Counseling at-risk Afro-American youth: an examination of contemporary issues and effective school-based strategies

Professional School Counseling, Dec, 2004 by Lisa Fusick, Wendy Charkow Bordeau

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL COUNSELING INTERVENTIONS

This section will first address suggested interventions for individual school counselors working with at-risk Afro-American youth. Second, recommended group and career counseling interventions will be presented. Finally, we will focus on ideas for school counselors to utilize in their consultative and preventive roles with teachers, parents, and their respective communities.

Although school counselors are theoretically in an optimal position to facilitate opportunities for at-risk Afro-American youth, they often do not make contact with at-risk students until those students are sent to counseling following punishment (Lee, 1991). The ASCA National Model (2002) states that appropriate school counselor responsibilities include counseling students with disciplinary problems, but it excludes performing disciplinary actions. To facilitate productive school counseling relation ships, school counselors' policies should be to establish contact and rapport with all their assigned students before problems arise. A brief, informal group meeting with students by grade level or a personal interview with each student early in the year is necessary in promoting a positive school climate (Kuykendall, 1991). To be successful, school counselors, as well as other personnel, also must be very explicit in their expectations of their clients in terms of behavior and interaction. When working with Afro-American students, school counselors must communicate the following message clearly from the start: "I care about you and I expect from you the same as I would everyone else. I expect you to treat me fairly in return."

ASSISTING ETHNIC IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

As the development and affirmation of ethnic identity within a group context may be an important correlate to academic achievement and social success, school counselors also are encouraged to conduct group counseling focused on ethnic identity, development with at-risk Afro-American youth (Benedetto & Olisky, 2001; Bradley, 2001). According to Cross, Parham, and Helms (1991) and Lee (1991), counselor-assisted ethnic identity development--or the acculturation into individual and group membership in regard to roles, status, language, spirituality, and socialization--is a critical task in empowering young Afro-Americans, especially as ethnic identity is heavily influenced by racism, class, and unbalanced economic conditions. Specifically, counselors can work with Afro-American youth as they explore their ethnic and racial identities. The Cross model of "nigrescence" (1991, 1995) describes ethnic identity as a stage process for Afro-Americans: pre-encounter, immersion-emersion, internalization, and internalization-commitment. During each of these stages, youth struggle with their identities as Afro-Americans by asking not only "Who am I?" but "What can I do, given my social context?" Identity formation is essential for any youth, but it often is shortchanged and marginalized for Afro-Americans (Sue & Sue, 2003).