Preparing Counselors for Practice with Immigrant Clients in Court Proceedings: Framing Required Knowledge, Attitudes, and Skills within the MSJCC

The Multicultural Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts et al., 2016) provide a framework for defining the attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and action that counselors must develop to effectively work with clients across identities and social and cultural contexts. In this paper, we apply the MSJCC to counselors’ practice with immigrant clients within a specific context: immigration court proceedings. Evidence suggests that counselors may be hesitant to practice within forensic settings in general, and that training and education enhances their self-efficacy, effectiveness, and willingness to practice within these settings. Drawing on the MSJCC, we contribute to counselors’ knowledge end education regarding the necessary awareness and beliefs, knowledge, and skills and actions required for effective practice with immigrant clients in immigration court proceedings. Specifically, we summarize required attitudes of reflexivity, cultural humility, and trauma-informed care; knowledge of immigration status and avenues to regularize status, as well as the intersections of trauma, culture, and memory; and skills to conduct an evaluation and provide expert testimony while exercising objectivity, ethical practice, and cultural humility.