Research Paper 'Unless everyone's covert guerrilla-like social justice practitioners…': A preliminary study exploring social justice in UK counselling psychology

Abstract

BackgroundThe discipline of applied psychology has begun to reflect more explicitly on the social justice values and practices of the profession. This paper presents the first stage of research in a larger project aiming to explore ‘social justice’ in applied psychology in the UK, and takes as its focus the branch of counselling psychology.AimTo explore how members of the UK counselling psychology profession understand social justice, and act on their commitment to it.MethodInterviews were conducted with six individuals who had at least a moderate interest in and commitment to social justice, as assessed by the Social Issues Questionnaire. Data were analysed using techniques from the grounded theory approach.FindingsThemes included participants’ understandings of social justice both on a theoretical and a personal level, and the perceived fit between social justice and counselling psychology. Participants reported a perception of a lack of social justice action and reflected on potential difficulties associated with engaging in social justice action.DiscussionImplications for the international counselling psychology profession are reflected on. Directions for further research are outlined.