Mentorship & Persistence: Black Women Counselor Education Doctoral Students at Historically White Institutions

Black women doctoral students in counselor education and supervision (CES) programs represent about 18% of enrolled students in CES programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Previous data on Black women doctoral students at historically White institutions, including those enrolled in CACREP-accredited CES programs, demonstrate that Black women endure intersectional experiences such as felt exclusion, isolation, and differential treatment, all of which can threaten degree persistence. Black women doctoral students report that formal and informal mentorship positively influenced degree persistence; however, they often lean more heavily on informal mentorship due to deficits in programmatic formal mentorship. Black feminist thought (BFT) and relational-cultural theory (RCT) were utilized as the theoretical frameworks to best illuminate the intersectionality of Black women doctoral students in CES programs at historically White institutions (HWIs) and their experiences with mentorship and doctoral degree persistence. The voices and wisdom of sixteen total participants were analyzed across seven focus groups via interpretative phenomenological analysis. Six group experiential themes (GETs) emerged from the data: Black Women’s Intersectional Experience in CES, Formal Mentorship, Informal Mentorship, Black Faculty and Counselor Educators, External and Internal Persistence, and Critique of Programmatic Intentionality. Eighteen subthemes also emerged. The findings corroborate previous literature on Black women doctoral students at HWIs and further the need to better incorporate mentorship within CES programs for Black women doctoral students at HWIs. This research provides implications for counselor education and supervision doctoral program administrators and counselors who work clinically with Black women doctoral students enrolled in CES doctoral programs at HWIs.