MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING

Microsoft PowerPoint - MULTICULTURAL COUNSELINGMulticultural counseling can be defined as;
“ Becoming a multicultural counselor does not only mean gaing more knowledge of other cultures. But even more it means understanding the complex process through which people become members of communities and societies and construct their worldviews, basic attitudes, value, norms etc.”
DEFINING MULTICULTURALISM
Multiculturalism – The professional disposition to acknowledge and appreciate cultural diversity.
People vary by gender, race, eternity, religion, ability, sexual orientation, social class, age, national origin and unique experiences over the course of life.
PUTTING CULTURE IN CONTEXT
Encompasses a collective reality of a group of people that results in attitudes, behaviors.
Counseling has traditionally be a professional discipline representatives of European and European American culture.
CULTURE AS ETHNICITY
Dynamics considered in culturally responsive counseling
Relationship between ethnic identity and degree of acculturation Strong sense of ethnic identity/ high degree of acculturation
Weak sense of ethnic identity / low degree of acculturation
Strong sense of ethnic identity/ Low degree of acculturation
BASIC CONCEPTS OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING
Culture refers to any group of people who identify or associate with one another on the basis of some common purpose need or similarly of background.
All counseling is cross- cultural in nature.
Multicultural counseling places an emphasis on human diversity in all its many for us.
Culturally competent counselors develop awareness, knowledge and skills to intervene effectively in the lives of people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Culturally competent counselors are multicultural literate human beings.
MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING PARADIGM
Counselors and other professionals need multicultural competencies in order to be better able to take into account cultural diversity of the clients.
Perhaps the most well known way in conceptualizing multicultural counseling competencies is the one developed by Sue et .al(1992;1996). They divide the multicultural competencies into three characteristics of a culturally competent counselor.
CHARECRISTICS OF A CULTUREALY COMPETENT COUNSELOR
According to Sue (1992; 1996) following are the characteristics of a culturally competent counselor.
1. Awareness of his/ her own assumption values and biases.
2. Understanding of the world view of a culturally different client.
3. An ability to develop appropriate intervention strategies and techniques.
DIMENSIONSOF CULTURALLY COMPENENT COUNSELOR
According to Sue (1992; 1996) following are the different dimensions of culturally competent counselor.
BELIEF AND ATTITUDES
BELIEF AND ATTITUDES
1. Culturally skilled counselor have moved to being culturally aware and sensitive to their own cultural heritage and to valuing and respecting differences.
2. Culturally skilled counselors are aware of how their own cultural background and experiences attitudes and values and biases influence physiological processes.
3. Culturally skilled counselor are able to recognize the limits of their competencies and expertise.
4. Culturally skilled counselors are comfortable with differences that exist between themselves and clients in term of race, ethnicity, culture and belief.
KNOWLEDGE
1. Culturally skilled counselors have specific knowledge about their own racial and cultural heritage and how it personally and professionally affect the process of counseling.
2. Culturally skilled counselors possess knowledge and understanding about how domination, discrimination and racism affects them personally and in their work.
SKILLS
Culturally skilled counselors seek out educational, consultative and training experience to improve their understanding and effectiveness in working with culturally different population. Being able to recognize the limit of their competencies, they are
(a) Seek consultation / talk
(c) Refer out to more qualified individuals or resources
(d) Engage in combination of these
MULTIDIAMENTIONAL MODEL OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE
This model was proposed by Sue(2001) it consists of three primary dimensions connected with effective multicultural counseling.
(a) Specific racial / Cultural group perspective
(b) Components of cultural competence
(c) Focus of Cultural competence
SPECIFIC RACIAL / CULTURAL GROUPS
(a) It attributes of culture competence relation to five racial groups. African Americans, Asian Americans, Latin/ Hispanic Americans, Native Americans and European Americans (Sue, 2001)
(b) Components of cultural competence;
It referred to awareness, knowledge, and skills as has been outlined in the Sue at al (1992)
UNDERSTANDING CULTURES AND THEIR IMPACT ON CLIENTS
In understanding cultures and their impact on clients several key points may be noted.
Cultures involves communication in patterns that are recognizable.
It is important for counselors to understand how language is used in a specific culture. Culture involves all aspects of human life and becomes a means by which group impose order and meaning on their life experiences.
MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AS A DISCIPLINE

International perspective on counseling as a force in human development. Social responsibility of counselors and need to consider negative effects of oppression on culturally diverse groups.
Problems may lie in into learnt or restrictive environment.
Counselors are called upon to be agents of systematic change.
Theory Related to multicultural counseling
CULTURAL IDENTITY THEORY
Members of a particular cultural group go through different stages marked by different attitudes toward their own and other cultural groups.
Attitudes and behaviors are the result of a cognitive and emotional process surrounding relationship to their own cultural group.
The relationship one has with those in their own cultural group determines their relationship to other cultural groups.
Racial identity is a group collective identity based on common heritage with that group.
Emergence of new type of counseling one who has awareness, knowledge and skills to intervene successfully in diverse clients lives.
THE END