The social justice issue of human sex trafficking is a global form of oppression that places men, women and children at risk for sexual exploitation. Although a body of research exists on the topics of human trafficking, literature specific to the mental health implications for counselors working with this population is limited. Counselors should…

Adjusting to the world of work or challenging it is a dilemma that career counselors and helpers encounter daily. Counselors and clients may opt for one of the following choices: (a) adjust to, and challenge the system, at the same time, (b) adjust to the system but do not challenge it, (c) challenge the system but do not adjust to it, and (d)…

Arguably, the defining feature of the counseling profession is an appreciation for human diversity. Early counseling movements emphasized individual diversity, while multiculturalism and social justice highlighted cultural diversity. The author maintains that contemporary psychoanalytic thought can supply a needed intraindividual diversity…

In the southwestern United States, there is a group of children who are referred to as "borderland children" who experience additional challenges that place them at higher risk of developing mental health and other related problems. For the purpose of this article, borderland children are defined as children who reside in towns and…

In the past 10 years, gender-variant (GV) children (children who do not conform to traditional gender norms) have received increased attention from scholars, mental health practitioners, and popular media. In schools, these students have been shown to be particularly vulnerable to violence and harassment, leading to myriad negative…

The denial of civil marriage rights is a specific example of minority stress that can negatively affect the psychosocial well-being of self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals in same-sex partnerships, their families, and their allies. Counseling psychologists have an important role in addressing the…

The author introduces a humanistic theory for school counseling called Advocating Student-within-Environment (ASE). According to this theory, the student is an adaptive agent who operates within ever-evolving environments. With ASE, a school counselor can use the capacities of the student, the school environment, and their shared agency to promote…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) students often face considerable isolation, discrimination, and violence at school, which can exacerbate the acute psychosocial and academic problems they already encounter. The purpose of this article is to introduce gay-straight alliances (GSAs) as a social justice and advocacy approach…

In this article, we emphasize the need to continually think outside the traditional therapy box in ways that we can intervene (and empower clients to intervene) to more directly address social problems, such as the sexual objectification of women, and to develop our own and our students' advocacy skills to intervene at the level of organizations,…

This lead article of the special issue discusses conceptual and methodological considerations in studying sexual minority issues, particularly in research conducted by counseling psychologists (including the work represented in this special issue). First, the overarching challenge of conceptualizing and defining sexual minority populations is…

Over the past several years, there has been an increased focus on integrating not only multiculturalism in the counseling profession, but also advocacy and social justice. Although the professional literature addresses the importance of cultural competence in supervision, there is a paucity of information about social justice advocacy in relation…

Relational-cultural theory (RCT) theorists advocate expanding the multicultural/social justice counseling competencies beyond the domains of self-awareness, cultural knowledge, and culturally responsive helping skills. This article provides an overview of RCT and discusses how creating and participating in growth-fostering relationships are…

This article describes a vision of rehabilitation counseling, wherein both the profession of rehabilitation counseling and the diverse roles of rehabilitation counselors are recognized and valued by rehabilitation counselors, the general public, and other professionals in promoting social justice and equal opportunity for individuals with…

This qualitative study explored the aspects of "self" school counselors (N = 16) described as central to advocating for social justice in their school systems. Using grounded theory, this study explored racial, feminist, and advocacy identity development in relation to the personhood of the counselor, and how these elements coalesced around action…

Counseling psychologists have been instrumental in advancing a social justice agenda within the larger field of psychology. What is still missing within this agenda, however, is a fully developed consideration of classism within the spectrum of oppressions more commonly addressed in discussions of social justice and multiculturalism. The…