Multicultural Thinking: A Career As A Counselor

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.

On page 238 in chapter 8 of Becoming a Multicultural Educator, by William A. Howe and Penelope L. Lisi, it states that, "culturally relevant education (CRE) was coined by Gloria Ladson-Billings (2009) to describe "a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes"". The five principles that are discussed on page 239 are used to guide teachers in the direction of having a culturally relevant classroom for their students to learn about how to participate in a democratic society. Each principle offers educators insight as to how they can use culture within their classroom and lessons they teach in order to help their students become culturally

This helped in eliminating bias through reduced sampling error. The sample of 20 practitioners as well as 20 consultants appears to be too small and unrepresentative. There are too many consultants and practitioners in the field today to be represented by a group of only 20 individuals. Again, the sample represented the population in the New England Metropolitan area. This created bias in the representation as it only represents a single area. On the other hand, the sample waa a nice blend of representatives from different groups including men and women, white, Latino, Asians, and blacks. Though not in equal numbers, the good representation helped eliminate bias a both the possible oppressors as well a those oppressed were represented hence each group could contribute its views. The study also considered experts in the interviews.. this a great advantage to the study as experts have a good understanding in combined or specific knowledge. They understand the process, strategies as well as group behaviors. The interviewer recorded the interviews on tape. This was an advantage to the study as it gave an accurate summary of the interview. Comments and information gathered were stored for reference. Through repeated listening, it must have been easy for the interviewing committee to get interview clarity and analyze speech, body language, and voice

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

Getting my new text and being filled with curiosity is always a great feeling prior to starting a class; Cultural Anthropology, such a foreign topic, so I thought. Once I began to read the first few chapters of the book I began to recognize words and details that I have previously been introduced too. Thinking back to when and what classes I have had the same experience, I recall Multicultural Counseling and Psychology. Stepping out my comfort zone is what really came to mind. Growing up in a society that has changed so much over the years you would think that I would be used to it; however, asking to look at your community with a different set of eyes is uncomfortable and brings feelings of disbelief most of the time.

Although welfare is to support those in need it does comes with its own share of stereotypes. Often mothers on welfare are looked at as lazy, promiscuous, and uneducated. Moreover, in the article a mother on welfare says that a lot times the system is abused. People taking advantage of the opportunity and don’t need it. She goes on to criticize women that don’t take care of their children but always collecting

One of America's biggest misconceptions about public assistance is that of people on welfare. Rita Jensen, an investigative journalist in New York city and a former welfare recipient states that, "[W]hen one says 'Welfare mother' the listener hears 'black welfare mother.' This is a skewed perception that leads to an ongoing underlying racial motive against the welfare program. In general, when speaking about welfare most

Other studies have confirmed the negative effects of welfare on the development of children. For example, young women who are raised in families dependent on welfare are two to three times more likely to drop out and fail to graduate from high school than are young women of similar race and socioeconomic background not raised on welfare. Similarly, single mothers who were raised as children in families

Many counselors hold viewpoints that are not necessarily representative of the public at large. It is very difficult to serve others and to open up leadership positions if one is not aware of others‟ views and how they came to hold them. Knowledge about the worldviews of others is at the core of the development of multicultural competent counselors and will form the basis for opening up ACA and the divisions to leaders from a wide variety of

Cultural shapes how individuals experience the world around them. These experiences are a vital component of how services are both delivered and received. Gladding (2012) describes three key aspects of a multicultural leader. The first key aspect is to be aware of a diverse population and the effect on group work interventions (Gladding, 2012). To better facilitate a multicultural group, a leader

The basic concepts and purposes of multicultural counseling include the following answers. The main purpose of multicultural counseling is creating a positive and friendly environment, when counseling clients from an ethical or racial background or minority group. The main goal for counselors is to recognize issues of multicultural diversity in today’s society. These potential clients can include people in business, medical, or manufacturing as well as, students, and immigrants. The culture centered approach to counseling in a positive way but these behaviors can have no meaning, until both the client and the therapist understand the cultural context. The basic concepts and approaches include (a) establish an accurate awareness of how

People behave accordingly to their culture which makes them to behavior in a certain direction. Thus, it is important for to a counselor to treat a client according to his or her culture. Some peoples' culture consists of religious beliefs, certain customs, rituals, which involves social, morals and values. Likewise, the part of a researcher is to deliver knowledge about the participant’s background and lifestyle which is essential for cultural competence (Sue & Sue, 2013, p. 9745). Also, (Code # A.2.c.) a researcher must respect their client’s culture and be culturally sensitive. Thus, it is important that researchers are culture competence when participants partake in a research study (ACA, 2014, p. 3). For this reason, the researcher most

While completing coursework at CSUMB for the Liberal Studies program, the researcher was inspired by its classes to be a Diversity and Multicultural Scholar and a Social Justice Collaborator. By evaluating their own and others’ experiences as influenced by social identities, socialization practices, and societal institutions from both historical and contemporary perspectives it helped the researcher open their eyes in how they want to be in their classroom as an educator. In the researchers LS 380: Teaching for Social Change, LS 394: Multicultural literature , and LS 398: Social Foundations of Multicultural Education classes, the researcher critically examined the value of diversity and multiculturalism which interested her in the teaching

With the shifting cultural texture and demographics of the United States (Banks, 2006b; Irvine, 2003), redefining multicultural education has become imperative. There are many views on the benefits and/or shortcomings of the multiculturalization of education. The question is not whether a multicultural education should be adopted but it is rather what we understand from multicultural education and how we are going to initiate such a reform within an educational system when we cannot even define ‘multicultural.’ “The awareness of one’s own assumptions, prejudices and stereotypes is a first step to be able to positively interact and learn from others. In this process