In “The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down,” Anne Fadiman provides us with her book about two different cultural worlds and how they collide. 1. Quag Dab Peg in Hmong culture is caused by a bad spirit (dab’s). Hmong’s believe dab’s steal souls and cause sick illnesses.
Definitions of multicultural Competence Frontline Human Service Providers, was collaboratively written by L. Caldwell, D. Tarver, D. Iwamoto, S. Herzberg, P. Cerda-Lizarraga, and T. Mack. The article was published by the journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. This article explores different definitions provided by ninety nine different human service providers who are on the frontline serving in the helping capacity. All information they have in counseling was gain from firsthand experience. Color blindness, client focused, acknowledgement of cultural differences, textbook consistent, resources driven, skills-based, and self-integrated, are used throughout the article as terms that are frequently used to define multicultural.
Reflection Hays and Erford (2014) define the factors affecting our counselor identity as our culture, lifespan period, gender, sexual orientation, and the last but not the least our prejudicial beliefs. In the country that I have grown up, we did not have too many Asian descents living among us and the insight that we have about both Native Americans and Asian Americans were just a paragraph length of information in sociology books. I would just add a couple American movies have had some people included in the film as side characters or neighbor members. Preparing for this week’s assignment gave me a lot different perception about Asian Americans, Native Americans and multiculturally component counselors.
My role in providing behavioral counseling to my clients was contingent on a positive connection with the child, their family, and the family team. More often than not, multiple members of the overall group were from various cultural backgrounds. At times, interactions with a parent could have been misinterpreted due to the nature of the communication style or punishment of the child. Without the knowledge of cultural expectations and interactions different than my own, I may have misinterpreted actions that could have led me to alternatively and incorrectly address client
Counseling Services in Hispanic Culture The topic of culture used to be largely debated in the world of clinicians and psychologists, fortunately, this is now viewed as a fundamental competency (e.g., Vera & Speight 2003). The American Counseling Association is the largest association of professional counselors worldwide, they define counseling as “a collaborative effort between the counselor and client. Professional counselors help clients identify goals and potential solutions to problems which cause emotional turmoil; seek to improve communication and coping skills; strengthen self-esteem; and promote behavior change and optimal mental health”.
Historically, society as a whole has encountered many adverse situations regarding multicultural counseling, all of which have strengthened the core of the profession. Counseling for many years was entangled with the ideology of monocultural disciplines, which deemphasizes the notion of cultural diversity in the profession of counseling. This is significant as due to the premature societies, it was considered the norm to be associated with a single dominant cultural group where its values, behaviors, expectations, and methodologies were assumed to be the catalyst for all other cultures to follow. Seemingly, the previously mentioned became problematic and unorthodox, as societies across the world continued to expand racially and ethnically.
The counseling profession hasn’t always recognized the effects of multiculturalism on ethical standards, competencies and advocacy. The counseling profession ignored multiculturalism until Wrenn in 1962. He was the first individual to draw attention to this and termed it “culturally encapsulated” counseling. This type of thinking lead to counselors believing that their view was the only one which lead to stereotypical thinking. The ACA code of ethics has been revised several times and during the first draft of the code of ethics there is no mention of cultural awareness.
In consideration of cultural counseling, social workers will provide interventions to help identify clients’ barriers and identify their family expectations and cultural assumptions that influence their life choices. This tie into helping the client identify ways and solutions when they want to go against their family or cultural expectations, but at the same time be respectful of the client’s overall cultural values and bring awareness to the client that their cultural values and racism may influence their aspirations. Afterwards, the social workers must counsel the client to encourage and promote
As a woman of color, I believe it is essential that I become aware of my own biases in order to help individuals that have different beliefs, values, and cultural practices. When I was done completing the “Multicultural Counseling Competencies: A Self Examination” assessment, I became aware of my strengths, weaknesses, and areas where I need to grow as a future college counselor. To begin with, I notice that I questioned myself continuously whether I take the time to evaluate the limits of my competency when helping a student from a different cultural heritage from mine.
This style of communication can be vastly different from middle-class Caucasians who communicate with a future pretense (1998). Culturally Relevant Interventions When working with Latino client, it’s important to remember that their world view may differ from the world view of the counselor. In order for treatment to be effective and successful counselors need to choice culturally relevant methods and interventions that are going to match the clients world views (Carlson & Carlson, 2000).
Barbara Herlihy, a university research professor, in Counseling today shared that she and other theorist suggest that “our profession will need to move away from existing theories that focus on individuals, couples, and families and instead embrace the systematic theories that address social ills and foster healing on a global level. Of existing theories, the multicultural and feminist approaches to hold the greatest potential for addressing these goals and may see increased acceptance and practice” (Shallcross, 2012). Herlihy in her research stated that “most predictions on the future of counseling theories have taken a narrower focus on the deep entrenchment in our society of the medical model and managed care, as well as our growing dependence
Counseling those of different ethnic backgrounds can prove to be a challenge. As a result, it is important for counselors to educate themselves on the culture and values of their clients. Counselors must clearly set forth what will be discussed in counseling and gain client consent. They also need to discuss confidentiality and whether or not they would like religion to play a role in their treatment. Based on how the counselor went about counseling the Korean family, there have been a couple violations of specific ethical standards.
What did you do this week to help with your understanding of course material? During clinical this week I first went to Ware Shoals Primary School. There we continued to help with hearing screenings. This allowed us to learn how to communicate with small children as well and older children. Many of the younger children had a more difficult time understanding the process of the hearing screening and what was needed of them.
Over the past four months, this course has been one of the most eye-opening experiences I have had during my first year of college. Although I have always realized the importance of being culturally competent in daily life, specifically healthcare, I was unaware of the many ways that cultural competence can be obtained. This class gave me the opportunity to view situations from a different perspective, especially through the weekly discussion boards and peer responses. Learning from classmate can teach more valuable lessons than listening to boring lectures or reading hundreds of pages in a textbook because it is easier to relate to experience rather than hypothetical situations. For example, one of the discussion boards asked us to detail
Introduction: As schools become increasing diverse, cultural competence is essential. Thus, school counselors must have awareness, knowledge, and skills to help the needs of the Asian student population to seek higher education. As a minority, I believe that multicultural counseling can greatly impact the lives of students. During my high school years, I felt unaccepted and not understood by my assigned high school counselor because she wasn’t culturally competent. Because my assigned high school counselor couldn’t understand why I chose to apply to only one university, Fresno State, I wasn’t able to go to her when I had questions about college.
