Tennessee Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (TAMCD) is one of several divisions of the Tennessee Counseling Association (TCA). Aligning its work by the standards of the national association (AMCD), TAMCD’s mission is to increase ethnic and cultural understandings and help to promote competent multicultural and social justice professional counselors and support systems. This mission is accomplished through on-going informal and formal consultations and professional development.

Several of TAMCD’s members were recently introduced to Multicultural & Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) and some, of which, will become a series of workshops and discussions by TAMCD’s leadership, guest diversity and multicultural specialists, beginning with the first domain – counselor’s self-awareness.

On a national level, “The newly endorsed Multicultural Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) were revised to update the 1992 Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC) developed by Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis. The new competencies are specifically designed to (1) reflect a more inclusive and broader understanding of culture and diversity, and (2) better address the expanding role of professional counselors to include individual counseling and social advocacy. The MSJCC provide counseling scholars and practitioners with a conceptual framework for incorporating multicultural and social justice competencies into counseling theories, practices, and research. A major aspect of understanding the role of social justice and advocacy in the MSJCC includes integrating systemic-level change efforts into micro-level counseling practice. Counselors may engage in consultation and supervision groups to increase their access to necessary community resources supporting their clients and themselves in these systemic-level efforts. Prevention becomes a major focus of counseling practice with the integration of multicultural and social justice competence, along with client resilience, wellness, and strength-based counseling approaches,” stated by Dr. S. Kent Butler, 2016 (University of Central Florida) one of a committee of five who revised the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC).

Leadership

Our Leaders

President: Trudy Hill

President-Elect: 

Past President: Julia Cole

Secretary: 

Treasurer: Dr. Hattie Isen, Art for Life’s Sake, Inc.