First Impressions: Developing Critical Consciousness in Counselor Training Programs

Abstract

This article examines the process of developing critical consciousness amongst counselor trainees from the perspectives of an African American male professor and European American female graduate student. It is from these perspectives that the motivations for and resistance to addressing issues of social justice are examined. First, a Freirian educational philosophy and approach to teaching, research, and mentoring is presented. Next, key junctures in engaging and developing critical consciousness from a student's perspective are highlighted. Finally, strategies for professors and students who wish to propel their educational experiences beyond mastering course content to create just societies are provided utilizing tools from the Cultural Context Model.

Keywords:

• accountability
• African American professor
• counselor trainees
• critical consciousness
• cultural context model
• oppression
• Paulo Friere
• power dynamics
• social justice
• White priviledge

Notes

¹ Throughout the paper, the first author will be referred to as “Dr. Brown.” The second author will be referred to as “Diana.” All other names appearing in the paper are fictitious.

² Strategies to increase effectiveness with various levels of abilities included modifying colors of powerpoint presentations for students with visual impairments; modifying teaching style, cadence and pace to work with translators and transcriptionists; rearranging the class room so people could read lips better; and creating opportunities to engage students who had social phobias.

³ Mean Girls is the story of a home-schooled 15 year-old girl who enrolls in a public high school and encounters the psychological warfare, bullying, and unwritten social rules that teenage girls face.

⁴ Color of Fear is a documentary which chronicles the experiences of a multi-ethnic group of men who candidly discus the state of race relations in the United States.