Practice 15 Justice-Seeking

Abstract

In this chapter Melissa, Sandra, and Jane illustrate the critical need for justice-seeking through macrolevel social, economic, and political changes that positively influence client and community health and well-being. They invite counsellors and psychotherapists to consider their collective responsibility for structural–societal change. The work of dismantling colonial, oppressive, and inequitable systems is increasingly urgent and requires engagement by multiple groups, including those in positions of power and privilege. Following the practice of Etuaptmumk, also known as Two-Eyed Seeing, the authors advocate for deconstruction and reconstruction of macrolevel systems by integrating multiple ways of knowing, doing, and being to enact change that embodies the values of justice, accessibility, inclusion, diversity, and equity (JAIDE). They outline practical steps for justice-seeking. Then they focus on specific examples of how healthcare practitioners might take action to challenge social injustice: (a) global human rights and social justice; (b) social justice action and activism; (c) systemic policy change, including incremental change and making social policy; (d) transforming public perception; and (e) research as activism. Drawing on their expertise in political theory, Jane integrates personal reflections and practice examples of how to foster macrolevel change through advocacy, systemic policy change, and standing up for human rights. Melissa, Sandra, and Jane remind readers that, like all other decolonial practices, change begins with practitioners’ own consciousness-raising so they can embrace solidarity in justice-seeking from a place of cultural humility and awareness of the risks of ethnocentrism. They introduced an invitation at the end of the chapter to the honour legitimate and sacred rage by staying grounding in the present moment to discern the need to respond, to bear witness, or to engage in self-care.

Melissa, Sandra, and Jane are thankful for the additional practice examples provided by the following co-authors:

• Janelle Baker reflects on the power of listening to Elders and Knowledge Holders to promote solidarity, allyship, and justice in applied research, which includes deciding when not to publish.
• Zuraida Dada shares her perspectives on social justice action in video conversation with Sandra, emphasizing the importance of intentionality and ethical responsibility.
• Gina Ko explains what lead her to host a podcast that aims to generate awareness, foster community, and create transformation through the work of anti-racism.
• Kaltrina Kusari highlights complexities of international social work, individual and professional responsibilities for challenging eurocentric frameworks while critically examining neoliberalism as a driving force behind global inequities.

Co-Authors

Melissa Jay (she/her), PhD, RPsych, is a cisgender nehiyaw (Cree) member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and lifelong student of yoga philosophy. She is a cisgender, able-bodied woman who moves through the world with white-passing privilege. She is a psychologist and associate professor at Athabasca University. Her work is centred in reciprocity and relationship, decolonized healing, anti-oppressive practices, and the integration of ancient wisdom and psychology. Her intention is to share trauma-informed, culturally responsive care, alongside her ongoing collaborative research exploring relational accountability, Indigenous methodologies, and ethical engagement with community.

Sandra Collins (she/her), PhD, is a co-editor of this book. She writes from the perspective of a feminist, lesbian, cisgender, woman with an invisible disability, who is a white, retired professor, and inhabits a privileged social class. Over the 25 years of her academic and professional career, she focused her research, writing, and teaching on cultural responsivity and social justice in theory, research, and practice. This is her fifth book on these topics, two of which were awarded the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Counselling biannual book award. She also received a silver medal for best e-book design by the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Jane Arscott (they/them or none), PhD, is a white settler who is a lifelong guest on unceded and unsurrendered territories inhabited by the nêhiyaw (Cree), the Dene, Nakota, and others for millennia, including the Métis. They use the pronouns they, their, and them or none, and identify as nonbinary, although they are seen as an embodied female. Their identity is problematic in the workplace, especially in relation to power and decision-making spaces. They founded a university major in Human Services in a degree-completion undergraduate program for adult learners in 1998, which imparts genuinely open, flexible, lifelong learning done in a good way. 

Janelle Baker (she/her), PhD is of mixed settler and Métis descent. She is an associate professor in anthropology at Athabasca University and recipient of the 2024 Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations’ Distinguished Academic Early Career Award. Her research specializations include ethnography of contamination, environmental and ecological anthropology, ethnobiology and ethnoecology, posthumanism and the anthropocene, anthropology of food, food sovereignty, political ecology, and ethnographic writing. She was the winner of the 2019 Canadian Association for Graduate Studies “ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award,” arts, humanities, and social sciences category.

Zuraida Dada (she/her), MA, RPsych, CPsych, Registered Psychologist (South Africa), is South African by birth and lived under apartheid for most of her life. SheI was an anti-apartheid activist and was part of the first wave of IBAPoC “intelligencia” in postapartheid South Africa. She is the founder and president of Invictus Psychology & Consulting, an international psychology private practice. She is a seasoned psychologist with over 20 years of experience in South Africa and 16 years of experience in Canada, specializing in counselling psychology and industrial organizational psychology. She was the recipient of the Canadian Psychological Association’s 2021 John C. Service award and was recognized for her volunteer efforts by the Psychologists’ Association of Alberta as a Contributor of the Year in 2020.

Gina Ko (she/her), PhD, RPsych, is a registered psychologist in Alberta. She has a private practice working with individuals, couples, and families using culturally responsive, socially just, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive positionalities. She is one of the founding chairpersons of the Asian Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association. She is also the producer and host of a podcast, Against the of Tides Racism, interviewing diverse racialized guests. The podcast aims to generate awareness, foster community, and create transformation by coming together to lean into the inspiring work of anti-racism. I received the 2022 Psychologists’ Association of Alberta “Excellence in Teaching Psychology Award.”

Kaltrina Kusari (she/her), PhD, RSW, is a social work researcher and educator. She is from Kosova, and she has completed my higher education in North America, most recently receiving a PhD in social work from the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. Her research focuses on various aspects of migration, including the forced return of rejected asylum seekers in Kosova, refugee settlement in Canada, and the experiences of immigrants who are unhoused. She teaches as a sessional instructor for the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary and as an individualized study tutor at Athabasca University. She is also an independent consultant for various social service agencies in Canada and Kosova.

Citation

Jay, M., Collins, S., Arscott, J., Baker, J., Dada, Z., Ko, G., & Kusari, K. (2025). Practice 15 Justice-seeking: Advocating structural–societal change. In S. Collins and M. Jay (Eds.), Decolonizing health, healing, and care: Embodying culturally responsive and socially just counselling (Chapter 7.1). Counselling Concepts. https://doi.org/10.71446/pl84573946