Social justice advocacy: community collaboration and systems advocacy.(Special Section: Advocacy Competence)(Report)

This article addresses the community collaboration and systems advocacy domains articulated by the American Counseling Association (ACA)Task Force on Advocacy Competencies (Lewis, Arnold, House, & Toporek, 2002). These domains involve the community, school, and interacting systems in which clients live, study, and work. These components of the client's environment must be addressed in the blueprint for a social justice agenda that counselors need to follow in advocating on behalf of their clients. The community collaboration and systems advocacy domains can be compared with the mesosystem level addressed by Bronfenbrenner (1979) in his Ecological Model. Ecological theory contends that the mesosystem serves as a link in the interaction among the systems surrounding the individual. These systems consist of family, school, work, neighborhood, church, community agencies, day care, and so on.

The ACA Advocacy Competencies (Lewis et al., 2002) suggest that counselors intervene in two interrelated domains within the school/community level of advocacy, namely, community collaboration and systems advocacy. Counselors can intervene in the advocacy process either by assuming a position as an ally to others in the school/community or by moving from an ally position to a position of leadership in advocating for the desired change needed within the school/community. Community collaboration refers to counselors assuming the role of an ally. It can take the form of being aware of the recurrent issues within schools/communities that impede clients' growth and development. Alerting organizations or agencies already working for change within a school/community of counselors' skills and ideas to facilitate the change process (Lewis et al., 2002) is necessary. Systems advocacy takes the community collaboration a step further in that counselors assume a leadership role to implement a systematic plan to address the issues at hand (Lewis et al., 2002). Within this domain, Lewin's (1948) theory of force field analysis aids in the evaluation of driving forces that facilitate change in contrast to the restraining forces impeding change, which together create equilibrium within a school, community, or society. Force field analysis provides a framework for looking at the factors (forces) that influence a situation both positively and negatively, in particular social situations. It looks at forces that are either driving movement toward a goal (helping forces) or blocking movement toward a goal (hindering forces). Lewin's theory of force field analysis along with the aforementioned domains must be conceptualized as being interrelated, rather than distinct.

As noted previously, the two Advocacy Competency domains discussed in this article are community collaboration and systems advocacy. Community collaboration, which consists of eight Advocacy Competencies, is conceptualized in the following manner: Counselors use their "unique awareness" of "specific difficulties in the environment" (Lewis et al., 2002, p. 2) to work with organizations to bring about change. Lewis et al. (2002) pointed out counselors' skills in interpersonal relations, communication, training, and research, which can be made available in collaborating with organizations to promote changes that foster clients' growth and healthy development. In community collaboration, Lewis et al. (2002) suggested that eight Advocacy Competencies are needed by counselors to intervene at the community level: (a) identify environmental factors that impinge upon students' and clients' development, (b) alert community or school groups with common concerns related to the issue, (c) develop alliances with groups working for change, (d) use effective listening skills to gain understanding of the group's goals, (e) identify the strengths and resources that the group members bring to the process of systemic change, (f) communicate recognition of and respect for these strengths and resources, (g) identify and offer the skills that the counselor can bring to the collaboration, and (h) assess the effect of counselor's interaction with the community (p. 2).

Lewis et al. (2002) described systems advocacy, also consisting of eight Advocacy Competencies, as the identification and eradication of "systemic factors that act as barriers to their students' or clients' development" (p. 2). For a counselor to intervene at the systemic level, he or she must (a) identify environmental factors impinging on students' or clients' development; (b) provide and interpret data to show the urgency for change; (c) in collaboration with other stakeholders, develop a vision to guide change; (d) analyze the sources of political power and social influence within the system; (e) develop a step-by-step plan for implementing the change process; (f) develop a plan for dealing with probable responses to change; (g) recognize and deal with resistance; and (h) assess the effect of counselor's advocacy efforts on the system and constituents (Lewis et al., 2002, p. 2). Lewis et al. (2002) acknowledged the difficulties encountered in bringing about systemic changes and the qualities required of those who work toward change, namely, "vision, persistence, leadership, collaboration, systems analysis, and strong data" (p. 2). Counselors, by virtue of their training, possess these qualities for facilitating change along with a strong professional commitment to bring about change in their clients. Counselors are the right persons to take the leadership in this endeavor as part of their professional roles.

According to Lewis, Lewis, Daniels, and D'Andrea (1998), counselors have unique insight into the effects of oppression on their clients' health and well-being. Such insight must be accompanied by the responsibility for actively working to alleviate oppression. Oppression refers to the systematic disadvantage of one group by other groups who hold more power in society. Counselors, as professionals who interact both with clients and with the systems that oppress them, must respond to the call of ...