6 TPC Digest 6 TPC Digest ounseling researchers have published very little about why people choose to become counselors. This is especially true for Black counselors, who, compared to White counselors, are significantly outnumbered in the profession. To this end, our research team sought to answer a critical question using a grounded theory research design: What motivates Black people to become professional counselors? We learned, from a group of 28 Black counselors and counseling students, that there were a range of experiences, influences, and variables that inspired them to join the profession. To justify our investigation, we drew on past research that has documented how Black counseling students and faculty describe counseling program climates; reported contemporary and historical barriers that continue to exclude Black students from graduate education, which might contribute to a shortage of Black counselors; and examined the upsurge in Black people seeking counseling treatment and preferring to be treated by Black counselors. Our goal was to begin to provide a theoretical grounding to explain Black counselors’ motivation to join the profession. We framed our study with concepts from Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the Theory of Nigrescence for an integrated theoretical framework. CRT posits that racism and White supremacy is embedded in everyday structures and systems and impacts the lived experiences of people of color. Michael D. Hannon, LaShawn M. Adams, Natalie Nieves, Estefanie Ceballo, David Julius Ford, Jr., Linwood G. Vereen Black People’s Reasons for Becoming Professional Counselors: A Grounded Theory C
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