An exploration and critical analysis of the role of therapeutic counselling within a multi-cultural society. (original) (raw)
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Challenges and transformations: Counselling in a multicultural context
International Journal for the Advancement of …, 1999
During the last two decades counselling in a multicultural context has been on the increase with more and more training programmes now including issues of race, culture and ethnicity. This has led to numerous approaches, for example transcultural, inter-cultural, crosscultural, multicultural, Afro-centric, anti-racist and black feminist, which define counselling with minority groups. Although many of these approaches have a sound theoretical base, they nevertheless remain marginal in terms of convincing the minority communities of their value and effectiveness. This is clearly seen in the premature termination and lack of participation by minorities in counselling and therapy. The chief criticism against counselling throughout this period is that, it has remained essentially Eurocentric, ethnocentric, and individualistic. Culture-sensitive counsellors and counselling within a 'culture fit' model have been suggested as a way of making the process more appropriate to a diversity of cultures. Furthermore, this has led to some practitioners strongly advocating the inclusion of socioeconomic and political constructs as part of a broader definition of multicultural counselling. For example, the issues of power and influence, cultural hegemony, racism and masculinities are becoming key schemas in cross cultural counselling practices. The challenge for multicultural counselling, in the next decade, would be to include traditional healing practices as part of its discourse, if it is to encourage the active participation of ethnicminorities. This paper is an attempt to explore some of these challenges and highlight some of the transformations that are taking place within multicultural counselling. Finally, through a discussion of a case vignette, the paper illustrates the need to accommodate traditional healing methods in counselling the culturally diverse client.
Different counsellors engage with differences in culture or diversity using various ways depending on their cultural circumstances. How do Malaysian counsellors successfully engage with culture and diversity issues in a cross-cultural counselling process? Informed by a multicultural counselling perspective and drawing on findings from a national survey on multicultural counselling competency among 508 registered counsellors and semi-structured interviews with 12 licensed-practising counsellors in Malaysia, this paper discusses the mechanisms for and stages of engaging with issues on culture and diversity when counselling clients from different cultural backgrounds. Overall results showed that Malaysian counsellors appears to use a systematic and culture-sensitive counselling framework to successfully engage with culture and diversity factors when counselling culturally different clients in the Malaysian context, but the process relied heavily on some necessary qualities: counsellors’ background knowledge and experience, multicultural awareness, knowledge of culture and diversity, deeper understanding about cultures, and multicultural skills. These qualities are the components of multicultural counselling competence and the successful engagement framework reflects how a multiculturally competent counsellor works. Suggestions for better practices and research implications for the education and training of counsellors in Malaysia are also discussed and this leads to the proposed Malaysian-based model for effective cross-cultural counselling process.
An intercultural psychodynamic counselling model: A preventive work proposition for plural societies
Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 2011
The purpose of this study is to present an Intercultural Psychodynamic Model developed by this researcher as the Intercultural Counselling Service in the Psychology Institute at São Paulo University, Brazil. The service was part of the research project ‘Psychosocial intervention in the cultural insertion process’. In order to develop and consolidate the intercultural approach in psychology, the project was based on the tripod teaching, research and intervention each with its own specific objectives. The intercultural approach promotes a broad, dynamic and flexible view of the psychosocial phenomena [Lambert, W. (1980). Introduction to perspectives. In Handbook of cross-cultural psychology. Perspectives, Vol. 1. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.], and considers the human development and human manifestations a result of a dialectical relation between individual and his/her cultural and socio-political contexts [Berry, J., Poortinga, Y., Segall, M., & Dasen, P. (1992). Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press]. The service offers individual, couple, family and group short-term psychotherapy and counselling to immigrants, Brazilian immigrant descents, returned migrants and intercultural preparation workshops to Brazilian who are going to live abroad. Categories such as cultural and ethnic identity, gender roles, intergenerational relationships, transnational social networks, psychological acculturation, acculturation stress and prejudice emerge from the analysis of the session's material, indicating the profound psychological implications of cultural contact. The psychosocial intervention has a primary and secondary preventive attribute. Issues on how countries deal with their own ethnic/racial plurality emerge indicting the need of an intercultural perspective and promotion of culturally effective psychotherapist/professionals in order to guarantee that all peoples be heard and understood as an effective measure of their human rights.
Multicultural Considerations for Counselling First
2010
Despite evidence that First Nations people experience a disproportionate degree of mental health concerns relative to other Canadians, many within this population do not access Western-based mental health services. In this article we extend a socio-political and historical rationale for attending to key cultural differences when working with First Nations clientele. These cultural differences are situated within the three commonly held domains of multicultural competence: self-awareness, knowledge of the other, and therapeutic practice. résumé Bien que les faits démontrent que les membres des Premières nations connaissent un niveau de problèmes de santé mentale hors de proportion par comparaison avec celui des autres Canadiens, plusieurs de leurs membres ne recourent pas à des services de santé mentale de type occidental. Dans le présent article, nous proposons des raisons sociopolitiques et historiques pour tenir compte des différences culturelles clés dans le travail avec la clientèle des Premières nations. Ces différences culturelles se situent dans les trois domaines communément considérés comme relevant du domaine de la compétence multiculturelle : conscience de soi, connaissance de l'autre, et pratique thérapeutique.
Repositioning cross-cultural counseling in a multicultural society
International Social Work, 2000
This article examines the nature and limits of the existing cross-cultural counseling discourses in order to search for a more culturally sensitive cross-cultural counseling approach. The authors pinpoint the inherent cultural deficiencies of the existing modification-based cross-cultural counseling approaches and advocate that the cross-cultural counseling process should be an inter-subjective interaction between the counselors and counselees, both of whom are
Cultural Responsiveness in Counselling and Psychology: An Introduction
Multicultural Responsiveness in Counselling and Psychology
Trailer In this chapter, Susan Sisko talks about the importance of developing a multicultural understanding and responsiveness as counsellors and psychologists. The chapter outlines Australian history and the impacts of colonialism and postcolonialism and how the ongoing effects of how these oppressive practices have informed hierarchical systems and impacted non-dominant individuals and groups. The chapter looks at both significant issues related to oppressive practices and approaches to developing multicultural understanding and responsiveness including decolonising practices, intersectionality frameworks and counsellor reflexivity.
Understanding Cultural Barriers in Counselling Psychology: A personal reflection
In my reflection, it is my concern to know that I am stepping from being conscious awareness to consolidated awareness. I have been working for five years with the perpetrators of domestic violence as well as the survivors in a women’s crisis centre in Indonesia. I am aware that my educational background in psychology has influenced the way I approach the people in the field of applied psychology. In my past experience, I was very confident in using DSM IV to guide me in delivering counselling. I became very easy to determine what adaptive and maladaptive behaviour that may leads to psychopathology and mental health problem. I spent many times with the clients in a counselling room and I felt that I have become a good listener for them. However, the number of discontinued client started to increase. Then I realized that there was a gap of perspective between my knowledge in practical psychology and the belief system of the clients, even though we live in the same culture in Indonesia. It seems that my psychological background has changed me in the way I view my people. I have realized that the history of counselling and psychology were developed in western culture. It seems that the theoretical framework of counselling focus more on the individuals rather than family and community. Healthy personal growth of the person is defined on how far does he or she become independent from the family. It appears that the psychology that I have learned tends to separate a person from his or her family and community by ignoring the historical context and tradition. My counselling sessions have continued to encourage clients to be more assertive, competent and rational. Religion and spirituality are considered as a myth that hampers personal growth. On the other hand, I have realized that my people from collectivist culture live by using the principle of harmony within the family, community and region. Self-identity of the person belongs to the family and community. This principle requires people to avoid direct conflict and have close relationship with other people by avoiding vulgar quarrel, helping one another, having a friendly attitude and also being gentle. The principle of harmony also requires a stance of carefulness in social interaction so that people have to speak slowly, have mild temper and always smile. These gaps, however, have obstructed me to build good relationship in the same wavelength of therapeutic conversation with my clients. In this level, I become fully aware that I need to integrate my knowledge and practical skills in counselling psychology with the multi-cultural issues to build strong relationship with the clients.
The Place of Culture in Counseling: Context, Diversity, and Symbolic Meaning
2022
The professionalism of counseling in Singapore has come a long way since the establishment of Singapore Association for Counseling in 1982 and the Register of Counselors in 2003. This development brings the necessary social legitimacy to counseling as a therapeutic method for alleviating emotional distress. However, counseling in a multicultural society of Singapore can be a challenge. Since culture and social contexts shape the meaning, experience, expression and coping of distress, counselors must be competent in adapting their approaches when working with diverse ethnocultural groups. In this presentation, I argue that the way culture is operationalized in counseling goes beyond the social construct of ethnicity or any demographic variables. It is about recognizing counseling as a symbolic healing system constructed in a specific clinical reality or a mythic world in which the counselor evokes a culturally legitimized myth consistent with the client's explanatory model, and then transforms the client's personal and bodily experience through symbolically meaningful interventions. In this sense, counseling is more concerned with the personal and social meanings that clients attach to their distress in a diverse lifeworld rather than truth.
Critical Issues in Cross-Cultural Counseling Research: Case Example of an Ongoing Project
Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 2003
Cross-cultural counseling practice is characterized by a proliferation of opinions without empirical substantiation. Most research in this area is based on survey or analog studies that do not address practice issues in terms of outcome or actual clinical process. The authors examine issues in crosscultural counseling and research, using illustrations from an ongoing study.