Leslie Elliott Boyce on Counseling Education, Graduate Schools, and Ideological Bias in Mental Health

About this episode

Leslie Elliott Boyce discusses the evolution of counseling education and the impact of ideological bias in mental health training.

In this insightful episode, we sit down with Leslie Elliott Boyce, an independent coach and consultant with a background in clinical mental health counseling, to explore how the counseling profession has evolved—and how graduate education has played a central role in shaping it. Leslie, co-founder of Solid Ground and host of The Radical Center, brings a thoughtful and balanced perspective to the conversation, examining how training programs, academic frameworks, and institutional cultures influence the way therapists are taught to think, practice, and engage with clients. In this episode, we explore: How graduate schools shape the counseling profession The role of ideological bias in education and psychology What emerging therapists are (and aren’t) being prepared for Why intellectual diversity and open dialogue matter in training clinicians How we can move toward a more balanced, grounded future in mental health care This episode is for clinicians, students, educators, and anyone interested in understanding the systems behind therapy—and how they impact both practitioners and the people they serve. 🎧 Explore more of Leslie’s work:YouTube…

People in this episode

Host: Jake Wiskerchen

Guest: Leslie Elliott Boyce

Topics covered

• counseling education
• graduate schools
• ideological bias
• mental health
• therapist training
• intellectual diversity

Keywords

• counseling
• graduate education
• mental health
• therapists
• ideological bias
• training programs
• intellectual diversity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Solid Ground, The Radical Center, YouTube, walkthetalkamerica.org

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