The Practice of Contra-Discriminatory has not Endorsed - Assignment Example

Social context of helping Name: Institution: Date: Introduction Social class simply means a group of individuals whose level of wealth, power, and status are related. Social class is categorized into four major divisions. First is the lower class. This class is characterized by poverty, unemployment, and homelessness. Majority of individuals in this class do not acquire medical care, sufficient housing and food, respectable clothing, security, and professional training. Second is the working class. This class is symbolized with people who are modestly educated and engage in manual labor. They may have little or no reputation. Their jobs are typically more physically demanding. The third category is the middle class. They are divided according to their education, and wealth. The last category is the upper class. These people are extremely rich. They also have a great influence both locally and globally. This context demonstrates how social classes influence counseling. Diversity and equality is becoming more essential in every aspect of our lives and work (Lago & Smith, 2003). We dwell in a progressively more diverse society and need to react appropriately and thoughtfully to this diversity. There are four main social classes in the society. The classes are the lower class, the working class, the middle class, and the upper class. The class into which individuals are born influence their language, interests, and diet. This will therefore influence the way they recognize the social world. Furthermore, social class affects what pressures and chances people will face and hence influence what paths their lives are expected to take, these includes schooling, profession, marriage, and the standard of living. There are different approaches to managing diversity and equality in the society. These approaches include the class power whereby an individual becomes potentially more powerful because of his access to material wealth (Lago & Smith, 2003). The other approach is the social power whereby an individual is respected because of the power he posses over others. Social class also influences individual’s culture, and self-worth. The culture of poverty perception argues that people who are poor have a unique set of beliefs, norms, and values that affect their lifestyle and upholds their poverty (Lago, 2005). Although there is a known perspective that homelessness is a result of mental illness, homelessness is chiefly a result of institutional aspects like the nationwide decline in affordable shelter, zoning laws which bars multiple-family shelter in neighborhoods that have high income, and monetary forces which make it hard for family members to give support to their relatives who are homeless (Lago, 2005). The poor are much more expected than more wealthy people to be in poor health, to spend a lot of time in the hospital, to get poor medical treatment, and to get lower life expectancies. Poor nutrition is a frequent health problem because poverty influences the quality and quantity of available food. Poverty also influences the ability of children to get the quality of education they require to experience rising mobility as compared to the affluent families. The social classes in society affect counseling. For this reason, various factors should be considered when managing diversity and equality in counseling. Multicultural skill is essential and involves the dimensions of knowledge of an individual’s own attitudes and beliefs, understanding regarding cultural differences and competence in working with various groups (Feltham & Horton, 2005). Multicultural counseling needs the acknowledgment of the significance of: ethnic group attachment on the client’s socialization; the significance of and the uniqueness of the person; the availability of and place of values in the process of counseling; and the uniqueness of learning patterns, professional goals, and life intentions of clients, in the context of ethics of democratic social fairness (Feltham & Horton, 2005). Issues of diversity and equality are critical when providing services to the client. The counselor’s culture is important. This is because they need to understand their own cultural heritage and world analysis before understanding and helping other people (Lago, 2005). This understanding involves an awareness of an individual’s philosophies of life and capacities, an appreciation of different organizations of reasoning, and skill of their effects on helping and communication approach. Lack of this understanding might deter effective intervention. The counselor needs to understand the client’s culture. Recognizing cultural diversity, appreciating the worth of the culture and implementing it to assist the client is important because the issues of biases will be limited (Lago, 2005). It is also important to recognize individual differences. Individual clients are controlled by race, social class, and ethnicity. Counselors need to view the uniqueness and development of ethnically diverse people in terms of numerous interactive issues, rather than a strictly cultural and social class framework. There are various counseling theories and practices. Some of which include core conditions and the integrative approach. Integrative approach is the design of incorporating every aspect or a number of aspects of various different schools of thought to enhance wellness (Corey, 2009). Criticism is that this design of integrative counseling means that there are no assembled models that suit any practitioner entirely. Therefore, the challenge is to adapt a counseling approach that is personalized for every practitioner. The other approach of counseling is core condition whereby individuals become progressively more dependable the moment they feel that their personal experience is both appreciated and increasingly understood (Corey, 2009). The criticism of this is that the process of self-actualization may be hard to achieve in many people considering the fact that societies are skewed into social classes. Core condition as a counseling approach has an advantage. This approach uses lively listening and helps in creating the counselor / client relationship. In itself, self-actualization can be achieved. The client is able to have a one on one discussion with the counselor (Corey, 2012). The disadvantage of this approach is that the process of self-actualization may seem too hard to attain. The advantage of using integrative approach is that it uses a team of counselors to offer counseling to the client’s need. Interventions are chosen, adapted, and united for the needs of the client. The disadvantage is that biases may arise regarding to the social class of the client. Conclusion There are various policies and practices addressing issues of diversity, equality, and access. The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) encourages an active commitment with difference and hence seeks to offer a structure for the vocation of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic analysis that permits competing and different thoughts and perceptions on what it is to be human; to be respected, considered, and valued in terms of socio-economic class, heritage identity, and mental health. British Association for Counseling & Psychotherapy (BACP) is also committed to enhance public awareness of the importance of counseling and psychotherapy in regards to reduction of discrimination and promote equality during counseling sessions. Lack of these policies will illustrate poor satisfaction of the client during counseling procedures. Therefore, implementing these policies will improve the client-counselor relation which in turn will yield an effective intervention of counseling. Anti-discriminating practice is endorsed at the work place because people should be given equal chances when seeking jobs and when at job places. People may be discriminated` on the basis of the physical disability or gender. This would therefore hinder the achievement of creating a good work place. Skills for life and work seem to be a set of features that are held to be important to success or accomplishment in the world of work and life in general. Life and work skills help individuals cope with growing ambiguity and rapid change. It is important to consider the diversity of every individual’s social/cultural background, values, and attitudes in order to fit in the society. The knowledge of these issues will then aid in promoting the help and relationship of each other. Numerous life and work skills seek plainly change behaviors. However, this implies that there is likely to be conflict and social cultural barriers to the growth of specific skills. References Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. New York: Cengage Learning. Corey, G. (2012). Case Approach to Counseling and Psychotherapy. New York: Cengage Learning. Feltham, C. & Horton, N. (2005). Handbook of counselling and psychotherapy. London: Sage. Lago, C. & Smith, B. (2003). Anti-Discriminatory Couselling Practise. London: Sage. Lago, C. (2005). Race, culture, and counseling. London: Sage. Read More