Personal Reflection : The Importance Of Multicultural Counseling

I learned some important things from this course that I will allow to stick with me no matter my profession. Diversity is something I will always have to deal with regardless if it is race, gender, or gender orientation. Importantly this course has allowed me to grow as an individual and has shown me that it is okay to learn about other races and their background. Not only has it allowed me to be acceptable of everyone in fact, it has allowed me to be less judgmental amongst others.

A therapist will face problems, issues and client troubles everyday. The professional must understand how their client relates to the world around them. These feelings and ideas affect how the client sees the problem and how they respond to their situation. Their actions, in turn, have bearing on individual thoughts, needs, and emotions. The therapist must be aware of the client's history, values, and culture in order to provide effective therapy. This paper will outline and provide information as to the importance of cultural competence and diversity in family therapy.

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.

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.

Starting this course in August, I didn’t realize the power that multicultural counseling had instilled in it. The fact that its central focus is around social justice and equality is a characteristic our society much needs today. Throughout the duration of this class, I learned about multicultural counseling as a whole, new theories that can be applied specifically to different racial/ethnic minorities, the ACA code of ethics, and who I want to be as a future counselor.

This class has really opened up my eyes to many new views and opinions toward certain information and assumptions. Before taking this class I did not believe I was racist or had any downward views towards any people or cultural. This soon came to my attention that everyone has a little bit of racist in them no matter how hard you try not to be. I also thought that Columbus discovered America, I found it very interesting and almost common sense when we discussed this issue and how the school curriculum has been lying to students in a sense about the discovery of America. The finial bias I soon came to see was that no matter how much you think you will not face other cultures or other religions in schools that you are not familiar with your chances are very slim. No matter where you plan to teach at their will always be situations that you are unfamiliar 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.

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

     After reading the many articles on the notion of diagnosis and counseling with multicultural/ethnic patients, it has come to my attention that this focus is solely based on stereotypical attitudes. Sure, it can be said that it is important for a therapist to have a background of the patient’s heritage and culture, but doesn’t this necessarily mean that the outlook of the therapist will be put in a box by doing so? I think multicultural competency is a ridiculous way to improve patient-therapist relationships because of several reasons. First off, generalities and race-centralisms only hinder, not improve, the inner workings of a therapy session. Second, there is no real way to test

Upon hearing multicultural counseling, culturally diverse counseling, or counseling of diverse populations most people may think of groups that differ from the dominant culture in our society, such as, race, culture, ethnicity, etc. Many people do not think beyond these categories to consider a second tier of diversity, for instance, age, disability, sexual orientation, etc. What is the dominant culture? In most references the comparison is associated with the White Euro-American norms. The basic assumption that heterosexuality is the only normal path of all human beings creates a need for counseling trainees to consider the hidden minority group of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues (GLBT).

At times in life there comes something called change. In my opinion, I was not a big fan of change. You cannot imagine how I was feeling when my mother announced that we were moving. It was the middle of my sixth-grade year, I was feeling countless emotions, none that could be explained at the moment of the announcement. The main thing on my mind was school; my friends, my outstanding teachers, and the environment. All things I had left behind. All I could think about was, “How will I ever adjust?” I knew exactly what was to come, I knew exactly what I was going to become, an outcast. There were numerous of ways on why I was feeling this way, but