On Tuesday, April 17, Bria Marcelo gave a training to student leaders about bias awareness. Marcelo works in the Chief Diversity Office and serves as the Director of Diversity Resources. I chose to attend as an opportunity to see how students are being taught about bias, to educate myself, and to also examine bias training from a supervisor point of view. This paper examines how the training relates to the Multicultural Change Intervention Matrix, themes of first-order change, and increasing multicultural competence. The Multicultural Change Intervention Matrix (MCIM), was designed to, “assist student affairs practitioners in conceptualizing and planning their multicultural interventions” (Pope et al., 2014, pg. 29).
AMCD Multicultural Counseling Competencies The AMCD has made its own guidelines for mental health counselors to be more culturally competent when they practice. There are 3 section for the guidelines which are making sure the counselor is aware of their own biases, second the counselor has to develop an awareness of the client’s views, and finally the counselor needs to have appropriate strategies for intervention when dealing with multicultural clients. These guidelines can be found in the AMCD (Multicultural Counseling Competencies, 1996). Counselors are urged to explore themselves on a deeper level.
Psychotherapy Presenting Concerns and Utilization Trends of Latino-American and International Latino Students in a University Counseling Center Every year, millions of young adults seek out higher education through full time attendance in a college or university setting (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). The number of students who seek out higher education has increased in recent years, as half of the young adult population is enrolled in some type of college or university (Snyder & Dillow, 2012). However, with the increase of students attending college, the demand for accessible mental health services has grown. Students are showing a nine percent rate of utilization within college counseling centers, a number that has remained steady since 2004 (Kim, Park, La, Chang, & Zane, 2015; Gallagher, 2005).
Only 10% of the Latino and Hispanic population in the U.S. contacted a mental health care provider this past year. In order to reach this underserved community, counseling as a field has to work diligently to provide linguistically and culturally competent providers (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2016). Recommended solution In order to increase the amount of bilingual counselors, more Spanish speaking individuals need to be encouraged to pursue advanced mental health care degrees (Trepal, et al., 2014). Counselors who want to offer bilingual services should pursue bilingual supervision, enroll in cultural classes, and seek training regarding bilingual therapy and counseling.
Is cultural competence more important than counseling competence (Sue text and lecture notes)? I believe that cultural competence and counseling competence go hand in hand. You can not experience counseling competence without being culturally competent. I do not believe that we can be unbiased as counselors but being aware of our bias is important in regards to cultural competence.
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).
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.
Background of Respondents The participants in this research study are between the age of 19 and 22. Three are non-Hispanic white, one is African American, one is Asian Latina (racially mixed), and three are Asian Americans. They are Loyola undergraduate students, or, recent graduates of the university (participant F). Three Asian Americans are second generation, except for participant D (see Appendix for reference), who is 1.5.
Multicultural Issues in Human Services Culture comprises things unique to a group, like their language, religion, food, social norms, music, and the arts. Humans have certain biological traits that allow societies to have various backgrounds. People can pass on their traditions and beliefs as a culture. People in the community create and maintain a culture, and society preserves and perpetuates that culture.
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
The model minority myth describes Asian Americans as the ideal racial minority based on their perceived achievement as a group – high incomes, good education, and low crime rates. While the model minority myth may seem positive at surface level, it can create many problems for Asian American students. These students may be overlooked for receiving individual assistance, may be unfairly stereotyped, and may resist seeking help when they need it. The model minority myth also creates tension between Asian Americans and other minority groups – who may feel that Asian Americans receive significant advantages over their own group. Educators can work to create supportive and inclusive school environments by educating themselves about the model minority myth and working to eradicate their own biases.
Read the The Boston Globe. They recently revealed that college counselors have witnessed students having higher admission success into colleges when they purposely “appear less Asian”, causing a new trend to “deemphasize Asianess” on applications. And though it is sad, it is true. Including and excluding race is often an abundantly used tool in the “soul-deadening process” of college admissions.
The Role of Sin & Shalom in Multicultural Counseling As a Christian, it is believed the creator of all things and the giver of life is the Almighty God. For the Bible states, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…” (Genesis 1:31 New International Version). Along with the heavens, earth, mankind and all of living things being wonderfully made, order was also created, which cultivated a dynamic combination of a perfect harmony called shalom.
Multicultural Education: Theory and Application For the purpose of this study, Multicultural Education as conceptualized by Banks (1984) and complimented by Campinha-Bacote’s Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Healthcare, partially forms the theoretical framework. Banks identified the following five concepts as dimensions of multicultural education: Content Integration, Knowledge Construction, Equity Pedagogy, Prejudice Reduction, and an Empowering School Culture and Social Structure. According to Banks (1993), the many passionate debates on multicultural education generally obscured the theory, research, and growing consensus among multicultural education specialists about its nature, aims, and scope and a significant gap
Understanding someone is a truly frustrating process to go through because it’s hard to genuinely get to know the person on the level of our own satisfaction. Likewise, it’s never a linear pathway but clustered doors after doors without an actual room pointing out the “last room”, because there isn’t one. Indeed, the number of multicultural families are increasing rapidly, and speaking about the appropriate counseling and education, it does take a great role on shaping individual’s belief and them as a part of the society. Therefore, three major concerns they would most likely deal with are cultural differences, social status, and language communications. Cultural clashes create misunderstanding that may lead to discrimination against race/ethnicity,
