442 The Professional Counselor | Volume 13, Issue 4 similar to me. Even with clients with whom I only have a few sessions, I find a way to bring up or broach apparent and hidden cultural differences. Broaching is the process by which counselors bring up cultural characteristics of the client and the counselor and invite clients to explore the relevance of those characteristics (Day‐Vines et al., 2007). Broaching is very important because it preemptively communicates to the client that their whole person is welcomed into the therapeutic space. We may only have a few minutes in session to do this work, so I would start by saying something like, “Hey, I know that we are both males, but, for instance, I identify as a cisgendered male. What about you? How do you identify? And what concerns do you have about our similarities or differences?” Doing this allows the client to be seen and sets a tone for our interactions. Even when clients brush this off during our initial session, I have experienced instances in which they bring up things later and were thankful for me broaching; they had made note of it, and it made them feel safe with me. I remember exploring cultural differences with Diondre and, through that process, exploring what it meant to be a Black male in his community. We had profound conversations about identifying as a thug or nerd, which his cousins teased him about. Diondre even opened up and began to explore his sexual orientation, something he did not feel safe doing with anyone in his community for fear of being judged. I continue to practice broaching and highly recommend it. The fourth action counselors can take to be allies for Black youth who use cannabis calls for moving beyond self-exploration and understanding Black youth’s culture to a commitment to dismantle systemic barriers. The fourth developmental domain of the MSJCC specifies that social action should be employed in six areas, which include, among others, institutional, community, and public-policy levels, to build multicultural counseling competency (Ratts et al., 2015). Structural racism includes the ways in which societal structures and institutions establish and perpetuate policies, practices, and social norms that reify racial hierarchies, including differential access to material conditions and opportunities based on race (Gee & Ford, 2011). Alvarez et al. (2022) emphasized that system transformations can occur at the client level, at the provider level, and at the organizational and community levels. Getting to know myself and my isms and gaining an in-depth perspective of Diondre, his family, and his community allowed me to gain insight into their ecological context and the systems they had to deal with, including the multidisciplinary team I was working with. I was not always successful, but I was very committed to pushing for equitable policies. Counselors within schools, the mental health industry at large, and the JJS have an opportunity to advocate for equitable treatment so that clients such as Diondre can have the same expectations for restoration and redemption despite their ecological contexts. Conclusion Over the past 15 years of experience as a professional counselor, I have come to value the experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today. Not that I am free from defects as a person and as a clinician, but I am becoming. Becoming a multiculturally competent counselor requires that we constantly look at ourselves and the systems within which we are employed. As our country becomes more polarized and people retreat into silos of ideology, political dogma, religiosity, and otherizing, as counselors we must resist. I am convinced more than ever that we need to maintain a stance that consistently heralds a message of love, compassion, empathy, and humanization. To do this, we must commit to doing the work—the ongoing and at times painful, awkward, and vulnerable work of intentional self-reflection, advocacy, and action. Black youth, like other marginalized youth and adults, have suffered much and for a long time. In us they should find refuge, warmth, and a safe space to cry, to laugh, and to question themselves, their cultural identity,
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