Multicultural Counseling Competency
The development of American society as a multicultural society in the recent years resulted from the numerous incidences of diaspora and migration among individuals who belong to various cultures and societies all over the world. At present, the United States is host country to peoples of various race, ethnicity, worldviews, as well as social class, which include Europeans, Asians, Africans, Hispanic, and Native Americans. The diversity of American society thus necessitates an awareness of the cultural differences among these groups to further understand and tolerate these differences as each group interacts with the other and the whole of American society.
Understanding cultural diversity is indeed imperative for the counselor, who faces the challenge to provide efficient mental health service for an individual who may belong to a culturally-different group other than the white Americans. The hybridization of American society serves as a challenge for multicultural counseling to become more up-to-date, dynamic, and flexible as this field of expertise is vital for the healthy mental and personal development of people. This challenge means that multicultural counselors should become more competent in their chosen field and are able to adapt to the changes that are created and developed in the society.
In the texts that follow, the researcher discusses the important characteristics or competencies that a multicultural counselor must have. Apart from these competencies, the discussion of multicultural counseling involves a critical analysis of important issues, scope, and limitations of multicultural counseling as it is applied in the field, wherein the competencies enumerated demonstrates the need for an integrative approach towards counseling -- that is, subsistence to a multilateral rather than a unilateral or bilateral approach to counseling clients availing of mental health services.
The essence of multicultural counseling competence is underscored by Baruth and Manning (1999), enumerating nine (9) competencies which counselors should have:
1. Awareness of their own cultural characteristics
2. Awareness of how their cultural values and biases may affect minority clients
3. Understanding of the American sociopolitical system in relation to minorities
4. Ability to resolve differences of race and beliefs between counselor and client
5. Ability to know when a client should be referred to a counselor of the client's own race or culture
6....
Multicultural model of counseling was developed with individuals with disabilities in mind, as well as other minorities and special needs populations. It is founded on the idea that multicultural competence rests on the ability of a counselor to integrate personal, professional and institutional contexts and suggests that change requires "affective, cognitive and behavioral learning competence" (Reza & Toporek, 2001: 13). Further the model suggest that counselors integrate the practice of
To counteract these dissimilarities, effectual counselors must examine their clients' cultural setting and be open to supple definitions of suitable behavior (Bolton-Brownlee, 1987). An additional counseling barrier is language. Language differentiations may be possibly the most significant faltering block to effectual multicultural counseling and evaluation. Language barriers obstruct the counseling process when clients cannot articulate the difficulty of their thoughts and feelings or resist talking about affectively emotional issues. Counselors,
Multicultural Supervision CROSSING COLOR BARRIERS Ethical and Legal Concerns Section I of the ACA (2014) Code of Ethics on Resolving Ethical Issues mandates professional counselors to behave ethically and to obey the law. They are fully aware that client welfare and the trust enjoyed by their profession entirely depend on a high level of professional conduct on their part. They adhere faithfully to the ACA Code of Ethics and other applicable codes. They
Multicultural Counseling Competency A counselor's knowledge, awareness, and skills concerning multicultural differences can have a significant impact on their ability to provide quality care (Penn and Post, 2012, p. 14-17). These multicultural competencies have therefore been recognized by counseling scholars as increasingly important, especially since American society is becoming more ethnically diverse. A recent study examined multicultural competencies among play therapists and found self-perceptions of competency to be independent of training.
Multicultural Counseling Presenting Issues The presenting issues evidenced by the client include self-identity and self-esteem issues. In particular the client appears to be confused about which culture she belongs to and which values and behaviors are 'acceptable.' The client may be described as having a 'dual identity' which she is attempting to reconcile to the point where she can be comfortable both with her American home and her traditional Chinese traditional family. The
Multicultural Counseling cultural bias and/or culturally appropriate interventions. Burnett, J.A., Hamel, D., & Long, L.L. (2004). Service learning in graduate counselor education: Developing multicultural counseling competency. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 32(3), 180-191. Even the most enthusiastic counseling students are initially limited by their cultural worldview. This article examines ways to enhance the education of graduate students in the field with service-based learning. Service learning integrates classroom learning with community service. The approach
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