In response to the recent events of gun violence in Florida and other areas of the country, the members of Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ) division of the American Counseling Association, make this statement and call to action. 
 
We call to action a plan to protect all individuals at risk from wanton violence by restricting access to weapons by those individuals who have been deemed to be a threat to themselves and to society.  As a society we cannot achieve the goals of social justice without developing a safe environment for everyone, which includes laws that protect people from gun violence.  The gun violence epidemic that afflicts our nation calls for a stand against corporations and institutions that promote indiscriminate access to weapons. 
 
The American culture’s infatuation with guns reflects a phenomenon that is reinforced through violent entertainment whose content promotes values that deny social justice and disregard for human life while glamourizing the perpetrators.  The indiscriminate access to these products often reaches the minds of vulnerable members of society who are then socialized to believe that violence, hatred, and discrimination are lawful means to redress their grievances.
 
The CSJ Advocacy Competencies advise action with and on behalf of clients, students, and communities at both micro and macro levels. CSJ suggests the following action ideas:

1. Create a document that includes data regarding mental health issues, access to guns, and gun violence outcomes/likelihood.
2. Share this document via social media.
3. Tweet President Trump, the NRA, and other pro-gun organizations to express your concern regarding access to guns, mental health, and community safety.
4. Create a template for contacting local leadership that addresses gun safety and mental health as social justice issues.
5. Work with mental health professionals, schools, and other community members and encourage them to write leadership using the template.
6. Develop localized task forces to educate communities about violence and mental health, encouraging the use of counseling services and other programs to decrease violence.

Janet WindWalker Jones was a founding member of CSJ. Below is her bio and link to her website. She was a great spirit and she was always vocal about social justice issues and doing the right action. She will be missed.
Janet WindWalker Jones, Long Hair Clan Mother to the Cherokee in Texas, is a member of the Texas Cherokee Tribe with ancestral ties to the Lenne Lenape and Wabanaki People, the Creek Nation, Scott-Irish, Newfoundlanders and English. She celebrates her multicultural heritage and honors multiculturalism as a fundamental tenants of community. WindWalker spent 24 years with the Department of Defense (DoD) in Human Services programs during which time she wrote a DoD publication honoring the Indigenous tribes of the US. Since retiring in 1997 she’s worked in multiple forums promoting wellness, empowerment, cultural identity awareness, multiculturalism, social justice, and world peace initiatives. She is a nationally certified, state licensed mental health counselor with an M.Ed. in Counseling and 40 years of ongoing professional development and experience. She’s authored several publications and has been involved in The American Counseling Association (ACA) since 1975, as a co-founder of two of its divisions, a Native American Interest Network and Multi-Ethnic Interest Network. She presents and writes materials that address one’s Spirituality as being central to Holistic living, and essential to health and wellness.
http://letterstofriendsstorytelling.com/index.html

Hello Colleagues,
Counselors are showing up all over the country today in support of March for Our Lives. Some of them shared their photos with us on our CSJ Facebook and Twitter pages.
#CounselorsCare #GoCounselorsGo #MarchforOurLives

Proud school counselor supporting this generation of high school leaders! #neveragain. This is from today in Washington D.C.
#GoCounselorsGo #CounselorsForSocialJustice#MarchForOurLives #PortlandOregon
#CounselorsCare
​​Robin J. Landwehr, DBH, LPCC, NCC
Communication Officer – Counselors for Social Justice
Follow CSJ on Twitter @CounselingCSJ
Like CSJ on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/counselorsforsocialjustice/

Call for Papers: Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology
http://jsacp.tumblr.com

Mission: Founded in 2007, the mission of the Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology (JSACP) is to promote deep reflection on community change and system transformation in which counselors, psychologists, and other human service professionals play a role. This open access journal aims to highlight ‘engaged scholarship’ and the very important social change work done by professionals and activists that would not normally find its way into publication. The journal attempts to break down the divide between theory and practice in one of the most critical areas of our work: social transformation toward social and ecological justice and peace. This journal features action oriented articles, meaning manuscripts that discuss actual work (e.g., advocacy, activism, research, policy formulation and implementation, training, legislation) that has been conducted by the submitting author(s) and not proposed work or simple conceptualizations of issues. JSACP features four unique sections:

• Activism and Advocacy
• Education and Training
• Policy and Theory
• Program Development and Evaluation
  

How to submit? Articles submitted to JSACP are subjected to a masked review. We currently accept articles in English and Spanish. There are no deadlines to submit a manuscript. To submit an article and to learn more about the journal, visit: http://jsacp.tumblr.com

Publication costs: As a fully open access journal, all articles are available free of charge on the journal website and there are no submission fees.

Co-Editors: Lawrence H. Gerstein, Ph.D., Ball State University
Pamela Valera, Ph.D., The Rutgers University – The State University of New Jersey
Sponsors: Counselors for Social Justice & Psychologists for Social Responsibility
Publisher: Ball State University Center for Peace & Conflict Studies

For further information: [email protected]

Follow us on: Facebook (@Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology) and Twitter (@JSACP)

Abstracting and Indexing information:
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO Publishing)
ArticleFirst (OCLC)
Educational Research Abstracts
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection (EBSCO Publishing)
Scopus
SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO Publishing)

​ISSN 2159-8142