Black Male School Counselors: An Endangered Species

Jhamarcus A. Pharaoh, Ed.S, Jhamarcus.Pharaoh@gmail.com

Despite the growing diversity among the student population in Schools, diversity among educators continues to remain stagnant (Grooms et al., 2021; Kohli, 2018), resulting in the racial gap between students and educators to become wider and wider with each passing day (Villegas et al., 2012). White teachers represent the vast majority of teaching professionals in public school systems (NCES, 2020; Kohli, 2018), while Black men specifically make up less than 2% of that population (Brockenbrough, 2012). Similarly, across roles in the school counseling world, Black men are a minoritized group significantly outnumbered by their White counterparts. Black men are outnumbered by sex and race in counselor preparation programs and counselor educator roles (Bonner et al., 2021; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2022). According to the ASCA State of the Profession Report (2021), 77% of respondents identified as White, while 10% identified as Black. 87% also identified as women, while only 11% identified as men. Black male school counselors have unique experiences, but their experiences are not easily recognized or acknowledged since they are a marginalized group within the profession.

You may be wondering, “so what?” Well, as schools become more racially diverse, the emergence of more diverse student needs surfaces making the need for more diverse school counselors even more critical. Literature suggests that students have much to gain from having teachers who share similar racial backgrounds (Billingsley et al., 2019; Egalite et al., 2015; Villegas & Irvine, 2010). All students can benefit from having racially diverse teachers, but the benefits are even more significant for students of color (Cherng, 2017; Bates & Glick, 2013). The same can be argued for students of color who see themselves reflected in school counselors as school counselors are uniquely positioned in schools to support the needs of students in ways other educators are not

Whether it be assisting to close the achievement gap between diverse groups of students, helping foster welcoming and inclusive learning environments or providing direct counseling services to students, the very foundation of student experiences in school is heavily influenced by the unseen magic that is the school counselor. Because school counselors are uniquely positioned in schools, their day-to-day can be exhausting since they are usually one of few like them, if not the only school counselor in the building. With role expectations evolving within the profession and duties frequently being misunderstood by colleagues and superiors [principals], role confusion and ambiguity are concepts school counselors not only understand as being part of “the job,” but they also anticipate it, unfortunately (DeKruyf et al., 2013).

School counselors do not exclusively exist in just the role; their worldview and how they walk, talk, and function are all influenced by their social identities (race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.). The ASCA Code of Ethics (2016) requires school counselors to monitor the multicultural dimensions of their own identity and how different systems influence them because social identities are such an integral part of the human experience. No matter how hard one tries not to isolate from these outside factors, they are inescapable and school counselors are tasked with figuring out how all these factors influence student development so they know where they can best support. Black male school counselors are not only performing a balancing act of educator and mental health professional, but they are doing the same performance of balancing their “blackness” and “maleness” in a space dominated primarily by White women. As the education profession seeks to recruit and retain more diverse groups like Black men, they would be better positioned to do so if they understood the unique barriers educators of color must navigate when they exist in mostly white spaces. Griffin & colleagues (2011) argue that organizations are better equipped to recruit & retain faculty of color when there is intentionality in exploring and understanding how social identities like race and gender intersect as that intersectionality heavily influences the experiences of those they are seeking to recruit and retain

The bulk of health challenges experienced by Black men are the result of racism and socioeconomic disparities (CDC, 2021; Thomas et al., 2020; Bharmal et al., 2011) and organizations that are seeking to recruit and retain for any reason need to make an intentional effort to understand them.

The very existence of Black men in white spaces has been known to cause the people around them, including colleagues to fear them based on stereotypes (McGee & Kazembe, 2015; Lynn, 2006; Mabokela & Madsen, 2003). For Black men, being constantly viewed as threatening and/or aggressive is what some scholars (Grier-Reed et al., 2020) refer to as racialized labor. According to Grier-Reed et al. (2020), racialized labor describes the extra emotional and mental labor performed by people of color in order to navigate White spaces. Prolonged racialized labor can turn into what is known as racial battle fatigue (Grier-Reed et al., 2020; Pizarro & Kohli, 2018; Smith et al., 2016), which has been linked to negative health outcomes (Corbin et al., 2018). Black men are across the nation are haunted by historical and new emerging traumas every day. Considering how racism disproportionately impacts Black men (McDaniel & Moore, 2022; Robinson-Perez, 2021) paired with them also not receiving the mental health services to combat the trauma associated with racism. The physical and mental wellbeing of Black men is not something that should be taken lightly, in fact it should be something that is prioritized in social justice and equity conversations.

Black men deserve far more attention and action to support their lives and overall wellbeing. Morbidity and mortality rates among Black men in the United States is regularly the lowest compared to all racial groups (Thomas et al., 2020). Black men have the highest mortality rates for heart disease, stroke, and homicide (Gilbert et al., 2016). According to the Centers for Diseases Control [CDC] (2022), Homicide is the fifth leading cause of death in Black men of all age groups but also the number one leading cause of death between the ages 1-19 and 20-44 years old.

Suicide is ranked the fourth leading cause of death for Black males between both age groups (CDC, 2022). The bulk of health challenges experienced by Black men are the result of racism and socioeconomic disparities (CDC, 2021; Thomas et al., 2020; Bharmal et al., 2011) and racism has been documented to be positively correlated with psychological distress in minoritized racial groups (Pieterse et al., 2012). Unfortunately, receiving and seeking health support [mental and physical alike] is stigmatized among Black people, but it is the most prominent among Black men (Miller-Roenigk et al., 2023).

Part of the American Counseling Association’s mission is to “use the profession and practice of counseling to promote human dignity and diversity (ACA Code of Ethics, 2014, p. 2). This means the responsibility of individual counselors and the profession is to address this head on. To better recruit and retain Black male school counselors, I offer the following. School counselors can purposely contextualize Black male students in the context of their world in an effort to better serve them. The adult Black men who spent a lifetime suppressing their feelings and emotions may not be able to do something different in their lifetime. The young Black boys are more mailable, meaning individual school counselors can start destigmatizing mental health and show them healthy ways of coping with their emotions, not just the ones that are typically deemed “acceptable” for boys. School counselors can also assist Black boys in developing a critical consciousness about the environment they live in. The school counseling profession should focus efforts on institutional changes that may yield immediate results. Examine current recruitment practices and interrogate them through a social justice lens, the profession can model for school counselors how to reflect on their own professional practices with a critical eye. The school counseling profession can also regularly collect data from Black male school counselors and those in counselor programs to get a more nuanced understanding of their unique experiences. A direct line of communication with this population will allow the profession to not only work on behalf of them but, alongside them.