Therapeutic Techniques for Multicultural Counseling - Research Paper Example

Therapeutic Techniques for Multicultural Counseling Abstract The central thesis of this paper is to focus on multicultural counseling and the increased need for counselors and therapist to become competent in working with people of color. The population in the United States has become racially and ethnically diverse. This paper will discuss the need for greater attention to cultural influences and minority cultures in the field of therapeutic techniques such as Narrative therapy, Reality therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy and Brief Therapy. This paper will focus on the similarities and differences between various cultures and the need for therapeutic techniques. The use of different therapeutic techniques enhances the counselor’s effectiveness as well as the professional’s ability to address diverse populations. Goals for multicultural counseling will vary depending on how the culture is defined and also by the individual’s values regarding diverse populations. Ethnic and minority cultures and concerns are emphasized, with special consideration given to age, religion status, gender, sexual orientation and disability. Counselors will use several techniques to assist the client in becoming aware of self, values and biases; counselors becoming aware of the clients’ worldview. Data will be provided to indicate the need for counselor to improve multicultural competencies as it relates to the cultural diversity. Suggestions will be presented for integrating cultural concerns and addressing cultural influences with diverse clients. Therapeutic Techniques for Multicultural Counseling Counseling is one of the few services provided for by psychotherapists in order to help people enhance their personal and interpersonal functioning [Lop05]. This kind of activity is able to address the emotional, social, behavioral, vocational, educational, developmental, and health-related concerns of the person, which could help in the added life balance needed for the proper functioning of the individual. Also, aside from being a service for mentally-apt people, counseling is also used as an additional treatment method to help patients that have mental health issues, which are mostly unable to be treated solely by drugs [Pau02]. Because of the numerous evidences that support the biological basis of neurological and psychological disorders, by making these kinds of information available to psychotherapists, they are able to apply the cognitive interventions that would be able to provide the best possible results [Mak12]. These things make counseling an important part in keeping the lives of people as balanced as possible, which reflects the overall image of their society in general. Although counseling has been a relatively recent phenomenon, its goals mostly stemmed from the needs of various people and occupations to become better in their own chosen field. However, what makes it distinct from other forms of human services such as pure psychotherapy and consultation is that there is a distinct, deliberate and conscious helping relationship between the person who counsels and the person that is under counseling. In psychotherapy for example, the interventions are much more focused on the subconscious processes of the person, and in consultations, there is an indirect applications of the methods by the consultant, done mostly through the person that asked for advices [Lop05]. Thus, under counseling, aside from the counselor and the counselee having an interactive relationship, there is also the growth and development of the latter with regards to heeding the advices of the former, that which brings upon the further advancement of the life aspect which the counselee needs to have worked out. While most methods of counseling are able to address the social and psychological needs of most of its patients, its greater applicability among various populations has been challenged, mainly due to the increase in the influx of people from various traditions and cultures [Sue11]. The effectiveness of the therapeutic and the counseling methods are usually dependent on whether the counselor and the counselee are able to reconcile their values and beliefs, thus the methods being applied by the psychologist must also be suited to the needs of the client patient. However, it was observed that with the shifting of the populations, the counseling psychologist is unable to create a connection with some clients, especially from people that came from different cultures [Mac02]. The increase in the cultural diversity of the United States during the past century has been the driving force in the development of new methods in counseling, which up until the 1970’s have been mostly catering to the needs of only selected members of the population, which were mostly those of Anglo descent [Rid03]. Thus, the applicability of the universality-accepted theories on counseling has been challenged, and the rise of multicultural-oriented counseling became an upcoming method to address such changes in the populations. The Need for Multicultural-Oriented Counseling The rise in the cultural diversity of the people living in the US was one of the driving forces to establish a new method of psychoanalysis and counseling, especially since the prevailing methods were mostly addressing those from European and Anglo descent [Rid03]. Multicultural-oriented counseling evolved from the call to include people of color in the counseling and psychoanalytic processes, and it is a relatively new method that addresses the needs of people from different cultural backgrounds. It was developed and advocated by Derald Wing Sue, a psychologist whose roots came from a foreign ethnic background [Ver03]. Sue saw the need to be much more open and culturally-sensitive, especially when dealing with people from other countries or cultures that also needed counseling. By establishing multicultural counseling as a method by which the individuality and identity of the individual with regards to culturally-specific issues, it is able to advocate the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of the client and client systems in terms of the cultures and traditions that are important to them [Sue11]. During the Vail Conference of 1973, discussions regarding the relationship between psychological practices and cultural diversities were opened for debates, which further strengthened the need to create a new type of counseling that is able to allow much more open communications between the counselor and the counselee [Rid03]. The importance of such needs were given additional emphasis by Sue and his colleagues when it was found out that the breakdown of an open communication and the inability of the counselor to communicate culturally to the clients resulted in the ineffectiveness of the counseling sessions and the feeling of being oppressed by the clients, especially when they came from different cultural backgrounds [Dar04]. Thus, it became a must that counselors must also be able to focus on their clients with various traditional backgrounds not just to make the counseling sessions productive, but also to make their clients feel that they are understood by the counselors, which is essential in making connections between the counselor and the client. Aside from the awareness of other cultures, there is also a racial or an ethnic identity development process that needs to be developed, especially to the individuals that were caught in between living under the traditions of their ancestors, and imbibing the mainstream culture of the place that they live in. It is essential that counselors are fully aware of their own identities as well as being able to have a sense of identification and belonging to their own group, so that they themselves would be secure in their own, and in turn would be able to provide successful interventions to others as well, especially to counselees with issues stemming from their lack of full awareness of their own identity [Cha12]. Also, the ability to be culturally sensitive to clients is linked strongly to the effectiveness of the counselor in making their clients feel secure and trusting, which is why it is a must that psychologists and counselors are taught how to be much more culturally inclusive when dealing with patients of color. Goals for Achieving Successful Multicultural-Oriented Counseling The concept of multicultural-oriented counseling, which was formerly known as cross-cultural counseling was borne out of the need to address the concerns that people of color, members of the minority groups, as well as the people with gender issues [Rid03]. Based on such concerns, it can be deduced that instead of the universality of the core concepts of counseling, the idea of cultural relativism must also be taken into account when dealing with people from multiple cultures [Sue11]. Also, there are concerns regarding the dual nature of multicultural counseling: it can either be inclusive or exclusive with respect to the counselor and the counselee. In order to achieve the goal of being culturally open to various traditions, by being able to accept their validity in the terms seen by the clients, as well as accepting the fact that many cultures would not be as flexible to accept ideas beyond their own, the counselor would be much open to the various possible situations that each of their clients might open up to them, and at the same time exuding a much more open-mindedness, which is necessary to make multicultural counseling approaches work. While the implementation of multicultural counseling is seemingly easy due to its relevance in today’s society, many issues regarding the implementation of such culturally-sensitive methods of counseling have surfaced. Among these are the issues of faulty assumptions, like the assumption that in order to become a successful multicultural counselor, there must be full knowledge of the techniques, practices, skills, as well as information in psychotherapy [Pat04]. However, being much more culturally-sensitive of the patients, having sufficient knowledge in their ways of thinking, as well as exuding a genuine caring and supportive approach when dealing with them would give much more positive results in the counseling sessions. This assumption alone means that as long as the counselors were able to provide an effective, therapeutic relationship with the clients, there would be no need to change the methods of counseling to suit the needs of a growing numbers of a diverse population [Pat04]. Despite such assumptions, it still failed to increase the multicultural counseling competency of many psychologists, and such results emphasized the need to have full knowledge of how to implement successful multicultural counseling methods. Methods of implementing multicultural counseling can be very tricky, especially when there is not much background regarding such subject. Also, if the counselor has not been exposed to other cultures, he or she may have a tendency to get blinded from the viewpoints of the client, or patient [Bea01]. Thus, the major goal to be able to successfully implement the methods of multicultural counseling is to bridge the gap between the earlier methods of counseling and the needs of people that came from different cultural backgrounds to have their own psychological issues given attention to [Ver03]. Such goals do not differ from those in the behavioral methods that came from European counseling methods, which aim to improve the well-being of people [Pau02]. But by being able to comprehend the cultural and traditional basis of the behaviors of the clients, the counselors can have a greater capacity to understand how the minds of the clients work, enabling them to give sound suggestions that would not be taken lightly or ignored. The Uniqueness of Multicultural Counseling Methods The previously-universally-accepted counseling methods (based from European models) as well as multicultural counseling methods were both created in the hopes of creating the growth and development of the people that need such human services [Lop05]. However, what sets the two methods apart is that the multicultural method of counseling is much more inclusive with regards to the people that it is able to cater, while the European model of counseling is much more focused on the stereotypical European male [Mac02]. In addition to the inclusivity, multicultural counseling was also conceptualized as a necessary method that would be increasingly useful as the numbers of culturally-diverse citizens continue to thrive in the country [Lop05]. Thus, certain methods and competencies with regards to implementing multicultural counseling were devised to address the needs of the intended clients. Certain additional competencies are given emphasis in the implementation of multicultural counseling, aside from the prevailing counseling methods being taught to most counselors and psychologists. Three competencies are deemed to be important in the effectiveness of multicultural counseling: beliefs, attitudes, and biases with regards to the mindset of the counselors about the ethnic and racial minorities; knowledge and understanding of the personal world view of counselors, as well as their specific knowledge of the different cultural groups and their cross-cultural relationships; and skills which are necessary in working with racial and ethnic minorities (Sue et al., 1982, as cited in Lopez & Rasmussen, 2005). It is important that such competencies are instilled early on so that counselors and psychologists would not be easily affected and interfered by their own personal biases whenever they go work with their multicultural clients [Sue11]. Also, this would allow the clients to become much more open in expressing their thoughts and feelings, since they have gained the capacity to connect with their counselors through trust and support [Pau02]. Another unique trait of multicultural counseling as compared to traditional methods is that it is a highly inclusive method of counseling, wherein aside from putting focus on the individual, other systems that interact with the individual are also given attention to [Sue11]. For example, in some cultures that has a strong focus on the family as a unit, by implementing a method of family counseling, not only is the counselor able to bring up the issues within the individual, but essentially, the whole system that surrounds the individual, that is, the family is also taken into account [Bea01]. This shows the inclusivity of the method itself, which makes it a better option with regards to addressing the specific needs of the multicultural counseling client. Techniques Used in Counseling Different Cultures Many therapeutic techniques that are implemented in traditional counseling are also used in multicultural counseling. However, because of the singular approaches being done when using the traditional and European model-based counseling methods, it is rather difficult to implement them as they are tailored to just one kind of culture [Rid03]. Thus, it is important that when it comes to counseling the culturally-diverse, several methods as well s the combinations of these are used for maximum benefits. Among these techniques are behavioral, cognitive, systemic, and eclectic approaches to promote the improvement of the client’s overall well-being [Lop05]. Other techniques such as narrative therapy, reality therapy, solution-focused therapy, and brief therapy were known to give positive results for addressing the needs of people from various cultures. Also, aside from using the various techniques of counseling, there are also methods that need to work with other sources of care, like consulting external sources to give the sessions a much more rounded approach [Rid11]. The integration of the different therapeutic techniques would be effective in reaching out to the patients, as well as making them feel that they are truly being helped, especially since the most effective methods for them would be taken into consideration by their respective counselors. Apart from the methods, the age, gender, and race of the client are also taken into consideration when implementing multicultural counseling. The attitudes of counselors with regards to these three client factors must be done in the most egalitarian way as possible, so as to further implement counseling addressed to a wider range of audiences [Cha12]. This is most relevant for school counselors, especially those that have a lot of exposure not just to students that came from various ethnic groups and different cultural backgrounds, but also to students that express other non-traditional gender roles, such as students of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ), of which most are susceptible to awkward social situations and identity confusion [Bid12]. By being sensitive to the uniqueness of their situations, these students can be given counseling that does not admonish them, but instead empowers them and their diversity, especially when being pressured by their peers or being bullied to conformity. The most noted and well-mentioned counseling method that is implemented by multicultural counselors is the narrative approach. This is a kind of approach that gives the patient client much more control on what information is given to the counselor, since the main focus would be more on the client’s experiences, and the solutions that would be given by the counselors would be according to the needs of the client. Many accounts of it being effective were published due to its positive effects to counseling clients. For example, in addressing the needs of family-oriented cultures such as the Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans, this kind of therapeutic method is much welcomed due to it being able to help the counselors to have their clients actively participate in the therapeutic process, instead of being passive [Ker02]. Also, by allowing the clients to recall the events that happened to them, they are better able to relate their own personal experiences in a way that makes it much more understandable and coherent for their counselor. This is very much important when some members of the party being counseled have difficulty expressing themselves due to language barriers and age gaps [Sue11]. By allowing the clients to express themselves, they would feel a lesser need to close themselves to therapists, and at the same time the therapists would be able to have a glimpse of the mindset of the patient based on their responses. In relation to narrative approaches in therapy, the integration of self-examination methods such as reality therapy as well as solution-based methods of therapy are essential in helping the clients to identify their specific problems that are needed to be addressed, and at the same time being aware of the importance of keeping up with the methods being described by the respective counselors [Sem01]. This allows for the clients to reduce their biases in terms of seeing their problems, as well as gaining an additional perspective in handling them. While there is no single therapeutic method that would be able to address the problems being presented by multicultural clients, the counselors would be able to combine several methods as necessary in the most effective way possible, with respect to the cultural background of the client. This would make them and their therapeutic methods even more culturally-sensitive, as compared to just relying on a single method alone [Sue11]. Effects of the Implementation of Multicultural Counseling Methods It is expected that the implementation of multicultural methods would be able to open up the field of psychology in exploring the mindset of people from different cultures, which makes it seem to merge with the field of sociology. However, it is also necessary that in order to make this happen, the people from various cultural backgrounds must also be aware that it is possible to have their problems addressed through therapy and counseling, and help them shake off the idea that they are excluded from this field due to inapplicability of the traditional counseling methods [Rid03]. The implications of successful counseling to people from various cultures is that they would have greater trust for people of authority, much more open communication with people from other cultures, as well as being able to raise their expectations towards themselves as well as others [Ing05]. Such things are most especially observable in the school settings of children from cross-cultural backgrounds. For the therapists and counselors, the proper execution of multicultural counseling has much greater significance, especially now that there is an increase in the cultural diversity not just in the US, but also in many parts of the globe. They must also be prepared in having high levels of multicultural competence because it is expected that in the next half-century, the numbers of people from different ethnic groups would have increased exponentially, and with such increase would be the added need to have their psychological balance met or retained [Sue11]. It is thus expected that by being aware of the importance of the properly carrying out counseling for the multicultural clients, as well as being able to execute them, psychotherapists and counselors would see the results of their efforts in making their job as inclusive of others as they can, which helps them extend their human services to more people who need them. Conclusions Due to the need to increase the focus on multicultural counseling, the need for counselors and therapists to become competent in working with people of color has also dramatically increased. This can be attributed to the population in the United States that has become racially and ethnically diverse. However, because the predominant and traditionally-linked methods of therapy and counseling are not much applicable to the other needs of the culturally-diverse members of the population, the importance of implementing multicultural counseling becomes relevant. The similarities and differences between various cultures and the need for the combination of several therapeutic techniques were also shown, as well as the implications of doing such methods. The use of different therapeutic techniques increases the counselors’ effectiveness as well as their professional ability to address diverse populations. Due to the diversity of the cultures that need to be addressed, the main goals for multicultural counseling would vary depending on what culture is defined, as well as the individual’s values regarding diverse populations. Aside from the emphasis on the ethnic and minority cultures, other concerns such as giving special consideration to the age, religion status, gender, sexual orientation and disability of the clients are also given additional importance. Counselors will need to use several techniques to assist the client in becoming aware of self, values and biases, and at the same time the need for counselors to become aware of their clients’ worldview would also come into play. While initially the introduction of multicultural counseling was received with mixed reactions, its importance in an increasingly diverse population is now being seen. Thus, while the traditional counseling approaches might still be relevant after several years, it is also essential that psychologists, psychotherapists, and counselors become aware of the need to also focus in being multi-culturally competent, not just because of the increasing awareness of people from different cultural and ethnic groups, but also to stay true to their profession of mediating the growth and development, as well as the psychological balances of their clients, regardless of what their cultural backgrounds are. 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