Eurocentric Theory

Simone Sneed grew up an African American child with mental illness. Simone claims that the doctors or psychologist were insensitive to her culture and traditions. “…The clinicians I worked with were also white - and as such - in all of their goodness and skill - were unable to take into account the emotional tension that I had developed from growing up as an outsider,” said Sneed. As a African American in America I naturally feel like an outsider unless I am amongst the people I grew up around or the members of my community. I am more comfortable expressing my problem to them because they watched me grow up and many other African Americans share the same stories.

Another issues that African American mothers have to face are their children’s

Children of any culture require nurturing in order to grow to become a productive member of society. However, In African American communities often children are left to fend for themselves. In a one-parent home all responsibilities fall on the shoulders of one person, by default creating a

Although both cultures hold high aspirations for their children, they adopt very different approaches to parent involvement. “African-American parents believed strongly in home and school-based involvement and attempted to intervene inside their children 's schools. While social class within the African-American community seemed to influence this pattern, African Americans were far more likely to seek school-based involvement” (Diamond, Wang, & Gomez, 2006) Every culture develops set patterns of child rearing practices and that what is perceived to be good parenting in one culture may be regarded as maladaptive in another culture. In both the Haitian culture as well as the African American culture this was not the case.

However, this does not coincide with being culturally competent. Health care providers must be open to different approaches to the same problem and be willing to investigate all options to come to a conclusion that takes into consideration the patients cultural beliefs (Kodjo,

The tradition of education in the African American culture implies the cultural values of the better opportunities for the family. Education provides an efficient ways to avoid the struggles that other African American’s families had to endure to provide a stable life for their families. An understanding of your ethnic culture

Often times today, people of other racial classes and ethnic groups are experiencing oppression as a marginalized group in society today. Racial biases and culture have become an important issue in mental health due to social constructs, racial stereotypes and racial ideology. As a result, they tend to have an impact human development, racial and cultural identity. Therefore, it has become necessary for counselors to indentify and become fully aware and competent in this area due to the changes our society has undergone in multiculturalism and globalization. Due to cultural diversity, identification of minority groups has led to major breakthrough in the field of multicultural counseling/ therapy (Sue &Sue,2014).

Counselors are expected to develop a multicultural awareness of clients from cultures different within their own. What did this article present that will help you in preparing your research study for this course, and how is it relevant to you as a counselor? • This article presented me with an outline that could potentially be helping in preparing my research study for this course. I was able to objectively review a research highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. I will take my findings and use as a resource when preparing my research.

Culture acts like a filter through which people perceive the world. If a practitioner is unaware of a client’s culture, there will be a great chance for misunderstanding (Grinnell et al., 2012). According to the President’s New Freedom Commission’s Final Report (New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, 2003) racial and ethnic minorities by 2025

African-Americans lived in impoverished neighborhoods and received inadequate education and resources. African-Americans struggled to have better lives and generational poverty became prominent within African-American families. Along with generational poverty often times involves; emotional and physical abuse, substance abuse, violence and an ongoing need for survival. Individuals are raised on survival and not on the love and care that they need as children. Significant interactions with their parents are rare, because they work a lot just to keep their household in order.

American women in general are displaying nontraditional actions regarding the family life cycle. When examine African American women specifically, there seem to be more quick changes happening at the family life cycle stage of coupling and marriage when compared with the general U.S. population. Although, there is a major number of African American single fathers, there is a higher percentage of African American single mothers. Many of academic research have been based on pinpointing and addressing social problems has been geared toward studying African American. Over centering on an exact group within a race with exact variables can create racial stereotypes.

Having a better understanding of their upbringing as far as exposure and adoption to certain sports or exercises, quality of resources such air, water, and medical facilities. Another is an understanding of whether they prefer conventional healthcare or more natural remedies and guiding their health care approach accordingly. The important pitfalls that often occur and we should be aware of that happen in the absence of cultural competency is non ideal outcomes of patients on an individual basis, which subsequently leads to wellness disparities in the healthcare system. Groups of people become underrepresented such as African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. A few examples are: an individual from a group being less inclined to listen if they feel offended from instructions from a physician who was not mindful of a cultural difference (not culturally competent), language discrepancies can cause unwanted outcomes, not offering food that caters to their cultural needs,

 My bias towards the client  will compromise my interventions with the client.  When dealing with a client from other cultures, there are certain competencies to have that are essential for being culturally sensitive. The therapist  needs to 1. understand the problem as experienced by the client as what they are feel, 2. the problem as identified by the client ( label the problem), 3.

The organization in which I work are recognizes the community in which it serves and provides continual education and resources needed to communicate effectively with all races and ethnicities. Our nurses undergo cultural competency and sensitivity training, utilize various methods of translation services, and have experience relating to patients of various backgrounds. Although cultural sensitivity and competence is important on all level of patient interaction, the foreign-born psychiatric population are most vulnerable to incompetence and insensitivity. In addition to the stresses of adapting to life in a new country, foreign-born patients that suffer from mental illness have increased stressors that often exacerbate symptoms. Although I have yet to allow my personal beliefs to effect the care that administer, the example I will describe will serve to show how culture effects care and how I remained a patient advocate within my role as the

Providing care that is culturally competent ensures that interventions are tailored specifically to the patient and the result is an increase in positive