Addressing Clients' Prejudices in Counseling - Term Paper Example

Addressing Client Prejudices Background Counsellors who are undergoing professional training are usually encouraged to beconscious of and deliberate on issues that they believe would be challenging for them to arise with counselling during counselling sessions. Although much has changed, the multicultural awareness that most counsellors experience makes it hard for them to work with prejudiced clients. Given that the counselling profession has shifted its focus to a multicultural and social justice prototype, it is critical that the issue of client prejudices be addressed during training (Cormier, Nurius, & Osburn, 2009). This paper discusses the ways on how to address client prejudices during counselling. Ideally, the questions that come up wherever the subject of addressing client prejudices is raised is how counsellors should handle such prejudices and whether the prejudices need to be addressed at all. Over the years, the counselling profession has developed a set of values that touch on awareness, information, rights and repression. Much of the focus has however been placed on how to steer the treatment of culturally diverse clients in an approach that take consideration of their unique viewpoints. Under the precipice of social justice and promotion, counsellors are also expected to address the public, past and political issues that continue to repress others. However, there is limited information that has been offered on how to approach the biases of individuals who may hold influential positions in the society and mostly white clients who might express bias (MacLeod, 2014). Ideally, prejudice is not a widespread presenting issue that would push clients to seek counselling. However, it is not out of the norm for clients to express such values and attitudes in the counselling environment. Naturally, all people are cultural beings that possess distinctive values, and this means that histories, worldviews, racism and prejudice all affect people in one way or another. Counsellors are taught to operate within the worldview that the client has and social justice upholds that people have to operate within the parameters of a conceptual framework of how repression at personal, societal and institutional levels can have an effect on individual growth and development. What this means is that addressing the prejudices that clients bring to counselling is critical since it addresses the aspects of their worldview (Constantine, 2007). In multicultural counselling and societal justice learning, counsellors are usually exposed to information that can aid culturally varied and repressed clients, even as the counsellors concentrate on perceptions of their own bias experiences and culture. Naturally, culturally diverse individuals can also demonstrate prejudice and stereotypes towards other people outside their group but these prejudices might have different meanings and intonations. In most cases, the interventions that can be used to address this issue in one group can also be applied successfully to other situations (Constantine, 2007). Relevance of Addressing Prejudice Ethically, counsellors are supposed to respect the worldview that a client has by adopting a non-judgmental stance at all times. This means that counsellors are supposed to operate within the parameters of social justice and advocacy. As with all the other existing ethical dilemmas, there are numerous ways to deal with this situation but there is hardly a clearly articulated way to act. One probable way of approach is to desist from tackling the client’s remarks in treatment. However, ignoring the comments could give way to agreeing with the client’s attitudes and upholding the status quo of repression. The client could also get the idea that it is acceptable to steer away from uncomfortable discussions. Ideally, a counsellor who has strong negative feeling towards the beliefs and values that his client has but does not raise the issue might become resentful and critical towards the client thus creating a stalemate in counselling (American Counselling Association, 2005). On the other hand, numerous consequences could arise if a counsellor indeed decides to address a client’s racist comments and beliefs. For example, the manner in which the client chooses to address the concerns might shame the client especially if such a client is conscious of the negative implications of being viewed as racist. The environment of therapy, the counsellor-client involvement and the manner in which the client brings forth these beliefs are critical concerns. If for example a gay counsellor encounters a homophobic client during counselling, the counsellor would have to consider who would benefit from the situation before deciding on whether to disclose that he identifies as gay to the client (Cannon, 2008). As the minimum, counsellors should accord their clients the liberty to air their ethnic and prejudicial issues within the perspective of their individual worldviews and experiences. Before making the decision to intervene in situations that have to do with client prejudices, counsellors should take into account various things. One of the things that the counsellor should take into account is the client’s objectives and how prejudice is tied to these goals. The counsellor is also supposed to review the client’s racial identity as well as the role that the stereotypes and biases play in the client’s life. It is also critical for the counsellor to reflect on how the racist remarks are tied to cultural racism as well as take into perspective the cultural values and forces that uphold these beliefs. It is also important to identify the cultural strengths that the client can adopt to stop depending on these prejudices (Consoli, Kim, & Meyer, 2008). Possible Interventions Just in the same manner as it is for counselling with numerous other issues, it is not always practicable to anticipate that prejudiced clients will resolve all their issues. Majority of the transformation in the area of prejudice is dependent on the factors that have been deliberated as well as on the level in which clients are willing to transform this facet of themselves. Although not as significant, it is imperative to create an awareness of the origins and roles of the prejudicial attitudes among clients as a means of better comprehending their presenting concerns. This is significant since it can aid counsellors in creating ideal interventions that that are capable of addressing clients’ concerns and perhaps help them to be conscious about their prejudices (Consoli, Kim, & Meyer, 2008). In the case of prejudice among White clients, the ideal way to intellectualize such bias would be using the Janet Helms White ethnic personality improvement model. The concept of a white personality centres predominantly on the effects of having undeserved, ethnic-based power and benefit with the ability to repress others who do not enjoy the same benefits. In most cases, this model focuses on the conversion from a state where one is not conscious of their White racial background to consciousness and assimilation of their Whiteness into other areas of identity by surrendering power and valuing dissimilarities. Naturally, the developmental status of a client will influence how the client perceives other tribes as well as the association that the client has with different races (Urban, & Orbe, M. 2010). In order to be able to help the client, it is critical for the counsellor to first understand their history with discrimination. Doing this helps the client to connect their own experiences and negative feelings with the experiences of other people who are discriminated upon. This gives the client room to create empathy and contemplation for other people. Apart from this, a counsellor who takes time to comprehend the deeper meaning of a client’s prejudicial comments can fashion interventions in a batter way to address the central concern so that the client does not have to depend on maladaptive coping approaches. However, for this to be possible it is critical that the counsellor and the client agree on how to agree on the existing prejudices (Urban, & Orbe, M. 2010). Counsellor Considerations Bringing up the subject of bias and consideration can be challenging for clients and counsellors. There is need for counsellors to first establish a strong therapeutic connection with their clients in order to create trust and avert humiliation. There is also need for counsellors to understand why and how they react or do not respond to the ideals of their clients so that they can evade responding in a manner that address their own needs instead of the that of the person who is supposed to benefit from the counselling. For this reason, it is critical for counsellors to be conscious about their own experiences and outlooks towards prejudices (Sue, 2008). Counsellors who are not comfortable with this topic might steer away from it or reject its significance to the client’s concerns. Negative effects such as remorse, irritation, or identification with the values that a client has may blind the counsellor to the needs of the client and therefore make the prescribed interventions inappropriate. In addressing the subject of white prejudice, counsellors who are not totally at ease with their own white identity may involuntarily distance themselves from the client in a bid to evade White guilt and to avoid being seen as racist. The manner in which a counsellor responds to the ideals held by a client has a great impact on the efficiency of counselling. For this reason, it is critical for counsellors to keep their own reactions in check and always ensure that their self-awareness is intact if they are to meet the needs of their clients (Sue, 2008). In most cases, counsellors operate with critical aspects of their clients such as perceptions, principles and viewpoint. The biggest concern among counsellors is on how to deal with client concerns that clash with their own. Ideally, if clients are aware of the possible challenges that may arise from their association with counselling, they will be better placed to react and intervene in ideal ways. Burning topics such as racism and prejudice can be particularly challenging for counsellors who value the principles of multicultural awareness as well as social justice in their individual and professional lives thus making it hard for them to respond in a therapeutic manner. Despite this observation, counsellors are still supposed to respect their clients values at all times. However, this does not imply that such values cannot be addressing in a supportive manner during counselling sessions (Sue, 2008). References American Counselling Association (2005). Code of Ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author. Cannon, E. (2008). Promoting moral reasoning and multicultural competence during internship. Journal of Moral Education, 37(4), 503-518. Consoli, A., Kim, B., & Meyer, D. (2008). Counsellors values profile: Implications for counselling ethnic minority clients. Counselling and Values, 52 (3): 181-197. Constantine, M. (2007). Racial micro aggressions against African American clients in cross racial counselling relationships. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 54(1), 1-16. Cormier, S., Nurius, P., & Osburn, C. (2009). Interviewing and Change Strategies for Helpers. Pacific Grove: Brookes/Cole. MacLeod, B. (2014).Social Justice at the Microlevel: Working with Clients’ Prejudices. Journal of Multicultural Counselling and Development 46 (3): 106-119. Sue, D. (2008). Whiteness and ethnocentric monoculturalism: Making the invisible visible. American Psychologist, 59 (8), 761-769. Urban, E., & Orbe, M. (2010). Identity gaps of contemporary U.S. immigrants: Acknowledging divergent communicative experiences. Communication Studies, 61, 304-320. Read More