Culturally Competent Counselor Case Study

712 Words2 Pages

Culturally Competent Counselors Cultural competency has become a sizeable issue in the mental health profession. It is essential counselors appoint the cultural influences of each individual client. In the VFE video, the counselor effectively applied cultural considerations through his beliefs/attitudes, knowledge, and skills, while using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AMCD, 1996). The counselor is able to converse with the client and therapeutically guide him through his issues, while being culturally aware and sensitive.
Beliefs/Attitudes
The counselor was able to take his beliefs and attitudes of culture and invest them into the therapeutic session. The counselor used his beliefs of the client’s culture to bring awareness to the client. The client discussed his feeling of being weak for turning to counseling. The counselor made it apparent that he was not weak, and he was being a leader for his family (Laureate Education, 2012h). The APA …show more content…

The counselor has a respectable amount of knowledge of the Hispanic culture. For example, the counselor understands the clients need to feel macho and superior. In the clients culture it is expected for men to be the head of the household and express machoism (Laureate Education, 2012h). The APA guidelines acknowledge the importance of counseling individuals who are culturally different. It is the counselor responsibility to be sensitive and responsive when counseling individuals from different cultures. The APA guidelines require counselors to educate themselves about cultures and gain knowledge to benefit the client (APA, n.d.). I have gained insights through the colleague’s discussion of the difficulty of the client role shifting. It is important to recognize when these cultural difficulties occur in the counseling process. The counselor was able to identify the issue and present it to the client, leading the client to accept his culture

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