Culturally Matched Embedded Counseling: Providing Empowering Services to Historically Marginalized College Students

ABSTRACT To address the urgent need of mental health services on college campuses, particularly for historically marginalized students in HWIs (Historically White Institutions), the current paper presents a model of embedded counseling within campus cultural centers. Embedded counseling refers to having a mental health provider co-located and delivering services in a department or center on campus instead of within the traditional college counseling offices. Despite potential benefits, little research exists on embedded counseling and even less on embedded counseling within cultural centers. Embedded counseling is an important service delivery approach to understand given the high need for mental health treatment experienced by historically marginalized communities and the barriers to service they face. The authors propose a model that describes characteristics of culturally matched embedded counseling and the systemic support needed to have a successful program for underserved communities. This paper offers recommendations for structuring and implementing the culturally responsive framework for services.