University Counseling Programs Infused With Wokeness

For twenty years, Suzannah Alexander functioned as a wife and mother with four children as well as a community volunteer. Then her vision for her entire world imploded. Her marriage ended and she realized she needed to begin her life all over again. Ms. Alexander decided helping others to heal would be the best way to get back on her feet. She decided to enter the counseling profession and soon attended the University of Tennessee’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Master’s program. 

In her blog, Ms. Alexander recalls the first day of class as a new student. Excited to begin the next chapter of her life, she knew she was a bit out of place among her fellow counselors-in-training. She was “easily 20 years their senior” and felt like she “blended in with the furniture” when organized activities ended as her fellow students rarely spoke to her during casual conversations. 

The faculty told the students that the classroom was a “brave space” and a safe place to share ideas and feelings. Ms. Alexander believed them.  As a practicing Buddhist, in class, she shared some of her meditation practices to help others maintain control over their emotions during difficult future counseling sessions and view clients with more compassion. Unexpectedly, her professors warned her to stop.

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The course lectures soon turned to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). One professor introduced Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies. Ms. Alexander learned she was a privileged White person and marginalized persons must work at tolerating her whiteness. After one such class, she told her professor she believed this type of thinking promoted “tribalism and hostility.”

Unsurprisingly, Ms. Alexander soon experienced a toxic environment among both professors and fellow students in her cohort. The program recommended reaching out to trusted faculty if students experienced conflict with others.

When she did, instead of offering a sympathetic ear, that professor first explained her duties as a “gatekeeper of the profession.” She then told Ms. Alexander she was “racist, transphobic, and lacked empathy.” She went out to her car and wept knowing this was the beginning of the end of her dream of counseling others in need.

Ms. Alexander was soon told, that despite excellent grades, she would not be moving forward in the program with the rest of her cohort.  To further explain DEI’s infiltration into America’s counseling programs, UT’s mental health curriculum is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP) which oversees “983 master’s and doctoral degree programs…offered by 472 colleges and universities across the United States.”

Google says more than 1,500 universities in the United States offer counseling degrees. That means CACREP determines curriculum criteria for nearly 1/3 of all therapy education programs in the nation.

In 2024, CACREP released updated accreditation standards in which DEI became a requirement in all mental health curricula. Under its Foundational Counseling Curriculum, the standards state:

Ethical behavior, diversity, equity, inclusion, and critical thinking are integral to counselor preparation and should be infused throughout the curriculum. Diversity refers to all aspects of intersectional and cultural identity.

In other words, moving forward, all newly graduated counselors under CACREP will be indoctrinated social justice warriors or they will face cancellation like Ms. Alexander. 

According to Minding the Campus, which promotes the free exchange of ALL ideas on college campuses, 23 states “conditionally require CACREP for licensure, and North Carolina, Ohio, and Kentucky outright demand it.” Furthermore, all Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense (DoD) mental health programs require CACREP-accredited degrees for counselors. 

Keep in mind, during the last year, the research that backs up DEI initiatives has been questioned for flawed methodology. DEI advocates often claim it decreases inequalities while increasing operational effectiveness and profits. However, once implemented, many organizations find the opposite to be true.

For example, Arizona State University (ASU) studied DEI programs in the Defense Department. Researchers found DEI diverts resources away from wartime readiness and increases bureaucracy making our military less prepared to fight our next war. From the study:

The massive DEI bureaucracy, its training, and its pseudo-scientific assessments are at best distractions that absorb valuable time and resources. At worst they communicate the opposite of the military ethos: e.g. that individual demographic differences come before team and mission. 

Furthermore, ASU found “DEI carries inherently negative messages about Western civilization generally and about the United States and its people.” Essentially, DEI tells our military members that the United States is a bad place, now go risk your life to defend it. 

Likewise, civilian corporations find DEI creates similar conflicts of interest among their employees. Companies such as Tractor Supply, John Deere, Molson Coors, Ford Motor Company, Lowe’s, and Harley Davidson are abandoning their DEI efforts, while dedicated progressive corporations like Microsoft and Starbucks are reducing their programs. Even the Defense Department, despite their “massive DEI bureaucracy” and counseling hiring requirements, is moving away from their social justice plans. 

At the same time, the mental health profession seems to be doubling down on its commitment to DEI driving away potential counselors such as Ms. Alexander. Fortunately for her, she’s found a different pathway to help others. She’s begun volunteering for the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR). FAIR’s stated mission says they defend the civil rights of everyone, both progressive and conservative. 

Meanwhile, Ms. Alexander also continues her fight against UT and their DEI requirements. However, there’s a much larger concern here. When troubled individuals need guidance at their most vulnerable moments, will social justice-indoctrinated counselors provide the help they desperately need? Or will DEI-influenced therapy make their problems worse? As DEI seems to reduce effectiveness whenever it’s implemented, history doesn’t offer a very encouraging outlook.

Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.