114 The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 1 who planned to enroll in graduate school and found that 48% preferred hybrid programs, 32% preferred fully online programs, and 20% wanted a traditional classroom program. When looking at within-group differences, doctoral students preferred traditional classroom instruction and master’s students preferred hybrid or online programs (Ruffalo Noel Levitz, 2022). Courses and programs being offered online provide greater flexibility for our students to schedule around work and personal commitments. This can provide students with a better school–life balance. Online counseling programs can provide access to learners who would not otherwise be able to pursue their graduate education and search out specialty tracks that may not be available in their own geographical area. Online programming diversifies the learning environment by providing the opportunity for students from different backgrounds, worldviews, and cultures to engage and collaborate. While these virtual learning environments increase opportunities, there are also struggles we need to consider with this learning modality. Students in online programs may feel isolated and have fewer or qualitatively different opportunities to engage. This can result in a loss of community and feelings of being unsupported, and even have implications on their professional identity development. Given the differences in jurisdictional requirements for licensure, every program might not lead to the educational requirements for licensure where the student lives or wants to practice. There are also legal considerations related to mandatory reporting and limits of confidentiality that vary across jurisdictions. Lastly, online instruction can restrict assessment related to professional comportment issues. This can lead to students’ gate-slipping to the detriment of clients and the counseling profession. When looking at how to best support skills courses to ensure we are training competent and ethical counselors, it is important to consider the traits of the student, faculty, and program. Vineyard (2019) recommended that a successful virtual student is one who has good time management skills, has the ability to self-regulate, and is self-motivated. Thus, we must be honest with ourselves as educators and administrators that online programming is not the right fit for every student. Additionally, to best support virtual students, educators need to think about different types of support such as providing regular live supervision of sessions and consistently reviewing recordings. Further, faculty should seek out training and continuing education to enhance their online instruction and understand gatekeeping strategies. For programs, they should be committed to providing the required online platforms and training for both students and faculty to support an online counseling training program. Also, there should be a residency component built into the program. My personal experience and the results of my research on problems of professional competency prove that having face-to-face personal contact is how most disposition problems are discovered. I believe observing how our students interact with us and each other is a crucial part of the gatekeeping process. 2. Having an extensive research and publication record aimed toward understanding racial and generational trauma, particularly with Indigenous, tribal, and Native American populations, could you speak about the importance of advocacy and social justice in the counseling profession? We have great privilege being counselors and counselor educators. Those initials behind our names have inherent power. Thus, advocacy should be embedded in everything we do from our practice, teaching, research, and mentorship. Our training and education provide us a seat at the table to promote equity and inclusion and advocate with others—and we should take full advantage. Advocacy also relates to us being engaged with the population that we are advocating for. In that, to advocate for any population, you have to know them, understand them, and ask them if and how
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