Domain II: Challenge Social Injustices, and Critique Their Impact on Client–Counsellor Social Locations

The second domain of the CRSJ counselling model (Collins, 2018) casts the eyes of the learner beyond the client–counsellor dyad to the contexts of both counsellor and client lived experiences and cultural identity development. In this section of the teaching and learning guide, I have selected competencies and key concepts to illustrate the complex relationship between culture and social location. I use the term social location to refer to the place, status, or position (social, economic, or political) that individuals or groups hold within society, based on various markers of difference, most often related to various dimensions of their cultural identities. As with the cultural identities of counsellor and client, their individual and relative social locations influence the counselling relationship and counselling process in various ways. In many cases, the presenting concerns that clients bring to counselling are rooted in these social determinants of health and the most ethical approach to change rests within the contexts of clients’ lives (systems level) rather than within them as individuals (intrapsychic level).

The four chapters in this section of the teaching and learning guide provide learning activities related to the four core competencies (CC) in this domain.

References

Collins, S. (2018). Embracing cultural responsivity and social justice: Re-shaping professional identity in counselling psychology. Counselling Concepts. https://counsellingconcepts.ca/