Having worked as a director for diversity efforts in higher education, I knew that choosing a graduate program in clinical mental health counseling was contingent on its commitment to cultural competence (i.e. privilege, power, bias and discrimination) and diversity in the coursework, training and faculty.  For my studies, I want to focus on race, sexual orientation and the intersection of identities that often marginalize people in US American society.  After asking direct questions and expressing my desire to learn about and address stereotype threat, microagressions and racial battle fatigue in counseling, I submitted my application and I started my studies at Rhode Island College in September of 2014.  I hoped that all that they said about diversity and social justice in their teaching and training future counselors would come to fruition.

As the fall semester progressed, it was clear to me that faculty cared about diversity and imbedded cultural competence into the coursework.  Even though the majority of the faculty was White, it has always been my contention that cultural competence is vitally important for each person; thus having White faculty who were “clued in” and “got it” when it came to race and racial dynamics meant so much to me.  At the same time, it was also clear to me that the vocation of counseling is dominated by one racial group and I found myself being the only student of Asian Pacific Islander background in my classes.  Although there were a couple of students of Hispanic origin, they passed for White so on the surface I was often seen as the only student of color.  This is not a condemnation; rather it was a reminder of how true this is for many professional fields and how cultural and institutional barriers need to be dismantled to allow for more access and opportunity. 

So it is surprising for me to hear that despite the updated ACA Code of Ethics that address diversity, there is resistance to accepting and addressing the reality of oppression that comes from unearned privilege and power.   I say this based on my reading other ACA bloggers who have broached this topic and the responses they have received.  Considering all that has happened since Michael Brown of Ferguson, Eric Garner of NYC, Tamir Rice of Ohio and Trayvon Martin of Florida and countless others, it is a moral imperative that counselors are ready and poised to serve and support distressed individuals, families and communities that are under the yoke of racism and oppression.
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Elena Yee is a counselor-in-training at Rhode Island College, completing her first year of classes and practicums in Providence, Rhode Island.  She is looking forward to bringing together her years of experience in Student Affairs to the vocation of clinical mental health counseling to serve marginalized and under-represented  students on college campuses.  She is interested in how stereotype threat, microagressions and campus culture affect the mental health of such students and what counselors can do to support them in their retention and eventual graduation.  You can learn more about Elena at  http://elenatyee.blogspot.com​​