CHAPTER 7 BARRIERS TO MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND THERAPY: INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY PERSPECTIVES

1. CHAPTER 7 BARRIERS TO MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND THERAPY: INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY PERSPECTIVES

2. Challenge for counselors • Reach out and understand the worldviews, values and circumstances • Free self of own cultural conditioning • Develop new and sensitive approaches • Play new roles of helping 13

3. Counseling and Therapy • A process of interpersonal interaction, • communication, and • social influence. 19

4. Characteristics of Counseling/Therapy For effective therapy to occur, the therapist and client must be able to send and receive both verbal and nonverbal messages appropriately and accurately.

5. Effective therapy • Breakdowns in communication • Social influence • Misunderstandings • Culture clashes in the cultural episode 20

6. Generic Characteristics Of Counseling/Therapy • 1. Culture-bound values—individual-centered, verbal/emotional/behavioral expressiveness, communication patterns from client to counselor, openness and intimacy, analytic/linear/verbal (cause-effect) approach, and clear distinctions between mental and physical well-being. • 2. Class-bound values—strict adherence to time schedules (50-minute, once or twice-a-week meeting), ambiguous or unstructured approach to problems, and seeking long-range goals or solutions. • 3. Language variables—use of Standard English and emphasis on verbal communication.

7. Generic Characteristics of Counseling • Western based • Shared common components of White culture values and beliefs • Mainly middle and upper class values • Have influenced the actual practice of counseling • See tables on pages 182-184 21

8. YAVIS syndrome( Schofield, 1964) • Therapists preference • Young • Attractive • Verbal • Intelligent successful 22

9. QUOID (Sundberg, 1981) • Therapy is ‘not’ for • Quiet • Ugly • Old • Indigent • Dissimilar culturally 23

10. Hence the 3 Major Barriers • Class-bound values • Language bias and misunderstanding • Culture-bound values May be impediments to effective counseling. 24

11. Culture • Those things that people have learned to do, believe, value, and enjoy. • Totality of the ideals, beliefs, skills, tools, customs and institutions into which each member of society is born. 25

12. Marginal Person • A person’s inability to form dual ethnic identification because of bicultural membership. • Pressure to conform to dominant culture • ‘different is bad’ or deficient 26

13. Class-Bound values • Low socioeconomic class stressors undermine mental and physical health of clients • Financial resources and class biases affect delivery of services • Classism and discrimination can appear in assessments, diagnosis and treatment • Insight vs. survival • ‘Minority standard time’ • Present time vs future time • Unfamiliar with process vs. resistant 30

14. Problems and concerns of many groups… • Are related to systemic and external forces rather than internal psychological problems. • Dealing with such factors may be more helpful than self-exploration and insight. 31

15. Be careful not to… • Overgeneralize or stereotype. Avoid being rigid. 34

16. CULTURE BOUND VALUES OF COUNSELING/THERAPY • 1. Focus on the Individual Counseling promotes individualism, autonomy, and achievement, YET Many people of color operate in a more collectivistic fashion.

17. Individualism versus Collectivism • Competition • Status • Recognition • Achievement • ‘own person’ • Autonomy • ‘I’ • Family • Group • Collective society • ‘We’ 27

18. CULTURE BOUND VALUES OF COUNSELING/THERAPY • 2. Verbal/Emotional/Behavioral Expressiveness Many counselors and therapists tend to emphasize the fact that verbal/emotional/behavioral expressiveness is important in individuals, YET Many cultural groups value the restraint of strong feelings.

19. Expressiveness versus non- expressiveness • Verbal • Articulate • Express thoughts and feelings clearly • Assertive • Stand up for rights • Silence may be valued • Patterns of communication (status) • Maturity and wisdom • Control is valued 28

20. CULTURE BOUND VALUES OF COUNSELING/THERAPY • 3. Insight This characteristic assumes that it is mentally beneficial for individuals to obtain insight or understanding into their deep underlying dynamics and causes, YET Several cultural groups and those from a lower socioeconomic status (SES) often do not perceive insight as appropriate or helpful.

21. CULTURE BOUND VALUES OF COUNSELING/THERAPY • 4. Self-Disclosure (Openness and Intimacy) Most forms of counseling and psychotherapy tend to value one’s ability to self-disclose and to talk about the most intimate aspects of one’s life, YET Some cultures may not value self-disclosure for fear it brings shame to the family, and others may not feel comfortable self-disclosing to White therapists due to mistrust and oppression.

22. Other culture variables • Cause and effect vs. intuition and natural • Linear, rational, analytical • Mental and physical functioning • Ambiguous vs. structure 29

23. CULTURE BOUND VALUES OF COUNSELING/THERAPY • 5. Scientific Empiricism Counseling and psychotherapy in Western culture and society have been described as being highly linear, analytic, and verbal in their attempt to mimic the physical sciences, YET Many cultural groups emphasize the harmonious aspects of the world and minimize the importance of analytical inquiries.

24. CLASS-BOUND VALUES OF COUNSELING/THERAPY • To effectively work with lower-class clients, counselors need to: • understand their own biases, • understand how poverty affects the lives of people, • be cognizant that sometimes behaviors for survival are pathologized, and • consider information-giving activities and a more active approach.

25. Language Barriers • The practice of using children as interpreters can cause several problems for families of color and other cultures. • More bilingual counselors are needed. • Use of Standard English in health care may unfairly discriminate against those from a bilingual or lower SES background.

26. Language-Barriers • Children translators • Regional differences within countries • Nonverbal cues • Ebonics • Emotion is hard to translate • Language problems with assessments and tests 32

27. “American” Cultural Assumptions And Multicultural Family Therapy • Counselors need to become culturally aware of their own values, biases, and assumptions about human behavior (especially as it pertains to the definition of family). • It is important to become aware of the worldview of the culturally different client and how that client views the definition, role, and function of the family. • Appropriate intervention strategies need to be devised.

28. Value Preference Considerations • Time Dimension • Relational Dimension • Activity Dimension • People-Nature Relationship • Nature of People Dimension

29. Implications for Practice • Become aware of the generic characteristics of counseling. • Advocate for multilingual services. • Provide community counseling services in the client’s natural environments (schools, churches, etc.). • Help clients deal with forces such as poverty, discrimination, prejudice, and immigration stress in contrast to developing personal insight through self-exploration.

30. Implications for Practice • Understand the different cultural conceptions of family. • Families cannot be understood apart from the cultural, social, and political dimensions. • Learn the definition of family for specific groups. • Be careful not to overgeneralize or stereotype.