Cultural Competence, Diversity and Practice When the topic of cultural diversity is discussed, this includes factors such as a client’s age, gender, sexual preference, spiritual beliefs, socioeconomic status, geographic location, physical and mental capacities (Davis, McPhail, Wiest, & Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 1995). To me, the idea of cultural competency is not a skill one simply learns and then adds to his or her tool kit; it is an ongoing process. This involves not only staff development, but self-assessment as well. Cultural competence involves considering minority viewpoints and expanding one’s own perceptions and worldview, the truth is that all counselors have cultural blind spots (Davis, et al., 1995). I also believe the …show more content…
I have discovered much about myself, and some of the longstanding, unchallenged preconceptions I once held and had little thought about until faced with real-world circumstances. Since working in the field, I have learned that I was not as bias-free as I had imagined, and many if not most of my erroneous thinking was automatic or knee-jerk responses, and deep-seated indeed. I have mentioned it elsewhere, but one of the lessons I have learned is that all groups of diverse people are diverse themselves, even within their population. People from diverse populations face barriers to treatment that may not be readily considered. These include barriers to availability, accessibility, and the use of high-quality care (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2015). Another poignant reality is that the gap between research and practice is wider for minorities; no specific analyses have been done in any controlled clinical trials for developing treatment guidelines for minority populations (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment,