Cultural Competency Paper

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Developing cultural knowledge, skills in understanding cross-cultural communication, and awareness and acceptance of the dynamic differences of people from cross-cultural backgrounds, are all crucial components of cultural competency when working with individuals from different ethnic backgrounds. Cultural competency is the ability to serve a person in an appropriate way, regardless of their cultural background (Betancourt et al. 2016). This can be achieved by treating individuals with an equal level of respect and dignity, that meets with their standards (Betancourt et al. 2016). As Australia and the United States are two of the most diverse countries in the world, having citizens of all backgrounds, cultures, languages, races, ethnicities …show more content…

Many organisations tend to want a ‘how to’, or step-by-step guide to achieving cultural competency (Cross 1989). However, as Cross’s (1989) cultural competence model suggests; cultural competency is an ongoing developmental process, rather than an outcome. Terry Cross’s cultural competency model, developed in 1989, states that the process of achieving cultural competency occurs along a continuum of six stages including: cultural destructiveness, cultural incapacity, cultural blindness, cultural pre-competence, cultural competency and cultural proficiency (Cross 1989). This six staged continuum allows organisations to broadly gauge where they are in cultural competency; and to plan for growth in achieving proficiency (Cross 1989). The first three stages of the continuum include cultural destructiveness, cultural incapacity and cultural blindness. Cultural destructiveness is when a system or organisation is characterised by attitudes, policies and practices that are destructive to a cultural group. This can be seen when a certain culture is dominant of another, and commonly is recognised as intentionally taking over a certain group (Cross 1989). Cultural incapacity, is when a system or organisation fails to respond to the needs or preferences of different cultural groups. For example, institutional or systemic bias, desensitisation, discriminative behaviours and lower …show more content…

Due to the over representation of First Nations people, the risk of them re-offending stands at a high rate (Day, Howells & Casey 2003). In saying this, the way the CJS engages with and responds to First Nations people needs to be addressed (Bryant 2009). According to Bryant (2009), the majority of violence in Indigenous populations are reported from police and hospitals. It is suggested that many of these violence reports occur as a result of social and cultural differences relating to involvement with family in indigenous and non-indigenous communities (Bryant 2009). Many states and territories have recognised the importance of the relationships between First Nations people and non-indigenous people (Farrelly & Carlson 2011). It is suggested that these relationships can be further enhanced through the cultural competence framework (Farrelly & Carlson 2011). To improve current CJS responses to First Nations people, a variety of measures aimed at developing cultural competence need to be applied. Measures such as cultural supervision, collaborative treatment partners and cultural consultants, are all processes that will guide the process of an organisation or person in becoming culturally competent (Farrelly & Carlson 2011). Cultural supervision is when a person

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