real-world setting. These activities also provide opportunities for community–academic partnerships that allow individuals with social power to share their training and access to resources with communities and programs with less access.
As described in the case example, the application of social justice work challenged the CPP students to think about their own identities and the stereotypes they may have held, while also actively working to promote the voice of marginalized groups. Following the consultation, many concerns were addressed but still others remained, which brought to focus for the CPP students that social justice work is challenging and often requires sustained attention, but is also very powerful. The reflections of the EJP student authors highlighted the power that can come from social justice efforts and, indeed, served to motivate continued engagement among EJP members in social justice efforts despite the obstacles and frustrations that may arise. The consultation model was an especially valuable teaching method that promoted cultural competencies and also demonstrated how community social justice work can proceed. Appling this model to a consultation task calls for consultants to recognize the responsibility that comes with obtaining advanced degrees that carry social capital and access to many social resources.
Limitations
This social justice consultation approach to teaching social justice competencies is not without limitations. This is a pilot project and we did not include all of the desired reading into the course to fully prepare students for the experience (i.e., social justice readings on prisons or readings on consultation). Also, we did not collect comprehensive evaluation data. For example, we did not collect formal follow-up data with EJP students about their evaluation of the Climate Initiative and whether the project addressed the primary goal of further enhancing the EJP climate. As a side note, throughout its history, the EJP has worked hard to establish a safe, fair, and inclusive environment for members and students. However, given the racial differences between the EJP students and many of the EJP members (volunteers, teachers, etc.), issues of climate emerge from time to time. Moreover, the application of this teaching approach is based on theoretical support, not on experimental design. Without the use of a control group, we cannot infer a direct, causal relationship between the use of social justice consultation teaching approaches and increased cultural competencies.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.