Multiculturalism In Counselling

The focus on multiculturalism in counseling has come a long way since the beginning of the profession. During the start of the profession the focus was not on multiculturalism at all, the concept was nonexistent. However, this all began to change in the 60s due to a combination of events. It was identified as an issue by author Wrenn, that multiculturalism was excluded from the code of ethics on top of this we had the civil and women’s rights movements. These events created a focus on multiculturalism that had never been there before. During this time, the ACA provided an update, however, still multiculturalism was only partial focused on. In 1995, the code of ethics finally had a revision that provided a significant focus on multiculturalism.

These three concepts include self-awareness, knowledge, and skills. Self-awareness is understanding one’s own self and the values and beliefs and how these may or may not impact you in the counselling relationship. It is important to never assume anything about a culture, practicing self-awareness can help you avoid doing this. It can also help because when you practice self-awareness you are able to reflect on any negative beliefs that you may have a about a culture, and from there you can work on changing those beliefs. Next key issue, is having knowledge about various cultures, while it would be impossible to know or learn everything about every culture it is good to have a basic understanding of the culture in which your client may be from. The last key issue, is knowledge. It is important to have knowledge about which therapeutic approaches may or may not work with a culture. Not all therapeutic approaches will work across the board. It is also key to remember that just because one approach worked with a client from one culture, doesn’t mean it would work with another client of the same culture. It is important to learn from the client about their culture, and where they stand within their

This document is something that clients should be given prior to entering the counseling relationship, so that the client is able to understand and to make an informed decision on to continue or not. There are a few issues with informed consent. One of these issues has to do with mandated/court ordered clients. When working with these types of clients it is important to include in their informed consent that information will be shared with an outside party and what may be the consequences if they choose to not follow through with counseling as mandated. Another issue around informed consent is that depending on the setting in which clients are seen, informed consent documents are grouped in with other intake paperwork that the client will sign. It maybe that while the client signed the document they didn’t read the document. It is important for the counselor to take a moment at the start of the session to review the document with the client and document that they have done so in the client’s