Essay On Multicultural Counseling Competency

The counseling history relates to the current ACA and AMHCA Ethical codes based on the inclusion of diversity and multicultural into counseling. The counseling history depicts the incorporation of advanced training, personal identity, and concerns on diversity for counseling. The concerns for diversity and poverty in counseling lead to changes in policies at a grassroots level. However, before the inclusion of advanced training counselors dealt with various limitations. The limitations in counseling consisted of the blurred division of credentials.

In the past, counselors have lacked the knowledge and skills to interpret ethical guidelines in multicultural counseling. The ethical guidelines dictate how a counselor should have the necessary tools when conducting a counseling session. There is a shortfall of training and education when dealing with race, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds in today’s society. Ethics is a hot topic for counselors, partially because there are so many different situations that can be affected by ethical behavior. These situations can range from betraying the clients trust to injustice. There tends to be a lot of ambiguity for how to handle a situation ethically since there are a lot of

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.

Others, have their own reality and truth. If I wish to be an effective culturally competent counselor I need to be able to understand how important it is for myself not to mentally and emotionally disconnect from others just because on the surface our beliefs, values, and assumptions seem conflicting. As a helping professional I desire to serve a multitude of people, many by which belong to cultural groups that I, internally and externally. have felt rejected, discredited, and belittled by. In reaching out and helping these folks I need to be able to acknowledge my negative experiences, the assumptions I make about them based on who I perceive them to be, and monitor my behaviors towards them. I tend to find that I am less accepting and compassionate towards who I believe to belong to the dominate groups of our society; even the ones

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

Cultural diversity continually grows, and as a counselor, it is my job to remain culturally competent, through keeping abreast of empirical research methods and educating myself on current sociocultural developments. Admittedly, I enjoy working with diverse populations; I easily transcend cultural, spiritual and socioeconomic differences. I have many friends from various faiths, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. There is a definite need for empathy and empowerment within the cultural sphere; human interactions are vital to our wellbeing, and acceptance of others cultural differences is helpful to understanding one another.

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

Cultural Competency in Counseling Cultural competency has not only been emphasized as the ethical duty of the counselor, it has been highlighted throughout the counseling literature as being essential to the counseling process to fully understand the worldview of the client and their presenting issues. Sue and Sue (2016) emphasized the importance of multicultural counseling in eliciting positive change in the helping relationship and stressed that the development of cultural competence is a “lifelong process” in which the counselor is actively engaged (p. 61). The following narrative explores the cultural differences between a counselor and a client discussed in a case study and how the counselor can demonstrate cultural competency when engaging

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.

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).

Transcend differences to work productively with people whose cultural context is different from one’s own (State of Oregon, DHS – Diversity Development Coordinating Council, n.d.).

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.

As a multiracial mental health counselor, I disagree with your assessment and strategy associated with James’ substance abuse. You cited Choi, He, Herrenkohl, Catalono, and Toumbourou (2012) as having stated that multiracial youth having a higher number of peers who have substance abuse issues, and this data being linked to problems exhibited by this same population. The authors cite this information in their literature review, and set out to examine this long cited hypothesis. The authors found this hypothesis not to be true in their study and also state that the studies that cite this data are speculative and lack sound empirical data. In their study, the authors found that although multiracial youth do experience more exposure to peer risks

Being multicultural competence goes far beyond being caring and helpful. Being multicultural competent include being sensitive to cultural differences, being knowledgeable and aware of the different cultural groups, ensure that cultural biases and values do not override your clients. In being culturally competent one should move from being culturally unaware to being culturally aware. Being able to communicate accurately and appropriately to different culture. Understanding one’s multicultural orientation, and cultural humility is important in being multicultural competent.

The counseling profession it’s self has progressed tremendously over the last century, with the creation of ethical standards and concerns for multiculturalism. Before 1962, multiculturalism was not identified as a concern; professional counselors could provide or deny services due to any diversity. Counselors were stuck in stereotypical thinking and didn’t take concern for other’s personal identifications. Wren was the first of many to bring the topic of multiculturalism to the awareness of professionals. Issues and concerns continued to be identified over the years, causing changes in the way professionals handled cultural diverse issues. In 1992, Multicultural competencies and standards were published to assist professionals in working with people of difference. Multiculturalism also is written in the ACA code of Ethics, taking into account differences in language, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual-orientation, physical abilities, race, culture, and ethnicity. Even aft the century of modifications of the counseling profession, there continues to be new issues and concerns that will need to be addressed to continue improving the lives of our society.