Cultural Self Assessment

Below, I will discuss the results of a multicultural self-assessment that I took. I will describe a time in which I felt “other”. I will then proceed to explain my personal feelings regarding each. I will discuss a course of action I plan to take as a result of the multicultural assessment. I will develop a counseling identity statement. Finally, I will explain why multicultural awareness and cultural competency are important in the field of counseling.

Throughout my years in my white neighborhood I grew up as an equal among my classmates. My peers had never teased me; in fact, the incident with those older boys was the only act of prejudice I have ever experienced. Classmates were very tolerant, and so was I. Forced by circumstance, I accepted living among all white people and they with me. They became familiar with the only Asian girl in the school, and the racial issue disappeared. I had friends and my ethnic background was not a problem. They saw my personality and saw me. I was an American.

My pre-adolescent years were spent in a community thick with diversity. My friendships were as diverse as the environment in which I lived. It never struck me that racial and ethnic ideals separated people in society. However, upon moving to a predominately white upper-class community I began to question such racial and ethnic ideas. From my adolescent years through today I began noticing that certain people are viewed differently for reasons relating to race and ethnicity. As a result, the most recent community I grew up in has kept me sheltered from aspects of society. As a product of a community where majorities existed, I found myself unexposed to the full understanding of race and ethnicity. Prior to the class I had never fully dealt with issues of race or ethnicity, as a result I wondered why they would be of any importance in my life.

Being Canadian is so much more than just the cliché stereotype of living in igloos, playing hockey 24/7, and drinking Tim Hortans coffee every day. Being a part of the Canadian culture means that all Canadians are unified as one big family. Culture is defined as “a set of human made objective and subjective elements that have increased the probability of survival, and resulted in satisfaction for the participants” (Samovar, 1991). Every culture has their own attitudes, customs and beliefs that differentiate one culture from another. Canadian culture can be very distinctive from other cultures. Usually the first impression of Canadians is that we are very polite and we live in an extremely friendly and accepting country. Being Canadian is about having big hearts and appreciating our diverse environment. Our country shares a wide variety of different ethnic backgrounds which makes being Canadian unique.

I enjoyed reading your thoughtful discussion post on cultural competency of organizations and nurses. Your rationale for both the organization and the individual nurse being responsible to ensure culturally competent care was similar to mine. For example, I mentioned the need for nursing curriculums at all levels of nursing education to provide competency training (American Academy of Colleges of Nursing website, 2011).

I am an African American woman born in raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I lived in the inner city of Milwaukee until I was about eight years old, and shortly after we moved to the Village of River Hills. My mother grew up in the city of Milwaukee also. My father grew up in Jackson, Mississippi and moved to Wisconsin when he was ten years old. Growing up, I traveled from Milwaukee to Mississippi at least seven times a year. Initially, while visiting it was a culture shock for me. My grandmother drove the School bus and lived on a farm. She had many horses as pets and as a means for transportation. In Mississippi, I learned that it is not ok to call adults by their first name and it is a sign of disrespect. I’ve also learned it is rude to not look at a person when they are speaking to you. I eventually adapted to the country life and I love it. For many years I was the only child, until my mother gave birth to my brother when I was 14 years old. Although, it is only the two of us my family is huge. My grandparents had ten kids together and all of them went to college. My mother is a Nurse practitioner and I have three aunts that are also nurse practitioners and two aunts that are Registered nurses. In my future practice as a nurse, I plan to follow my mom’s foot steps and focus on promoting health through caring, preventing illness, cherishing clients, and providing clients with the best possible experiences regardless of cultural

As I look around, there is diversity everywhere, whether it is in the shopping centers, at church, various events, restaurants, schools or in the workplace. People of every race, color, and creed gather in most of these places. For example, one late Sunday morning my family gathered at a popular American restaurant in our city after church service. It was crowded and diverse inside and out on the patio. Since it was nice and warm outside, we sat on the patio and watched different people walk

After completing the “cultural competence checklist: personal reflection designed by T.D. Goode” for the first time, I was not surprised by my results. The results were a reflection of my personal understanding how culture impacts holistic care and my continuous need to improve my care. I have strived to become non-judgmental. I work to not let my personal beliefs and values influence my nursing care on decisions. When I practice this philosophy it provides better patient outcomes and promotes an improved understanding of cultural differences. This also enhances a safe and caring environment. “It is important for health care providers to recognize that care must be individualized and considerate of the cultural. Racial, and ethnic identity of the patients and their families” (Broome, 2006, p. 486) .There is much diversity in the beliefs and practices of the Indian culture and we should grant these individuals complete freedom to practice their personal cultural variations and the religion they choose.

I was born in Japan and spent my life there until seventh grade. Even though my environment was very fulfilling, my community had little diversity. Everyone was from the same area, we all have same culture, and same race. Individual could had variety of thought but our basic mind was very similar since we all grow up in the same environment. I can say that I had little more diversity in my life than other people around me since my mother was Korean, I had some Korean people around me. Korea is a country located right next to Japan, but they do have different culture, language, and people. It gave me a little push to become diverse person. However, there was a big change when I moved to America as an international student in seventh grade. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people who were not "my people". When I walked into the class, everyone had different race, culture,

CACREP Standard: Section II, 2.e. addresses counselors’ role in developing cultural self-awareness promoting cultural social justice, advocacy and conflict resolution, and other culturally supported behaviors that promote optimal wellness and growth of the human spirit, mind, and body. Previously, counseling was viewed as a “whites only” form of treatment with most research done on white or European descendants. Non-European descendants failed to believe counseling would benefit them or it was frown upon by their culture and communities. Counseling was viewed as ineffective for those of non-dominate culture. Culturally

I consider myself to me a female, daughter, college student, Catholic, friend, sister, and a future nurse. From the list of identities above, I think being a student and a friend to be the most important in my life at this time. Every day I go to school and work hard to achieve my goal of being a nurse. Along with going to class, I spend a lot of time with my friends.

Cultural self-awareness is strongly linked to development of a cultural intelligence for a number of reasons. Thus, this essay will critically reflect on what cultural self-awareness is and its importance on how it develops ones cultural intelligence. Before we discuss about cultural self-awareness and cultural intelligence, it is important to understand what culture is and how it impacts on our society. Culture is a complex subject that can be defined in various ways.

The article Principles and Practices of Sociocultural Assessment: Foundations for Effective Strategies for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms, is written to inform the readers about different types of practices that teachers can take into action when working with ESL students. In this article, it mentions how different principals help to accommodate the ESL students. One of the principals that was mentioned was is that learning is social. In the article, it was mentioned that learning is social because it helps students to understand and use interaction with others to share meaning in a social setting (Smith, Teemant, & Pinnegar, 2004, P. 39). In the article, another principal that helps ESL students is that teaching is assisting. The meaning

In just about every small town and most medium to large cities, there is a “black” part or section of town. I grew up in a very small town but the part of town I lived in was very big to me. Everyone had the same ideals, beliefs, and expectations. We all knew each other very well. We went to the same church, played in the same park, ate the same type of food, and we listened to the same music. There were no unique individuals, no one really stood out. My town had harmony; a feeling of well being - for lack of a better word. I did not realize that I lived in a culture that had very little diversity. I knew that there were people out side my little world who spoke a different language, dressed different, and ate strange food. But it never occurred to me that I would ever meet anyone very different from me in every way.

(Origin) When thinking about my family and our roots I identify my family’s places or origin as Germany and Ireland. A majority of my family is of German ancestry and the one exception is my grandmother and she is Irish. I identify these too places as where my family came from due to stories that I have hear from family members and to the traits that each member of my family carries. A majority of my family are all blonde hair, with blue or brown eyes which have a lot of similarities to people from Germany. My family as very few of the traits from the Irish side but the only ones the I have been told are that some people in our family freckle a lot