Full Digest V8, I2

6 TPC Digest A s the population of the United States becomes increasingly more diverse, the field of counseling needs to improve on its readiness to provide competent, culturally relevant services to diverse people across the lifespan. This effort should begin within counselor education programs where the duty to prepare ethical, reflective, and culturally competent counselors lies. A core element of counselor education is the study of human development. In fact, the focus on healthy human development has been central to the field of counseling since it began. New counselors learn theories and models that have been used for decades to describe development across the lifespan. Yet, many of the theories that define healthy human development were created using single-gender or single-culture groups. How well these theories provide understanding of human development in our pluralistic society is an open question, and is a fundamental question of social justice for counselors to grapple with. Because of accreditation, licensure, and certification requirements, counselor educators are obligated to teach what may be outdated theories and models. In the absence of new theories and models that provide both nuanced and robust understanding of development for people who represent diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, religious, sexual orientation, and other groups, a better approach to teaching human development is needed. As an experiential teaching strategy that combines academic content learned in the classroom with collaborative and meaningful service in the community, service learning can provide a different approach. This study focused on the impact of using service learning with community counseling students in a course entitled Counseling Across the Lifespan, which focused on understanding human development from a counseling perspective. In small groups and in collaborative relationships with community partners, students planned and carried out content-related projects that supported the mission and goals of the partner organizations. In order to successfully complete their projects, students reviewed relevant literature, conducted site visits, and created a product that went into immediate use for the community partner. Projects examples included a program on kindergarten readiness with refugee families, developing resources for housing for an older African immigrant community, and many others. Using content analysis, researchers examined student reflection papers and self-assessments to understand the impact of using service learning in the human development class. Results from content analysis demonstrated how service learning enhanced learning, and broadened students’ perceptions of themselves, others, and social justice in counseling. Findings indicated a shift in participants’ perception of social justice in counseling. This study has implications for how counselor educators prepare students for the role of counselor and social justice advocate in the increasingly pluralistic society of the United States. Kristi A. Lee, NCC, is an associate professor at Seattle University. Daniel J. Kelley-Petersen, NCC, is an adjunct faculty member at Seattle University. Correspondence can be addressed to Kristi Lee, College of Education, 901 Twelfth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122, leekrist@seattleu.edu. Kristi A. Lee, Daniel J. Kelley-Petersen Service Learning in Human Development Promoting Social Justice Perspectives in Counseling