Clinical Mental Health Student Interns' Perspectives of Advocacy in the Correctional System: A Qualitative Study

Many counseling profession leaders view counselor advocacy as the single-most important aspect related to the future of the counseling profession. Therefore, counselors’ advocacy training is imperative. Moreover, CACREP emphasizes the importance of practicum and internship as experiential components of counseling training that enable students to implement advocacy strategies to their counseling practice. Specific to this study, social justice advocacy is part of the therapist role when working with incarcerated individuals or those impacted by the corrections system. There is a struggle to find a study with a focus of clinical mental health student interns’ perspectives and experiences of social justice advocacy when working within the correctional system. This document contains information of a research study that explored the experiences of clinical mental health student interns working within correctional settings and their views of advocacy work. Utilizing a grounded theory strategy, education, resources and support emerged as themes and a complimentary relationship for social justice advocacy training was identified.

Embargo status: Restricted until 01/2027. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.