Understanding

Diversity
 • Multicultural counseling “can be operationally defined as the working alliance
between counselor and client that takes the personal dynamics of the
counselor and client into consideration alongside the dynamics found in the
cultures of both of these individuals” (Lee, 2019b, p. 5).

• Effective multicultural counseling defines contextual goals consistent with

the life experiences and cultural values of clients and balances the
importance of individualism versus collectivism in assessment, diagnosis, and
treatment (Sue & Sue, 2016).

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 Your path to becoming a culturally competent helper begins with an exploration
of how your own cultural heritage and values might affect the counseling
process.

Lee (2019b, p.10) describes the conceptual framework of multicultural

counseling competency by addressing three key questions:

1. “Who am I as a cultural being?”

2. “What do I know about cultural dynamics and how they may influence my
client’s worldview?”
3. “How do I promote client mental health and well-being in a culturally
competent manner?

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 The Need for a Multicultural Emphasis
• Adopting a multicultural perspective enables us to think about diversity
without polarizing issues into “right” or “wrong.”

• Depending on the cultural perspective from which a problem is considered,

there can be several appropriate solutions. In some cases, a similar problem
may have very different solutions depending on the client’s culture.

• For example, helpers may encourage some clients to express feelings of

hurt to parents but respect other clients’ practice of restraint in self-
expression so as not to offend their elders.
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 An effective multicultural counselor respects the needs and strengths of
diverse client populations and recognizes the experiences of these
clients.

Helpers, regardless of their cultural background, must be prepared to

deal with the complex differences among individuals from a variety of
groups.

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 Ethical Dimensions in Multicultural Practice
• Most ethics codes mention the practitioner’s responsibility to recognize the
special needs of diverse client populations.

• Discrimination in providing services is often linked to racial and cultural

factors, socioeconomic class, and gender, and discrimination and
misdiagnosis can be due to biased attitudes on the part of practitioners

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 Lack of awareness can lead helpers to engage in unintentional racism,
which can be extremely damaging to clients.

Many people of color are subjected to racial microaggressions: “brief

and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental
indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate
hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults

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 • Google Quest: Find examples of micro aggressions in counseling

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 Overcoming Cultural Tunnel Vision
Cultural tunnel vision is a perception of reality based on a very limited set of cultural experiences

Some may have limited cultural experiences, and in some cases, they see it as their role to transmit
their values to their clients. Some make inappropriate generalizations about a particular group of
clients.

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 • The culturally encapsulated counselor, a concept introduced by Wrenn
(1962, 1985), exhibits the characteristics common to cultural tunnel vision.
Think about how broad your own vision is as you consider these traits of
culturally encapsulated counselors:

• Define reality according to one set of cultural assumptions

• Show insensitivity to cultural variations among individuals
• Accept unreasoned assumptions without proof or ignore proof because that
might disconfirm their assumptions
• Fail to evaluate other viewpoints and make little attempt to accommodate
the behavior of others

• Remain trapped in one way of thinking, resist adaptation, and reject

alternatives

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 Case Study
• Looking through a narrow lens.
Marcia, a school counselor, personally believes that students develop healthier self-esteem
when they engage in sports and have a balanced course load that does not consume too
much time outside of the classroom. Min-jun and his family recently moved to the United
States from South Korea so the children could prepare for admission to a top U.S.
university. During their first meeting, Min-jun informs Marcia that he would like to take a
large number of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and join some academic clubs. He is
not interested in participating in sports as an extracurricular activity. Marcia strongly
discourages Min-jun from taking so many AP courses and suggests that he join the baseball
or soccer team rather than focus so heavily on academic clubs. Min-jun defers to Marcia’s
authority and politely agrees to her recommendations, but he leaves her office feeling
concerned about how well prepared he will be to get into a top university.

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 • Your stance.
If you were in Min-jun’s situation, how might you feel if your school counselor imposed an
agenda on you that did not take your cultural values into consideration? What might you
be inclined to say to Marcia if she was your colleague and you noticed that she was basing
her recommendations largely on her own assumptions and life experiences?

Discussion.
Although Marcia’s intentions are good and her recommendations are meant to help bolster
Min-jun’s self-esteem and promote his development as a well-rounded individual, she is not
taking this student’s cultural context into account. It is important to note that Min-jun’s
family relocated to the United States so that he and his sister could avail themselves of
academic opportunities, which reflects the family’s value on education. Marcia is also failing
to take into account how competitive college admissions have become at top tier
universities where Min-jun plans to apply. Given Min-jun’s respect for authority, it is unlikely
that he will challenge Marcia’s recommendations

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 Examining Your Cultural Assumptions
• Culturally learned basic assumptions, whether we are aware of them or not,
significantly influence the ways in which we perceive and think about reality
and how we act.

• A willingness to examine such assumptions opens doors to seeing others

from their vantage point rather than from a preconceived perspective.

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 • Self-disclosure is highly valued in counseling, and most helpers assume that
no effective helping can occur unless clients reveal themselves in the helping
relationship. One way to facilitate meaningful disclosure on the part of
clients is for helpers to model appropriate self-disclosure.

• https://youtu.be/UbEqEqvrDeY?si=SizNlf8I9cJ02Yf5

• https://youtu.be/W7X7POMiclg?si=xwL-qOXPaNAFx1_v

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 Assumptions about nonverbal behavior.
• Clients can disclose themselves in many nonverbal ways, but cultural
expressions are prone to misinterpretation. Personal space requirements,
eye contact, handshaking, dress, formality of greeting, perspective on time,
and so forth all vary among cultural groups.

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 • You may have been systematically trained in a range of microskills: attending,
open communication, observation, hearing clients accurately, noting and
reflecting feelings, and selecting and structuring, to mention a few (Ivey et al.,
2018).

• Although these behaviors are aimed at creating a positive therapeutic

relationship, individuals from certain ethnic groups may have difficulty
responding positively or understanding the intent of the counselor’s attitudes
and behavior.

• The helper whose confrontational style involves direct eye contact, physical
gestures, and probing personal questions may be seen as offensively
intrusive by clients from some other cultures

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 Multicultural Counseling Competencies
• Sue and his colleagues (1982; Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992) developed
a conceptual framework for multicultural counseling competencies and
standards in three areas.
• The first area deals with the helper’s beliefs and attitudes about race,
culture, gender, and sexual orientation.
• The second dimension involves knowledge and understanding of the
worldview of the helper and specific knowledge of the diverse groups with
whom he or she works.
• The third area deals with skills and intervention strategies needed to serve
diverse client groups.

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 • As a culturally skilled helper, you have the ability to recognize the limits of
your multicultural competency and expertise. It is not realistic to expect that
you will know everything about the cultural background of people with
whom you will work.

• Accept your limitations and to be patient with yourself as you expand your
vision of how your culture continues to influence the person you are today.
It is not helpful to overwhelm yourself with all that you do not know or to
feel guilty over your limitations or parochial views.

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 • The social justice perspective is based on the premise that oppression,
discrimination, privilege, and social inequities do exist and have a negative
impact on the lives of many people from diverse cultural groups.

• Social justice involves access and equity to ensure full participation in the life
of a society, particularly for those who have been systematically excluded on
the basis of race/ethnicity, gender, age, physical or mental disability,
education, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics
of background or group membership.

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 • The social justice perspective reflects a valuing of fairness and equal
treatment for marginalized and devalued individuals and groups of people
who do not share equally in society.

• Counseling practices rooted in social justice aim to challenge inherent

inequities in social systems. Social justice goes beyond raising awareness and
focuses on issues of oppression, privilege, power relations, and social
inequities. Counselors as agents of social change possess the awareness,
knowledge, and skills to intervene, not only at the individual level but also at
the systemic level

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Thank you