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Integrating Social Justice and Advocacy Into Training Psychologists:
A Practical Demonstration
Melissa M. Pearrow and Lindsay Fallon
University of Massachusetts Boston
Training psychologists to engage in advocacy and social justice is critical to professional development.
Scholars recommend a variety of methods to accomplish this training. One approach is to offer
goal-driven instruction that aligns with a clear mission, a safe and supportive environment for construc-
tive dialogue, and the opportunity to engage in experiential learning. Experiential learning opportunities
may be most impactful if structured as a longitudinal process; however, few practical training examples
exist to demonstrate such a procedure. The purpose of this article is to offer a structured, longitudinal
training demonstration of psychology doctoral trainees engaged in social justice and advocacy work at
a midsize, diverse urban public university. This multiyear effort included (a) a comprehensive needs
assessment; (b) qualitative interviews and focus groups with students and staff; and (c) supporting the
development and coordination of care at a campus center to address student housing instability, food
insecurity, and other critical needs. Implications of this work on advocacy in public service settings are
described.
Keywords: advocacy, public service, social justice, training
An increasing amount of attention has been paid to the integra-
tion of social justice into psychology training over the last 20 years
(e.g., Bradley, Werth, & Hastings, 2012;Motulsky, Gere, Saleem,
& Trantham, 2014). This may be due in part to competency
guidelines set by the American Psychological Association (APA;
2012), which indicate that psychologists should be trained to
safeguard others’ welfare and promote systems change that targets
the impact of social, political, economic or cultural factors. Faculty
in training programs integrate social justice into training in differ-
ent ways; some explicitly teach themes in a designated course
(Pieterse, Evans, Risner-Butner, Collins, & Mason, 2009), whereas
others promote self-reflection and action through experiential
learning (Motulsky et al., 2014). It is unclear how best to teach
psychologists to engage in social justice work and advocacy (Ali,
Liu, Mahmood, & Arguello, 2008;Grapin, 2017), but additional
practical demonstrations are helpful to the field to form recom-
mendations for best practice (Motulsky et al., 2014).
Scholars have noted that social justice has been defined in a
variety of ways (Pieterse et al., 2009). As it pertains to the training
of psychologists, Goodman and colleagues (2004) described social
justice as learning about and acting to change “values, structures,
policies, and practices, [so] that disadvantaged or marginalized
groups gain increased access to [the] tools [needed for] self-
determination” (p. 795). Similarly, Bell (2016) called social justice
education both a process and a goal, aimed at providing individuals
in at-risk communities with what is needed (e.g., safety, respect,
resources, opportunities) to foster independence and interconnect-
edness.
Advocacy is defined as taking action to achieve goals in clients’
environments (Toporek & Liu, 2001). It is often discussed in
tandem with social justice as part of developing a trainee’s cultural
competence (Burnes & Singh, 2010). Cultural competence in-
volves building awareness and knowledge of self (i.e., psycholo-
gist) and others (e.g., the client), as well as the application of
culturally appropriate skills and culturally adaptive interventions
when engaging in psychological practices (APA, 2017). To nurture
trainees’ cultural competence, Shriberg (2009) recommended that
trainers in psychology graduate programs provide social justice
education by offering (a) goal-driven instruction that aligns with a
clear mission statement, (b) a safe and supportive environment for
constructive dialogue, and (c) experiential learning opportunities
to help make social justice a “real thing” (not merely theoretical or
aspirational).
Goal-Driven Instruction
Instruction related to social justice is often framed within one or
more graduate courses. These courses may be structured differ-
ently depending on the focus of a training program. In their review,
Pieterse and colleagues (2009) noted that courses targeting multi-
cultural competence and social justice training for psychologists
might cover a range of content. Some course instructors focus each
week on specific populations or communities (e.g., African Amer-
icans; Native Americans, Appalachians), whereas other weekly
course topics center on various forms of oppression (e.g., sexism,
This article was published Online First August 29, 2019.
Melissa M. Pearrow and XLindsay Fallon, Department of Counseling
and School Psychology, College of Education and Human Development,
University of Massachusetts Boston.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Melissa
M. Pearrow, Department of Counseling and School Psychology, College of
Education and Human Development, University of Massachusetts Boston,
Wheatley 2-160, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125. E-mail:
melissa.pearrow@umb.edu
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© 2019 American Psychological Association 2020, Vol. 17, No. S1, 30–36
ISSN: 1541-1559 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ser0000384
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