Developing Culturally-Affirming School Counselors

Abstract

An increase in diversity among school counselors requires increasingly diverse practices to meet counselors' needs. These practices need to be culturally responsive and—most importantly—culturally sustaining. Counselor education programs and school systems need to identify strategies that are anti-racist and focused on social justice to provide supervision for both students of school counseling and emerging leaders. In response to the impact of racism, discrimination, and bias within the school counseling profession and the need to provide a culturally affirming community, a group of school counseling professionals of color formed a peer consultation group. The group encouraged support, resources, and feedback to help develop best practices and advocated for students experiencing disparities during the pandemic. This chapter provides a description of the SAGE Peer Consultation Model and best practices to promote resiliency and advocacy that integrate a social justice framework incorporating anti-racist and culturally affirming practices.