Annotated Bibliography On Multicultural Supervision

Each client is influenced by race, ethnicity, national origin, life stage, educational level, social class, and sex roles (Ibrahim, 1985). The counsellor must view the identity and development of culturally diverse people in terms of multiple interactive factors rather than a strictly cultural framework (Romero, 1985).

Cultural competence is a major component in social work as it enables us to communicate effectively with people of different background and cultures. (Suppes & Wells, p. 79.) By definition, culture is a universal phenomenon as it refers to family values, education, work, religion, success, food, and social class. (NASW, p. 14.) In this paper, I will compare and contrast my own cultural background with that of one of my best friends, Dawn Denny who happens to be a Guyanese.

There are three core goals leading a counselor to become culturally competent, which include awareness of personal biases, understanding and acknowledging the worldviews of individuals from all cultures, and developing appropriate techniques and interventions by using specific skills and strategies. Becoming aware of ones own biases is essential for changing ones perspective. Being aware of Ones of biases allows the individual to rewire their thinking patterns and unattached previous assumptions. A cultural competent counselor will actively understand the worldviews of all individuals from different cultures. Research is a key fundamental when educating ones self about culture. A culturally competent counselor will accept clients for who they are and perceive them without judgment. Cultural competent counselors will create innovative techniques and interventions depending upon the client’s culture. Counselors must function with clients as a team to optimize growth and development of the client. Together, the counselor and the client can find new strategies and interventions that work effectively. Becoming culturally competent is an important goal for counselors and throughout the profession counselors will strive to achieve

As a social worker an individual must understand that diversity characterize and shape human experience. In diversity the key words that a social worker should pay attention to is cultural awareness, self-awareness, ethno-conscious practice and sensitivity. Having cultural awareness is being aware of individual’s cultural and values. Self-awareness is being aware of personal biases and values when working with diverse groups. Ethno-conscious practice is being concern with social justice and equality. Sensitivity is understanding the difference in assessment, intervention and evaluation when working with diverse groups.

Some of the author’s major points are the lack of understanding of what cultural competence really means which is bringing confusion about ways it can be utilized in the social work field. The confusion of the utilization of cultural competence is leading to the lack of consensus concerning the effective training that providers should obtain and the population being served with the cultural competence skills lack clear description. According to the author, the most popular cultural competence intervention in the healthcare system is the cultural competency training which is for health care providers and the two approaches that have been utilized in creating the intervention are; the programs aimed at improving knowledge which is group specific,

The three factors that the model takes into account are cultural identity, development stage and adjustment to disability. Sue et al. (1982) pioneered this approach and thus set the basis of multicultural counseling competency. The model aims at facilitating the relationship between the client and the therapist and thus makes counseling intervention more effective (Lewis, 2006). The therapist before being able to practice this model effectively has to have a complete awareness of attitudes towards his own heredity and cultural origin as well as that of others. The second factor is the counselor’s multicultural

Our communities are composed of various ethnicities which have led to the need to incorporate cultural competency in state legislation, federal statutes and programs, private sector organization and academic settings. The Indicators for the Achievement of the NASW Standards for Cultural Competency in Social Work Practice is the manual that guides the social practice in attaining cultural competency.

“Understanding the cultural identity of a particular client (individual, group, organization, system) must take into account the broader factors that impact upon the worldview” (Collins & Arthur, 2010, p. 204). Having a diverse counseling workforce that is equipped with appropriate cultural competence training and assessment can ensure an optimal service delivery environment and assist clients in accomplishing positive therapeutic outcomes (Ridley & Shaw-Ridley, 2011). Additionally, if therapists become more personally involved with diverse populations, they will feel more culturally aware and may increase their feeling of having a better relationship with clients of ethnic minority (Berger, Zane & Hwang,

Great strides have been made in the counseling field to promote multiculturalism, yet it is a complex endeavor and continues to meet challenges in implementation and efficacy. Challenges such as cultural encapsulation, client access to care, implementation of multicultural counseling competencies, and unique issues involved in the practice of counseling a diverse population of clients remains. Research is ongoing to determine the efficacy of culturally adapted treatments in the therapeutic process.

While working with a client from an Indigenous background, it imperative that a practitioner be culturally competent in order to ensure that the client’s culture is acknowledged and incorporated into the system of care provided (Cross, Bazron, Dennis, & Isaacs, 1989, p.1, in Herring et al., 2013). It also ensures that the practitioner is able to adapt his service to meet culturally specific needs of the client as culture plays a key role in the lives of Indigenous people.

Upon reflection, I see the utility of incorporating the discrimination model containing the two dimensions of supervisory focus (process skills, conceptualization skills, and personalization skills) and supervisor role (the teacher role, counselor role, and consultant role) that “create a 3 by 3 matrix with nine supervisory approaches from which the supervisor can choose, depending on the supervisees’ needs” (Luke, Ellis, Bernard, 2011, p. 329). Using this discrimination matrix, the five domains of the Framework for Multicultural Supervision (personal development, conceptualization, intervention, process, and evaluation) (Eklund, Aros-O’Malley, & Murrieta, 2014) maybe integrated to employ a multiculturally informed supervision approach. Reflecting upon the strengths of both models it appears the personal development can be employed to explore the cultural assumptions and hidden biases of supervisor and supervisee, the conceptualization domain can be approached from multiple roles of the discrimination model (dependent on supervisee needs) to assist the CIT in addressing client needs, the intervention domain and be approached from the consultant role to help the supervisee in treating the client, the process domain can be approached from the counselor role to assist supervisees in addressing personal conflicts in client treatment, and the evaluation domain can be approached from the teach role to assess the supervisee’s needs in further education or skill

Multicultural group counseling takes place when a counselor and/or clients are from differing cultural, race, and/or ethnicity groups. Due to the significant demographic changes that are occurring in the United States, multiculturalism is becoming increasingly important. When acting as a multicultural group counselor, it is important to modify techniques to reflect the cultural differences of the client, be prepared to deal with difficulties during the counseling process, and understand the way culturally diverse people conceptualize their problems as well how they resolve them (Gladding, 2012). In order to be an effective multicultural counselor, it is important that one is aware of their cultural heritage, understands how their cultural background affects their attitudes, values, and beliefs, recognizes the limitations of their multicultural expertise and/or competency, and identify the root of their discomfort with different clients (Gladding, 2012). One can implement these through three key aspects Gladding (2012) outlined in his book and effective leadership skills.

In a multicultural counseling perspective there are four key approaches when counseling individuals, (a) multicultural awareness of culturally learned assumptions about self and others leading to accurate assessments of clients, (b) multicultural knowledge of information, (c) multicultural skills and interventions, that are appropriate treating clients, and (d) individuals are from a variety of backgrounds, demographic status, and affiliation of cultures. The three-stage approach, will direct the counselor towards levels of multicultural competence in therapy by providing a successful outcome in the recovery process. When conducting a psychotherapy session with a client the counselor should be able to demonstrate skills, when exploring the client’s cultural background. Counselors should also be able to focus on the essential skills and pattern behaviors, when identifying cultural differences. Counseling a minority from a different culture counselors’ must be able to identify their own personal behaviors. These behaviors are crucial when counseling these individuals. First, a counselor must be able to sense the clients’ viewpoint or issue in some way. Secondly, a counselor should be specific when asking a question rather than being unclear and confusing.

It is imperative that social workers become knowledgeable about their clients’ cultures and are culturally sensitive. In learning about their clients’ cultures, social workers need to be aware of how powerful and significant culture is in relating to clients’ behavior, values, and beliefs. Becoming culturally competent requires the ability to integrate awareness, knowledge, and skills while maintaining a positive working relationship with the client (Sue and Zane, 1987). Today, the concerns regarding cultural competency continue to accentuate the importance of preparing social workers for a diversified society.

Culture Shock or Cultural Adaptation is a major issue facing the non-Indigenous staff, who are working in ATSI community and Aboriginal children who are attending a non -indigenous service. We see it in possible symptoms like desiring to leave or feeling the need to indulge or feeling tired and unreasonably strong feelings of anger and sadness, and depression may result from any smallest and silliest of things (Culture shock) .