Who Will She Turn To?: Black Woman School Counselor Healing and Wellness Experiences

• In Event: Black Women Educators Storying Healing and Reclaiming the Work Their Soul Must Have

Abstract

Black womxn school counselors are essential to providing compassionate care within school counseling. Yet, this field mirrors broader societal issues where the well-being of Black womxn is often undermined. While the American School Counseling Association (2019) recommends a counselor-to-student ratio of 1:250, many counselors face much higher ratios, leading to burnout and reduced capacity for self-care. Black womxn have faced racial and gender-based violence that significantly impacts their well-being. Reports indicate that Black womxn school counselors struggle with maintaining self-care, setting personal boundaries, and overcoming institutional barriers (Wells & Archibald, 2023). There are students being overlooked and under-identified based on the caseload. However, Black womxn counselors continue to offer nurturing environments at all costs.
I draw from Black Feminist Autoethnography (Crawley 2012; Griffin 2012), which gives voice to Black womxn’s pride, joy, and pain through personal narrative. This critical approach has been employed by Black womxn scholars seeking to resist the violence of invisibility that minimizes and then marginalizes the stories and experiences of Black womxn (Collins, 2000; Dillard, 2000) Black feminist autoethnography offers a narrative means for Black womxn to highlight their daily struggles. Central to this idea is the opportunity for Black womxn to engage in self-definition and fight against dominant ideologies, (Griffin, 2012). Autoethnography has the power to heal as a reflexive practice of intention. An extension of endarkened storytelling (Toliver, 2021), autoethnography has acted as a mode of dialogue for Black communities (Griffin, 2012). Story-telling has been an essential part of Black womxn’s story of healing. Without this dialogue, Black womxn would not touch the world as we do. In this specific case, I would not be the school counselor I am without having leveraged the richness of storytelling as a healing practice.
This autoethnography will offer examples of a Black womxn school counselor's healing practice acting as a resistance to the violence created in the K-12 education system. It will center on turning kindness and compassion from an external action to an internal healing practice. As the sole school counselor in the building, I gave so much to the school community that I had little left for myself. For school counselors, healing often appears to be at the expense of our school communities. However, it was crucial for me to deeply integrate my spiritual practice, as my Black and Brown students needed a counselor who was well. The overwhelming challenges in their communities pushed students to seek refuge in the school and me.

This paper is a call for the school counseling field to be aware of and take action on dismantling the systems of oppression. As the American Counseling Association has made a clear stand on valuing anti-racist work, Black womxn should be central to this. Black womxn healing is important to the impact on the field. Understanding healing in the context of what individual Black Womxn need is important since we are not a monolith.

Author

• Paris C. Pruitt, Pennsylvania State University