At Cerritos College, the Dean of Counseling, Eliza Hoyos Vences, and the Department Chair, Chelena Fisher, sought to close gaps in serving students and solve the challenge of students receiving inconsistent information and misaligned services. They observed that the disconnect was due to a lack of shared understanding among counselors of what it means to provide equitable services to students and how to differentiate services based on the needs of the student.
They approached this problem by creating a space for counselors to first reflect on their own experiences and positionality in relation to students. Then they worked collaboratively with counselors to develop a baseline awareness of differing experiences, to identify system changes that were impacting the current student experience, and to make visible the diversity of students’ needs that demand an agile and transformative approach to counseling services.