Counselling Psychology Social Justice Statement

The mission of the Counselling Psychology program at the University of Calgary (hereafter the Program) is to prepare the next generation of Counselling Psychologists to be reflexive, critical, and culturally responsive researchers, educators, and practitioners. Taking on a generalist approach, the Program prepares students for careers in a wide range of settings, including education (schools, colleges, and universities), government, social services, health units and hospitals, community agencies, business and industry, and private practice. Both the MSc and PhD programs are grounded on a scientist-practitioner model, emphasizing: integration of science and practice; critical evaluation of theory, research, and practice; and generation and dissemination of cutting-edge knowledge. Furthermore, the Program upholds an active commitment to social justice, highlighting the importance of infusing advocacy in both the science and practice of psychology. As such, with the power and privilege obtained as Counselling Psychologists we aim to aid in understanding, healing, and advocating for wellbeing and justice within and beyond our communities.

Values & Principles¹

The Program values center on social justice, with a shared understanding that suffering and psychological distress often arise out of interlocking systems of oppression, social injustices, coloniality, and human rights violations. Social justice can be understood as a professional commitment, an action-oriented process, and a desired goal. The process entails investigating and dismantling ideologies and structures of inequities related to age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual / affectional orientation, language, (dis)ability, religion, spirituality, Indigenous ancestry, nationality, status in country, social class, accessibility, physicality, as well as their intersections. From an intersectional approach, we consider meanings and consequences of multiple categories, which are fluid and contextually situated. We move beyond fixed and binary understandings of identities and experiences. We embrace diversity within the faculty and student body which is reflective of the pluralistic society in which we live. This requires active self-reflection, critical engagement, and integration of the principles of respect, reciprocity, reverence, and responsibility within our interactions. 

Furthermore, we understand that decolonialization and anti-colonialism are inseparable from, and integral to, the realization of social justice; in fact, they are an ethical responsibility in our work as Counselling Psychologists. Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Calls to Action (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015), Psychology’s Response to the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada’s Report (Canadian Psychological Association & Psychology Foundation of Canada, 2018),  University of Calgary’s Indigenous Strategy ii’ taa’poh’to’p, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the members of the Program enact their ethical responsibility to respectfully walk alongside Indigenous Peoples and dismantle colonial logic, policies, and systems that obstruct Indigenous self-determination and governance. Through the Indigenous and Indigenist ways of knowing, the goal is full and equitable engagement of all groups within society to decolonize ourselves and the disciplinary knowledge and practices in meaningful ways to set the necessary foundation for reconciliation.

Social justice requires critical, reflective, ongoing, community-driven multidisciplinary research and practice, which addresses issues of equity, human rights, power and privilege, and oppression. Social justice efforts can be demonstrated in several ways, including a focus on (a) topics of study that have not traditionally been prioritized in counselling psychology (e.g., ableism, ageism, heterosexism, racism, sexism, weightism, climate justice, etc.); (b) research approaches that prioritize the experiences of underrepresented communities (e.g., feminist epistemologies, queer and transgender theories, Indigenous research paradigms, critical disability studies, etc.); (c) community work and advocacy with groups who are systemically oppressed  (e.g., those living in conditions of poverty and precarity); (d) scholarly work that contributes to social and systemic change (e.g., discriminatory practices, organizational policies, etc.); to name but a few examples. 

We believe in the importance of supporting full human potential and enhancing quality of life within the context of life-long learning. We are accountable to each other in creating an equitable learning and working space where students, staff, and faculty members with different identities and social locations feel safe, accepted, and respected. As such, we seek excellence that builds upon––not at the expense of––collegiality, wellbeing, and collectively fostered mutual growth.

¹This statement was co-created by faculty members (Domene, Fellner, Jin, Lacerda-Vandenborn, Maroney, Mudry, Russell-Mayhew, Wada, Zamudio, and Zhao) and students during the 2021-2022 academic year. The current version builds on the earlier statement developed by Arthur, Cairns, Fellner, Kassan, Mendaglio, Robertson, Russell-Mayhew, Strong, and Wada (2016).