Applying the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies to Eating Disorder Treatment

Scholars, practitioners, and clients in the eating disorder (ED) treatment field emphasize the need for more culturally responsive approaches to improve care for marginalized communities. Treatment barriers, such as counselor biases, lack of access to care, and disempowering approaches, perpetuate these gaps across diverse groups with EDs. We propose that Ratts et al.’s (2016) Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) can bridge these gaps by assisting counselors and other helping professionals working in ED treatment settings in deconstructing biases and implementing empowering treatment approaches for marginalized individuals with EDs. Using case vignettes, we illustrate how counselors can apply the MSJCC across counseling settings and engage in advocacy with the broader ED recovery community. We conclude by presenting implications for counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors, who all play a role in empowering clients and improving access to ED treatment for diverse populations.