Counselors Making Sense of Their Experiences as Allies to LGBTQ + Communities

Abstract

Allies to the LGBTQ + communities play an essential role in fighting for change and dismantling oppressive systems that can result in emotional, mental, and physical harm. Ethical standards and conceptual guidelines have assisted professional counselor allies in their efforts to affirm and act as social justice advocates for LGBTQ + persons. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, this study enriches existing literature by exploring how self-identified counselor allies to LGBTQ + communities made meaning of their own ally identity. Findings revealed five super-ordinate themes on Privilege, Action/Doing, Motivation, Role, and Relationships. The authors further discuss implications for counselor allies and recommendations for future research.