Date of Conferral

5-2-2024

Date of Award

May 2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Counselor Education and Supervision

Advisor

Jonnie Lane

Abstract

The need for mental health professionals is increasing rapidly, and the United States is facing a critical shortage of mental health counselors. Concurrently, one of the largest and fastest-growing graduate student populations is first-generation (FG) college students. But this marginalized population is less likely to persist to graduation than their continuing education peers. FG college students have many strengths that make them well-suited to become mental health counselors; however, counseling programs and counselor education and supervision (CES) faculty do not have the information about the challenges faced by these students or the supports that would help them persist to graduation. This qualitative participatory action research (PAR) study documented working alongside FG counselors-in-training to identify the systemic barriers they face and the supports that would help them persist to graduation. Data were collected and analyzed through the lens of qualitative PAR and rooted in Bourdieu’s social capital theory and Tierney’s cultural integrity model theoretical frameworks. From semistructured interviews analyzed using MAXQDA software to code for themes, overall, three themes emerged: (a) financial, (b) institutional, and (c) relational. The counseling field is mandated to center social justice and equity in the profession, and the information from this study will help counseling programs and CES faculty challenge systemic obstacles facing this marginalized population and the supports that would help them become counselors to meet the growing mental health crisis in the United States.

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