The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 1 9 Discussion In rural communities, career counselors hold a significant role. They are tasked with aiding individuals with employment needs; they may often address mental health concerns, and while doing so, it is important for them to be aware of and prepared to address SDOMH. Career counselors can gain more insight into issues related to SDOMH through consultation, collaboration, and advocacy, which should all be a part of the repertoire of a rural career counselor. The use of theoretical frameworks such as the Rural Community Health and Well-Being Framework (Racher et al., 2004) provides direction for career counselors seeking to understand the systemic issues impacting employment access and opportunities in the community, as well as direction for intervention. This framework will assist in identifying and minimizing barriers to employment that may exist within rural communities. More specifically, this framework will help to uncover SDOMH challenges that exist in the community and serve as barriers to well-being and employment and provide direction for advocating for resources necessary for equitable work opportunities and environments. Being that individuals in rural America experience various barriers that have huge impacts on their lives, such a guide for career counselors is essential. Lastly, addressing SDOMH within career counseling is a social justice issue that counselors should address (ACA, 2014; Crucil & Amundson, 2017; Ratts et al., 2016). The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts et al., 2016) serve as a guide for counselors to address social justice issues and were endorsed by the ACA in 2015. Like the aforementioned framework and empirically based suggestions, the MSJCC includes four areas of competence: counselor self-awareness, client worldview, counseling relationship, and counseling and advocacy interventions. The authors of the MSJCC also implore counselors to consider “attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and action,” and suggest that competent counselors are aware of the experiences of marginalized clients (Ratts et al., 2016; p. 3). Thus, career counselors’ efforts to assess and address the individual and systems-based SDOMH challenges faced by their clients is social justice work that career counselors are trained and prepared to address. Implications Given this review, there are specific implications for career counselors practicing in rural communities, counselor educators training career counselors, and pertinent policy needs. Practicing Career Counselors The role of the career counselor often entails identifying employment objectives, goals, and needs for both the job seeker and employer. In addition, the career counselor is responsible for résumé development, teaching job placement and retention skills, providing self-advocacy tips, teaching organizational goal–redefining skills, and many other components (Ysasi et al., 2018). However, providing these services can be difficult when the individuals reside in rural communities because of the SDOMH disparities such as limited available resources, isolation, increased poverty, and decreased educational and employment opportunities (Temkin, 1996). Therefore, career counselors must actively work to ensure their visibility and accessibility to individuals in rural areas who are seeking employment opportunities. Further, career counselors need to market themselves and their skills to employers and job seekers of rural communities. Consequently, marketing generally entails engaging and developing community partnerships with employers and job seekers, which involves educating individuals unfamiliar with the specific services that career
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