MS Counseling Program Mission Statement
The mission of the CSUSB Counseling Program is to prepare critically conscious counselors in schools and community settings who are committed to diversity, racial equity, and social justice. We are committed to preparing future counselors to become advocates, systemic change agents, and equity-minded in their practices to work effectively with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, families, students, and clients. Our program is committed to providing an education that enhances future counselors' awareness and ability to utilize counseling practices that can contribute to social justice for people from various backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. We are passionate about praxis that advocates for historically marginalized groups by preparing counselors to understand themselves in relation to oppressive social structures and the ways in which counselors can serve with purpose to dismantle systems of oppression and contribute to cultivate conditions for justice that heal and transform individuals and communities.
Our Commitment to Racial Equity and Social Justice
The CSUSB MS Counseling Program has a deep commitment to racial equity and social justice by fostering counselors who are equity-minded in their practices. Equity-mindedness counselors are individuals who have the capacity to acknowledge and address how racialized structures, policies, and practices produce and sustain racial inequities (Bensimon & Malcom, 2012; Dowd & Bensimon, 2015). As a program, we are committed to fostering an inclusive learning environment that allows students to engage in racial equity and social justice work that will require accountability, assessment, and continuous reflection. We believe that being a counselor with an “equity and equity-mindedness requires explicit attention to structural inequality and institutionalized racism and demands system-changing responses” (Bensimon, 2018, p. 97). During your time in the MS Counseling program, the curriculum your courses will include discussions about systems and structures that perpetuate inequities, which dramatically impact historically and continuously marginalized peoples’ lived experiences. In your courses, as an equity-minded counselor you will be asked to examine and reflect on your values, beliefs, and biases to understand and respond more effectively to the people and communities you serve.