Clinical Psychology Career Goals

The decision between the Therapist and Latino client is a remarkable example of the importance of being sensitize and culturally competent. The therapist appeared to have inadvertently added to the client’s stress which potentially negatively affect the worker-client relationship as well as the intervention process. My initial response to the dialog was that of confusion. Although I tried to empathize with the counselor’s method of getting the young lady to take responsibility for her actions. I totally disagreed with his lack of insensitivity to the client’s indirect message. The young lady was trying to convey her feelings about her experiences as a Latino woman. He did not take inconsideration that although humans often have similar stories.

The Latino community, from immigrating to United States born Latinos are often known to be depressed. Depression is a medical illness that causes a constant feeling of sadness and lack of interest, it affects how the person feels, behaves and thinks. Many Latinos rely on their extended family, community, traditional healers, or churches for help during a health crisis. As a result, many Latinos with mental illnesses often go without professional mental treatment. But why is it that Latinos are so reluctant to receiving help? Sheila Dichoso states that, “there are only 29 Latino mental-health professionals for every 100,000 Latinos in the United States, compared to 173 non-Hispanic white providers

In the United States, the Latino American population has risen by over 40% within the past decade and accounts for over 17.1% of the Nations society. In 2050, the Latino Community is expected to make up nearly one-fourth of the population and 2/3 of the U.S. Hispanics are from the Mexican-American Subgroup. In the United States, there has been extensive research examining the prevalence of varying psychiatric disorders among the Latino Hispanic Communities. There are many deeply rooted and socioeconomic factors that may contribute to the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of psychiatric disorders. Example factors, such as reception of immigrations, history of immigration, experiences involving discrimination, and strength of an ethnic community, are just to name a few. Due to the expansion of the Latino and Hispanic minorities in the United States, this has become a major challenge for today’s healthcare system.

Clinical psychology is just one of the many subfields that psychology has to offer. Those who choose to enter clinical psychology aim to help people with addiction, emotional stress, mental illness, or any other type of mental problems. Knowing what a clinical psychologist does in their practice is important in understanding their profession. A clinical psychologist's education is the most prominent part of their career; without it, they cannot be considered a psychologist. The process and requirements of employment for psychologists are scattered, varying from state to state, as well as their salary and where they may be employed. The future and growth of clinical psychology can only be

One of the major issues Hispanics encounter is acculturation. Acculturation deals with a merging of cultures or even borrowing traits from another culture. Akins, Mosher, Smith and Gauthier (2008) explain that “acculturation stress refers to societal pressures that force immigrants to alter their lifestyles, behaviors and the way they think about themselves”. When treating Hispanics, one must be careful not to push one’s ideals as to how one believes, pressing the client to act or change their

The culturally skilled counselor attempting a cross-cultural approach would be cognizant of his/her own tendencies toward personal bias and stereotyping of Santana’s appearance and attitude, as well as the very likely possibility of his client being on the receiving end of ridicule and criticism from others negatively stereotyping him as lazy, uneducated, or a “drug runner” just because he is Latino. Effective management and control of personal biases pave the way for open dialogue and the establishment of a clinical trust or professional bond that ideally leads to the discovery of core issues within the client that can subsequently be addressed.

This paper will introduce and define the need for Multicultural awareness as a clinical mental health counselor. It will further explore examples of various topics in Multicultural counseling such as: Racial and ethnic diversity, gender and social economic status. As a result of this research, in Multicultural awareness, the self-assessment rendered the identity of myself. It allowed me to realize what and who I was as “other.” In realizing who I was as “other”, I saw my own self-identity, and some of my flaws. Therefore, this assessment made me realize the need to develop a plan to correct areas of which demonstrated lower scores in: acceptance of change, stereotyping, and assuming may interfere as a mental health counselor if not corrected. Multicultural Self-Assessment After taking the multicultural self-assessment, my results revealed the following about myself. For the most part of this assessment, my strongest points were rounded in cultural diversity and understanding. Contrary to such, I scored lower in the areas of “assuming something is when it’s not,” “stereotyping,” and “adapting new changes” (Petrone, M. C. 2004). Lastly, more often than not results displayed equality, and positive outlook type of personality. For example, in posting to the discussion board, I tried to respond to topics without, disrespecting ones’ values, and at the same time introducing awareness about the topic. First Time I Realized I was “Other” The first

Latinos have a strong culture, as well as a religious culture. Some believe many problems may be fixed with prayer as well as with traditional healers (Alegria et al. 2008a; Berenzon-Gorn 2006; Espin 1987 as cited in Lorenzo-Blanco, & Delva, 2012). They have a lot of faith in religious ceremonies and home remedies before seeking professional help. Latinos seek help with family members before anyone professional (Bermúdez, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, & Torres-Robles, 2010). Latinos most of the time have a big family size, and are always really close. Seeking help with family members, they believe will be more help if the family member has had a similar situation, and they believe their advice can help. Although Latinos don’t always seek professional help, they prefer family therapy (Szapocznik et al. 1989 as cited in Bermúdez, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, & Torres-Robles, 2010). Some prefer to work out their issue together as a family. Overall, when Latinos ask for help, they go to priests, psychiatrists, counselor, and therapists (Bermúdez, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, & Torres-Robles, 2010).

3. Differences in values and beliefs define a person's choice for mental and physical health care. “Because health care is a cultural construct, arising from beliefs about the nature of disease and the human body, cultural issues are actually central in the delivery of health services treatment and preventive interventions” (Office of Minority Health, 2005, p. 6). It is important to acknowledge that Esmeralda fits into two categories of minority because Esmeralda is a Latina. It is important to know that Hispanic women are less likely to make full use of many social services even when they are provided to them. Hispanics normally are family oriented and that means Esmeralda will probably want to involve her family in any treatment program she

I am currently doing my field placement at the Puerto Rican Family Institute clinic in Brooklyn, NY. The mission statement for the organization is, “to enhance the functioning and self-sufficiency of diverse marginalized communities and prevent family disintegration.” I am currently doing individual, family, couples, and group psychotherapy at the outpatient clinic. The clinic is in a lower socioeconomic area in Bushwick, that is currently in the process of gentrification. The program that I work in specifically, offers both therapeutic and psychiatric services for the patients that are enrolled in the program.

This limits the data that are collected at the end because Latino adolescents are not included. To obtain an understanding of mental health problems in Latinos, there needs to be a more culturally-sensitive research. The authors article is affective and comprehensible; however, if they were to make their research a multicultural research, it would allow for the audience to see the research as a whole, instead of it being specifically of just one growing minority group. By obtaining this knowledge, it would help health care providers, researchers, and policymakers in trying to treat and stop mental issues (Kapke). Research also shows that it is important to acknowledge the conceptual idea of Latino youth because they could have a lower self-esteem, increased chances of abuse, and internal problems. Therefore, if the child has affectionate parents and a desirable relationship with them, this can help boost their self-esteem. Conceptual ideas correlate with cultural adaptation since the effects are about the same and could change the person’s beliefs, values, and behaviors. These changes are significant to the person in the early stages, and once these fundamental ideas are changed, it could change the way a person visualizes life. Self-esteem has shown to relate to cultural adaptation and mental health because the increased levels of self-esteem help cease the formation of internal conflicts. The evidence provide by the authors allows the audience to obtain appropriate citations and with relative and up-to-date articles. The way that the authors structured and organized the article allowed for the audience to follow and easily understand what the authors are trying to portray. This article is geared to a general audience with moderately comprehendible language. In general, this article uses well developed ideas that are portrayed in an understandable

Mental and emotional health can have interpersonal, and social impacts; I want to provide evidenced-based mental, emotional and behavioral health interventions within the context of families, communities and larger systems, to children and adolescents. My goal as a licensed counselor will be to develop a collaborative relationship where each client feels empowered to act as an expert in developing effective coping skills, manage anxiety, depression, navigate difficult life transitions, and enhance communication skills and relationships. Reflective practice and self-evaluation will be an integral part of my practice. This also means being able to set my experiences, values, privilege, beliefs and biases aside during counseling sessions and allowing the clients goals and needs to take precedence. In order to be well-rounded in my profession, my day-to-day functions will include, assessments, psychological testing, counseling, personality testing, teaching, treatment plans, referrals, coordinate services, case-management, client-family- community education, documentation,

When I first started my college journey I initially majored in Biology. Not knowing what I wanted to do, I was influenced by my advisor to enter the biology field. After my third year, I decided not to pursue biology anymore, and that’s when I discovered my passion for the Psychology field. After receiving my undergrad in psychology, I knew that I wanted to get my masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, but I had no idea of how broad this area is. This week assignment granted me the opportunity to interview someone who has been in this profession for 25 plus years who has worked in all sectors when it comes to mental health counseling. It allowed me to learn the pros and cons of this field and it even gave me more insight and clarity on exactly what I wanted to do. I found this week assignment to be very informative and I believe it is necessary for anyone that’s interesting in entering in this field. I am grateful for the knowledge and advice that I received during this week assignment.

There are a number of cultural issues to consider when counseling a student who is Hispanic. A traditional Hispanic family is a close-knit group. The father is the head of the household and the mother is responsible for the home. He also may act as the final disciplinarian of the children. In Isabella’s case, her father has been deported. Given the uncertainty associated with deportation, the family unit is going through a very stressful time. If the father was the sole provider of the family, the family may enter into discussions about returning to Mexico. This may be one of the main reasons for Isabella’s anxiety.

As possibly Jose’s therapist, I don’t think that I know all there is to know about his culture, but I am aware of some important aspect. Because of this I feel that it would be wise to be willing to self-disclose minor personal information so that I can give Jose some assurance that I am aware of the cultural, gender, race and religious differences, but I am open to learn from him and I am willing to work with him and try to understand his point of view. I know that there are discriminations and stereotypes against Latinos, but being aware of my own possibly biases and values as Corey (2016) postulates will not impede but help the therapeutic process. However, if he feels that we cannot work together then I would try to refer him to someone who is of his cultural background.