I Need To Be A Multicultural Counselor

Cultural competence and ethical responsibility of counselors is an issue that holds increasing importance. To be both multicultural and ethical is increasingly challenging. The population of the United States is changing quickly from a predominately white Caucasian society to an ethnically diverse society`. The Hispanic population, which represented only 9% of the population in 1990, is projected to increase to about 25% of the population by 2050. The number of African Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Eskimos/Aleuts will continue to increase as well (Aponte & Wohl, 2000). It has been predicted that Whites, who made up three fourths of the U.S. population in 1990, will no longer be in the majority by the

Because multicultural counseling can have a myriad of people with different personalities and backgrounds, many ethical procedures cannot address all the circumstances that a counselor could come across. According to Diller (2011) it is critical when preparing to work with clients of a particular ethnic group by doing research into the group’s history, culture, and health issues (p. 320). This would include not only academic, professional, or web searches, but travel,

Guideline 1: Psychologists are encouraged to recognize that, as cultural beings, they may hold attitudes and beliefs that can detrimentally influence their perceptions of and interactions with individuals who are ethnically and racially different from themselves (American Psychological Association, 2003). I agree that psychologist can hold many different beliefs concerning others. The beliefs can sometimes hinder a person from growing emotionally, and cognitively. In my opinion it is important for the professional to be familiar with the diversity that may exist in their patients and remain professional in their

In the beginning of the course I had very little knowledge about the theories in multicultural counseling. I knew that it was centrally focused around social justice and equality but I didn’t know there were theories that pertained to specific ethnic minorities. I also learned that there isn’t a one size fits all theory. What I learned was that each model needs to be unique to the client and very well rounded; it should include a specific goal(s), describe the process, “have both aspects of cognition and emotion, and include justice and equity as well.” (Jun 2010) I have learned that as a multicultural counselor you have to be very aware and mindful of your thoughts and actions. I learned that there is a lot that is integrated into multicultural counseling and it isn’t cut and dry. There are varieties of concepts, such as being aware of oppression, continuous self-reflection, awareness of impact that a multicultural counselor can have on an individual, etc. (Jun, 2010)

According to Baruth & Manning 2012, "it is a counselors task to help these clients accept and value their culture and to help them resolve difficult conflicts that can impede personal and social growth (p.149). The counselor plays the role of consulting, teaching, and training when dealing with the Native American and Asian American communities.

In her article Siegel states that, “Incorporating components such as culturally framed trust building (such as pairing youths with mentors), stigma reduction, friendly milieus (such as serving culturally familiar foods and playing music popular with the culture), and services; and peer, family, and community involvement (including use of peer counselors and mentors, hosting parent weekends, and linking clients with senior center and community services) are recommended for improving cultural competence”, (Siegel, 2011). By incorporating some of these components into the way I practice and taking these components into mind could hopefully dissolve any limitations or biases that I may hold against any cultures. McBride also states the importance of being well versed in multicultural counseling by saying, “Counselor educators should also encourage self-reflection of counselor trainees to challenge the biases and assumptions they may hold against minority groups, such as the geriatric population. Self-awareness of biases and stereotypes is imperative when counseling diverse clients. This may be an uncomfortable process and, therefore, may cause some anxiety in both counselor trainees and counselor educators. As a result, some counseling programs may not emphasize self-reflection as much as they should. Therefore, greater emphasis needs to be placed on

There is much to learn and understand if one is to counsel people with experiences other than our own. After my husband died, I realized that the counselor who was trying to help me deal with the death had never dealt with losing someone close to them, therefore she was understanding, but the sessions were missing the empathy of true understanding. This same concept can be applied to counseling different ethnicity groups, until one has “walked in their shoes” one will never truly understand the bias or stereotyping they are encountering. With that being said, the best one can do is gather as much information on the culture and bias that is being dealt with.

It is important to be aware of one’s limitations, weaknesses and strengths in the delivery of counseling services. Taking into account the cultural values of the client, the support systems and the client’s view of the key parts of his or her makeup (the history of the client) are culture specific (because someone is of the same race does not mean that values will be the same) and does not discount the individual. Sue et al reminds us that multicultural counseling competency looks beyond racial and ethnic minorities and also includes disabilities, sexual orientation, age, and other special populations (Sue, et al, 1992).

Stated in Ethnicity & Family Therapy (2005) the most important training for a counselor is to understand their own ethnic identity. As a counselor, if I am self-aware it will be less likely that I will become triggered by characteristics (beliefs, thoughts) that are different than my own. A multiethnic perspective allows me to understand values that are different than my own. I do not need to have others see or think as I do, or give up my own values in the process. “We learn about a culture not by learning the facts, but by changing our attitudes about cultural differences” (McGoldrick, et al, 2005).

The relationship of a counselor to his or her client can be troubled when the two come from different cultural backgrounds. "As counselors incorporate a greater awareness of their clients' culture into their theory and practice, they must realize that, historically, cultural differences have been viewed as deficits (Romero, 1985). Adherence to white cultural values has brought about a naive imposition of narrowly defined criteria for normality on culturally diverse people" (Bolton-Brownlee 1987). The challenge for counselors today is to balance multiculturalism and sensitivity for the client with the need to move the client forward and enable him or her to reach productive life goals. Cultural acceptance cannot be synonymous with complacency.

The first domain is increasing awareness. In order to work with a culturally diverse client, the counselor needs to increase awareness of their own cultural identity. The CICC model explains that the cultural identity of a counselor and have a positive or negative impact in the relationship (Arthur & Collins, 2011). It emphasizes that the counselor should be very aware of their own views of work, life roles, belief of success, and personal agency in regards to how it influences their career counseling perspective. The counselor has his or her own personal culture of counseling they have to be aware of. Second, the CICC model explains that the cultural identity of the client is also a very essential. This includes but is not limited to understanding the organizational, social, economic, and political contest that are effecting the client current problem. The final domain of the CICC model is to establish an effective and culturally diverse alliance with the clients. This refers to creating agreements on goals and task collaboratively, trusting and respecting the relationship. The CICC model focuses on creating a very professional and respectful relationship with

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.

Counselors who are unaware of diverse cultural viewpoints are more than likely to do intentional or unintentional damage when working within communities opposite of their own and with those whose cultures and worldviews differ from theirs. If a counselor is unaware of their own cultural identity, biases, and stereotypes, how then will they know if they are unintentionally causing harm to their clients or build rapport? Cultural self-awareness is relevant because counselors need to know their cultural identity and what they must offer their clients in a therapeutic relationship and to help clients become aware their cultural identities.

Multicultural counseling are counselors who understand that the client with different cultural background from themselves will have different views and that could effect their treatment. Multicultural are aware of the different cultures and the differences in groups meaning not everyone in the same group thinks the same. MCTs advocates to enhance the traditional counseling role by teaching and consulting plans that relates to culture and roles in the healing process. They also are aware of the balance between individualism and collectivism when it comes to assessing, diagnosing and creating a treatment plan for the client (Sue & Sue, 2016).