DIGEST - Volume 9, Issue 1

2 TPC Digest 2 | TPC Digest P eople living in rural poverty consistently face multiple chronic stressors that impact their quality of life and well-being. Food and housing insecurities, educational disadvantages, social isolation, and the inability to access and afford adequate physical and mental health care are among the many perils faced by people living in rural, economically deprived areas throughout the United States. While health care and educational reform are topics addressed in legislation and within academic settings, the mental health needs of individuals residing in rural areas that experience persistent poverty remain under-researched. As a result, researchers and practitioners have called for examinations of mental health services, which also address socioeconomic inequities, to effectively meet the needs of this grossly underserved population. Moreover, counselors practicing in rural, impoverished areas, must be prepared to address systems of oppression and the impact they have on clients’ well-being at multiple levels. The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCCs) provide mental health counselors a framework to incorporate culturally responsive counseling and advocacy initiatives to support the well-being of historically marginalized clients. The MSJCCs help counselors to examine personal biases and the dynamics of their marginalized and privileged identities in relation to multiculturalism and social justice counseling competence and advocacy. Additionally, the MSJCCs assist counselors in acknowledging clients’ intersecting identities, which bestow various aspects of power, privilege, and oppression that may affect their growth and development. Utilizing the MSJCCs as the conceptual framework, the authors conducted a phenomenological study to examine the experiences of mental health counselors who work in rural, persistently poor communities and identify ways that counselors incorporate social justice advocacy into counseling. The authors interviewed 15 counselors who worked in persistently poor, rural communities in the Southeastern United States. The themes representing the counselors’ experiences were: (1) appreciating clients’ worldviews and life experiences, (2) counseling relationships influencing service delivery, (3) engaging in individual and systems advocacy, and (4) utilizing professional support. The findings from the study illustrate the need for counselors to consider how contextual factors, such as family structure, support systems, social class status, and having less access to resources, influence clients’ utilization of mental health treatment. Furthermore, counselors in the study reinforced the importance of a strong, trusting counseling relationship and discussed how it is often necessary to alter traditional counseling session delivery formats, practices, and roles to acknowledge clients’ worldviews and other factors that influence the counseling process. The counselors discussed specific ways they frequently engaged in individual and systems-level advocacy with and on behalf of clients living in rural, impoverished communities. Lastly, ongoing self-examination and seeking professional support from peers and supervisors were vital to prevent burnout, examine biases, and gain additional skills in order to provide culturally competent mental health counseling services in rural, impoverished communities. Loni Crumb is an assistant professor at East Carolina University. Natoya Haskins is an associate professor at the College of William and Mary. Shanita Brown is an instructor at East Carolina University. Correspondence can be addressed to Loni Crumb, 213B Ragsdale Hall, Mail Stop: 121, Greenville, NC 27858, crumbL15@ecu.edu. Loni Crumb, Natoya Haskins, Shanita Brown Integrating Social Justice Advocacy Into Mental Health Counseling in Rural, Impoverished American Communities