172 The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 2 community, they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t need help, I don’t have mental issues.’ And that was part of my motivation to let them know it’s okay to get counseling.” Ada, a 28-year-old counselor and counseling doctoral student, described her experience receiving mixed messages about working in mental health from people with whom she attended her Black church, saying, “I remember expressing that interest . . . and most people were like, ‘That’s, like really needed, especially in our community.’ But this one older woman was just like, ‘You want to work with people who are like, messed up in the mind?’” Jalen, a 40-year-old counselor, spoke about the strategies he used to make his counseling career financially viable, noting, “In-home counseling led me into . . . people talking about how you can make more money by getting more credentials.” Black (Under)Representation (Secondary Motivator) All of the contributors to this study explicitly spoke about being motivated to become counselors for more representation in the profession. We learned from the contributors that this motivator was influenced by two variables: 1) having an adult/senior influence, and 2) having negative personal counseling experiences. Many shared compelling stories of an adult/senior influence (e.g., a family member, a professor) who encouraged them to consider professional counseling as a career option. Additionally, many shared negative experiences as clients. Mildred P., a 51-year-old professional counselor, shared the importance of having a counselor that has a shared racial and/or ethnic identity, noting, “I’ve not seen counselors that look like me. And I feel like . . . if you can relate on the surface, then there’s a level of comfort.” Jo, a 63-year-old counselor who works with college students, addressed the need for more Black counselors who work with college students to increase representation and to amend negative counseling experiences she and Black student clients have had: There was only one Black counselor there, and she can’t see everybody in the 48,000 population at [redacted university]. She can’t see everyone. And so, they [Black students] didn’t want to go. Or, they’ve gone before and their experiences weren’t the best. And they don’t go back. We know that that happens all the time. It’s even happened to myself. So, when I was thinking about what I can do, because I can complain, you know, and say, ‘Oh, we don’t have counselors, we don’t have counselors,’ or I can do something about it in my little area of the world. The experience of having an adult/senior influence on these contributors’ motivation to become professional counselors and increase Black representation was salient. Denise, a 42-year-old counselor educator, shared the profound impact of having a Black mentor who was a professional counselor. She shared, “What really was beneficial was seeing . . . a Black man willing to show someone the ropes. . . . I emailed that person, and they responded the same day. That just spoke so much to me of their integrity.” Serena, a 26-year-old Black counselor, recalled the importance of adult/senior influences in her desire to join the profession, noting, ACA did a mentoring program and . . . I kind of forgotten I’d signed up. And then I got an email saying you’re connected to a mentor and it was great. She had two mentees and she was a counselor of color from [university redacted] and very passionate about empowering people of color, and she was the one, she was the first person to ask me, ‘Why do you want a doctorate?’ In all my—since undergrad—no one asked me that. . . . She was awesome. She introduced me to one of her doctoral students, another Black woman. We met a couple times over Zoom as well.
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