Diversity
Multicultural counselling value cultural and ethnical diversity and promote social justice. Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that influence how individuals within a specific group relate to those within the group and to those outside. Rohner (1984) suggests that not only shared and learned meanings are important when identifying a culture, but also the cultural products. Rohner (1984) posits that culture is transmittable over time and modified from generation to generation (Rohner, 1984). According to Lee and Armstrong (1995), each person’s identity has been shaped by a great number of cultures and that effective counseling will address these different cultural identities in each client and community of clients.
Excerpt from CAAP 607 assignment:
Understanding the cultural makeup of any society also involves recognizing ethnic variations within that society and the possible importance of such diversity for relationship processes (Saroja, 1999). Ethnicity represents the characteristics of a group of people that distinguish them from the other people belonging to the same society. Wilkinson (1987) described an ethnic group as “a group of people who are of the same nationality or ancestry and who enact a shared culture and lifestyles” (p. 185).
Multicultural counsellors serve as advocates and change agents when they interact with marginalized individuals or groups of people. Atkinson, Thompson, and Grant (1993) propose a framework that addresses eight potential helping roles in relation to working with diverse cultural populations: (a) facilitator of indigenous healing methods, (b) facilitator of indigenous support systems, (c) adviser, (d) advocate, (e) change agent, (f) consultant, (g) counsellor, and (h) psychotherapist. They state that the assumption of any given role(s) depends on the interaction of three client-based factors: clients' level of acculturation meaning the degree to which clients identify with the values, beliefs, customs, and institutions of their culture of origin and the host culture; the locus of the etiology of clients' presenting problem(s) meaning the extent to which clients' presenting issues stem from internal issues or dynamics or from external sources; and the goals of intervention or treatment (Atkinson, Thompson, and Grant ,1993).
Defining multicultural counselling on the basis of specific cultural, racial and ethnic group variables risks stereotyping and perpetuates discrimination and marginalization. As a counsellor, I must be cognizant of how processes such as acculturation can influence clients. This means that the needs of individuals within a specific cultural group are not being displayed in the same way and therefore I cannot solely focus on the knowledge acquired from that cultural groups and then applied successfully all across the rest of the groups. The exchange of information through the weekly postings as well as the assigned weekly readings made me cognizant of the impossibility of developing expertise in all the main core competency domains.
Throughout this course, I also gathered that counselling multicultural clients entails acknowledging the validity of the counsellor’s competence. It took me extensive training in order to be able to change my schemata and learned not to be judgmental of those holding different attitudes and beliefs than mine. “Culturally competent counsellors are constantly seeking to understand themselves as racial and cultural beings and are actively seeking a non-racist identity” (Arrendondo et al, 1996, p. 60). Being immersed in a multicultural environment, it helped me re-evaluate and re-shaped my current values, beliefs and attitudes towards diversity in relation to multicultural couselling. This is in accordance with Hansen, Petitone-Arreola-Rockwell and Greene ( 2000) statement that “ awareness of how one’s own cultural heritage, gender, class, ethnic-racial identity, sexual orientation, disability, and age help to shape personal values, assumptions, and biases related to identified groups” (p. 564).
Multicultural counselling value cultural and ethnical diversity and promote social justice. Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that influence how individuals within a specific group relate to those within the group and to those outside. Rohner (1984) suggests that not only shared and learned meanings are important when identifying a culture, but also the cultural products. Rohner (1984) posits that culture is transmittable over time and modified from generation to generation (Rohner, 1984). According to Lee and Armstrong (1995), each person’s identity has been shaped by a great number of cultures and that effective counseling will address these different cultural identities in each client and community of clients.
Excerpt from CAAP 607 assignment:
Understanding the cultural makeup of any society also involves recognizing ethnic variations within that society and the possible importance of such diversity for relationship processes (Saroja, 1999). Ethnicity represents the characteristics of a group of people that distinguish them from the other people belonging to the same society. Wilkinson (1987) described an ethnic group as “a group of people who are of the same nationality or ancestry and who enact a shared culture and lifestyles” (p. 185).
Multicultural counsellors serve as advocates and change agents when they interact with marginalized individuals or groups of people. Atkinson, Thompson, and Grant (1993) propose a framework that addresses eight potential helping roles in relation to working with diverse cultural populations: (a) facilitator of indigenous healing methods, (b) facilitator of indigenous support systems, (c) adviser, (d) advocate, (e) change agent, (f) consultant, (g) counsellor, and (h) psychotherapist. They state that the assumption of any given role(s) depends on the interaction of three client-based factors: clients' level of acculturation meaning the degree to which clients identify with the values, beliefs, customs, and institutions of their culture of origin and the host culture; the locus of the etiology of clients' presenting problem(s) meaning the extent to which clients' presenting issues stem from internal issues or dynamics or from external sources; and the goals of intervention or treatment (Atkinson, Thompson, and Grant ,1993).
Defining multicultural counselling on the basis of specific cultural, racial and ethnic group variables risks stereotyping and perpetuates discrimination and marginalization. As a counsellor, I must be cognizant of how processes such as acculturation can influence clients. This means that the needs of individuals within a specific cultural group are not being displayed in the same way and therefore I cannot solely focus on the knowledge acquired from that cultural groups and then applied successfully all across the rest of the groups. The exchange of information through the weekly postings as well as the assigned weekly readings made me cognizant of the impossibility of developing expertise in all the main core competency domains.
Throughout this course, I also gathered that counselling multicultural clients entails acknowledging the validity of the counsellor’s competence. It took me extensive training in order to be able to change my schemata and learned not to be judgmental of those holding different attitudes and beliefs than mine. “Culturally competent counsellors are constantly seeking to understand themselves as racial and cultural beings and are actively seeking a non-racist identity” (Arrendondo et al, 1996, p. 60). Being immersed in a multicultural environment, it helped me re-evaluate and re-shaped my current values, beliefs and attitudes towards diversity in relation to multicultural couselling. This is in accordance with Hansen, Petitone-Arreola-Rockwell and Greene ( 2000) statement that “ awareness of how one’s own cultural heritage, gender, class, ethnic-racial identity, sexual orientation, disability, and age help to shape personal values, assumptions, and biases related to identified groups” (p. 564).
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source: https://www.google.ca/search?q=PHOTO+OF+DIVERSITY
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Atkinson, D. R., Thompson, C. E., & Grant, S. (1993). A three-dimensional model for counseling racial/ethnic minority clients. The Counseling Psychologist, 21, 257-277.
Hansen, N. D., Petitone-Arreola-Rockwell, F, & Greene, A. F. (2000). Multicultural competence: Criteria and case examples. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 31, 652-660.
Lee, C. C., & Armstrong, K. L. (1995). Indigenous models of mental health interventions: Lessons from traditional healers. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander (2nd ed.), Handbook of Multicultural Counseling (pp. 441–456). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication.
Saroja, K. (1999). Inter-caste marriage and social dynamics in India: A critique. Indian Journal of Social Work, 60, 183-192.
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis. New York: Appleton-Century.
Skinner, B. F. (1948). Superstition' in the pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 168-17.
Wilkinson D. & Y., King G. (1987). Conceptual and Methodological Issues in the Use of Raceas a Variable: Policy
Implications. The Milbank Quarterly, 65, 56–71. doi:10.1177/0022146510383838