Learning from the Standpoints of Minoritized Students: An Exploration of Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Training

Abstract

The results of a feminist research endeavour that explored multicultural (MC) counselling and social justice (SJ) training experiences from the standpoint of eight culturally non-dominant doctoral students are presented. Participants represented students within the five counselling psychology programs accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association. Specifically, the research aimed to address the following research question: How do counselling psychology doctoral students who self-identify with non-dominant cultural identities perceive their experiences of MC and SJ training? This research adopted a feminist standpoint theory epistemology to guide an interpretative phenomenological analysis to reflect the culturally rich, complex, and situated experiences of participants, while concurrently emphasizing the role that systems of privilege and oppression play in influencing these experiences. Results point to seven superordinate themes, including: (a) MC and SJ are personal and rooted in identity; (b) Instructors—their role and impact; (c) Classmates—a mixed bag; (d) Perceptions of MC and SJ courses; (e) Perceptions of clinical supervision; (f) Systemic engagement with MC and SJ principles; and (g) The emotional and psychological burden of MC and SJ training. Findings are discussed considering sociocultural practices in North America, and MC and SJ training implications are explored.