Rethinking Counseling Recruitment for Transgender Clients: Using Content Analysis to Investigate Trends

Abstract

Transgender clients are disproportionately underrepresented in counseling, despite clinical needs therein. To better understand this problem, we investigated client recruitment within professional counseling literature. Using content analysis to identify codes and themes, we found that, out of 111 recruitment articles, one article highlighted sexual minorities and one included transgender individuals. Our analyses identify critical issues within the counseling profession’s lack of attention to and strategies for recruiting transgender clients. We hope to illuminate the dearth of literature regarding recruiting transgender clients to clinical services and provide implications for advocacy of transgender clients among future researchers, counselor educators, and practitioners.

Keywords:

• Advocacy
• community outreach
• content analysis
• counseling recruitment
• multicultural counseling
• social justice
• transgender