Love Your Neighbor as Yourself: Examining the Lived Experience of Christians of Color Engaged in Advocacy

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of Christians of Color (COC) engaged in advocacy work within the counseling profession. The study was guided by the allies integrative model, which asserts that God is the author of all truth, and that theology and psychology offer ways to understand His truth within human limitations. This framework provided a lens to examine how COC navigate their faith and racialized identity in advocacy. Seven licensed counselors participated in semistructured interviews, and their corresponding narratives were analyzed using thematic coding. Findings highlight the ways in which COC counselors integrate faith and racial identity in advocacy, their perceptions of self-care, belonging, and mentorship, and the challenges they encountered. This study contributes to a better understanding of how COC navigate advocacy within a profession that often presents ethical and ideological dilemmas.