Therapist And Latino Client: A Case Study

Our book defines several strategies that will be very useful if properly implemented. For example, Assessing the client’s racial identity, this would allow the counselor to identify the client’s racial identity and allow the counselor to learn and discuss how the individuals feels about racism and white privilege. Exploring client’s problems for race-related stress. During each session the client discusses their fears and concerns. Having this information beforehand will allow the counselor to further investigate based on the individual’s racial makeup and other racist attitudes they may display. Having the upper hand and understanding of the clients racial identity status will help the counselor provide a more

CULTURALLY ADAPTED ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY FOR TREATING DEPRESSION AMONG LATINO ADULTS by Lucerito E. Ruiz Ramirez, M.S. A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Psychology UNIVERSITY OF LA VERNE College of Arts and Sciences Psychology Department Month and year dissertation is completed Copyright © (year submitted) Lucerito E. Ruiz Ramirez All Rights Reserved CULTURALLY ADAPTED ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY FOR TREATING DEPRESSION AMONG LATINO ADULTS by Lucerito E. Ruiz Ramirez, M.S. has been approved Month and year of dissertation defense DISSERTATION COMMITTEE ___________________________________________, Committee Chair Jerry L. Kernes, Ph.D. ___________________________________________, Committee Member Ngoc Bui, Ph.D. ___________________________________________, Committee Member Jennifer C. S. Chen, Psy. D. ACCEPTED: ___________________________________________, Psy. D. Program Chair Jerry L. Kernes, Ph.D. ________________________________________________________ PENDING, Ph.D.

Latinos have a strong culture, as well as a religious culture. Some believe many problems may be fixed with prayer as well as with traditional healers (Alegria et al. 2008a; Berenzon-Gorn 2006; Espin 1987 as cited in Lorenzo-Blanco, & Delva, 2012). They have a lot of faith in religious ceremonies and home remedies before seeking professional help. Latinos seek help with family members before anyone professional (Bermúdez, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, & Torres-Robles, 2010). Latinos most of the time have a big family size, and are always really close. Seeking help with family members, they believe will be more help if the family member has had a similar situation, and they believe their advice can help. Although Latinos don’t always seek professional help, they prefer family therapy (Szapocznik et al. 1989 as cited in Bermúdez, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, & Torres-Robles, 2010). Some prefer to work out their issue together as a family. Overall, when Latinos ask for help, they go to priests, psychiatrists, counselor, and therapists (Bermúdez, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, & Torres-Robles, 2010).

Underutilization and early termination of mental health services for Latinos in the U.S continues to be a concern for current research and practice in social work. A synthesis of current research demonstrates that there are several factors impacting access and utilization of mental health services for Latinos. According to U.S Department of Health and Human Services (2001), although Latinos are at increased vulnerability for developing mental illness, they continue to be half as likely in comparison to whites to access mental health services. Low rates of utilization of mental health services among the Latino community can be associated to a variety of factors including socioeconomic factors, cultural variables, stigma, psychotherapeutic challenges, client-therapist interaction (Kouyoumdjian, Zamboanga, & Hansen, 2003). Mental health conditions can significantly impact and individual’s ability to function and achieve their highest potential, consideration of these factors is essential in order to address the needs of a vulnerable population, and support Latinos in accessing mental health services when needed. This learning brief will focus on exploring how client system factors specific to Latinos’ resources, culture and worldview are associated with the underutilization of services for Latinos and important implications for practitioners when providing treatment.

It is essential when entering health care as a professional nurse to realize that health care workers, doctors, nurses, and other health care providers, form their own culture with their own beliefs and attitudes about the care that’s delivered and the patients whom they serve. Because there are significant barriers to health care for Hispanics, particularly those that are Mexican-American, in order to provide culturally competent care, the professional nurse must implement effective communication, convey respect to the patient, and take a thorough health history from each patient. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the background of the Mexican-American Hispanic patient, compare and contrast their culture to the culture of those that work in health care in the United States, and recommendations for the professional nurse using Purnell’s Cultural Theory for support and a reflection on Wellness Day for Health Promotion focusing on Hispanic heritage including Curanderismo.

Instead of seeking mental health services for emotional or psychological concern, Latinos tend to seek medical care services from a physician. Both (Gelman, 2005; Bedoya, 2014; Organista, 1995) portray Latinos favoring mental health services through primary care than a mental health care setting. Many Latinos misinterpret physical symptoms as a medical illness when, in fact, it may be due to psychological condition. It is not uncommon for Latinos to mainly present mental issues as physical complaints (González-Prendes, Hindo, & Pardo, 2011, p. 380). Similarly Kanter et al. (2008) states, “Depression in Latino immigrants with low acculturation often is characterized somatic complaints with less awareness and identification of psychological symptoms”

Understanding of the different cultural and racial population is important for counselors to recognize and consider in counseling. Due to the various approaches that should be taken when dealing with different cultures. Our textbook states “Counseling without attention or respect to the critical differences of diversity will likely not be successful.” (Clinton & Ohlschlager pg. 617) It is like you must put their shoes on, within the context of culture for the counselor to be effective. For example, when dealing with Asian clients they are very likely to have intense familial relationships. This contrasts with modern day United States American culture; our culture is centered on the self, not the us.

While working with clients that are multicultural, it’s important that counselors address the behavioral problems in the client’s family. (Santisteban, et al., 2003). It is important that the counselor allows changes in the family’s function and allow problematic behaviors to change to allow the family to work better, together (Santisteban, et al., 2003). The counselor can do this by addressing the client’s presenting problems and correcting those problems with healthier behaviors (Santisteban, et al., 2003). The counselor needs to allow the family time to change their behaviors. For example: A Hispanic family has come into counseling because their son is disruptive. This disruptive behavior is disrupting the family’s functioning.

The aforementioned authors described that ethnic, and culturally diverse populations pose the possibility of being at a higher risk for developing substance abuse related issues, making it imperative that substance abuse providers take into account the specifics surrounding the increase of diverse populations within the United States. Conveying the logicality that substance abuse providers have the prospect of engaging and treating these diverse populations, causes a need to administer effective treatment options that can be gained through sufficient training and preparing to work with diverse populations. Lassiter and Chang (2006) found that one professional organization The Association of Multicultural Counseling Development (AMCD) holds the belief that counselors that become competent within diverse populations will have the awareness, knowledge, and skills that are required to sufficiently provide services to these individuals with diverse cultural backgrounds. They noted that logically, counselors that practice with cultural competence display fewer practices that support stereotypes and biased viewpoints and practices within the duration of treating culturally diverse individuals. Establishing the ideology that eliminating practicing based on stereotypes and biases, often assures

Rincon Family Services has been created by Latinos suffering from substance use and mental health issues. In the 70s, RFS’s clientele was Hispanic predominantly; however, through the years the clinic has started working with an African-American population and also with a Caucasian population. Working in this facility and also doing my internship here has allowed me value of the richness of working in a place where the diversity allow us to learn from one another, facilitating mutual collaboration and cooperation. As a Latin South American woman, my cultural background is a little bit different from the other diverse ethnic groups that work here, at Rincon Family Services, groups such as the Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. On the other hand, my cultural background is totally

Is very important for the family to feel valued and understood by their social worker to be able to have a successful therapy. Some researches recommend that agencies match their social worker with the client, such as sharing the same culture (Seipel & Way, 2006). If the social worker is very well familiar with the culture, not just by reading or with the help of another social worker, then most likely the family will immediately feel comfortable with the social worker because they will feel that she/he will understand their actions and emotions. Latinos are becoming the largest minority in the U.S., which means that the social workers must be aware of their culture, values, and beliefs when working with this population. With Latinos becoming the largest minority, most likely every social worker will have to help a Latino

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

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.

In Sue & Sue (2016), language barrier is the major source of difficulty in providing services. Language barriers can affect a counselor getting accurate information, or misdiagnosing the client. In the article by Santiago-Rivera (1995), she talks about how Hispanic client that have different culture values, beliefs, and customs may interpret a symptom differently and easily misunderstand. Having a trained interpreter to sit in on the session to help the client as well as the counselor

As possibly Jose’s therapist, I don’t think that I know all there is to know about his culture, but I am aware of some important aspect. Because of this I feel that it would be wise to be willing to self-disclose minor personal information so that I can give Jose some assurance that I am aware of the cultural, gender, race and religious differences, but I am open to learn from him and I am willing to work with him and try to understand his point of view. I know that there are discriminations and stereotypes against Latinos, but being aware of my own possibly biases and values as Corey (2016) postulates will not impede but help the therapeutic process. However, if he feels that we cannot work together then I would try to refer him to someone who is of his cultural background.