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Multicultural Counseling Analysis Paper

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Multicultural Counseling Analysis Human services workers have a vast knowledge of working with people from diverse backgrounds. As a result, they are able to help clients realize the positive attributes relating to their cultural identity and utilize strategies to help them identify multicultural issues that may be presenting problems or areas of concern for the client.
Becoming Aware of Cultural Identity In the video, the client is Puah, a native Hawaiian and Filipina-American female experiencing anxiety and afraid she is not smart enough to succeed in graduate school, her counselor was Dr. Jeff Brooks-Harris. Dr. Winter Hamada is the counselor for Maria, a Cuban-American woman who was suffering from depression and is married to …show more content…

Puah was feeling isolated and disconnected from her cohorts because she was the only woman of color and the group was made up of predominately white males and very few women. Similarly, Maria was lonely and experienced feelings of depression because she missed the connection she once had with her Spanish culture which included the Cuban food and salsa dancing she enjoyed while living in Florida. Puah and Maria were missing the familiarity of their culture and that absence had a negative effect on their mental …show more content…

For example, Dr. Hamada asked questions that allowed Maria to open up about the things she enjoyed about being Hispanic in Florida that she had not been able to enjoy while living in Hawaii. She began mentioning how the Cuban culture is very talkative and open; however, in Hawaii, she was unable to speak as freely because the people there appeared to be more distant and cold. She also talked about how much she enjoyed the Cuban food, salsa dancing, and the overall laid-back nature of life in Florida (Microtraining Associates, 2001). Dr. Hamada wanted to help Maria feel more comfortable in Hawaii; therefore, she utilized this strategy as a way to open up options that could help her incorporate some of the Cuban lifestyle from Florida into Maria’s current life in

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