Diversity In Counselling Essay

Diversity within couples is having a greater impact on the counsellors and Therapists who are receiving couples into their rooms. In a nation of growing diversity, couples are facing problems within their relationships due to the unique and intricate differences that have evolved from multiplicity within our society, and which is brought into the relationship by both members of the couple (Rastogi & Thomas, 2008). Research into how to better address diversity and multicultural issues in the counselling profession, as well as how to better educate therapists in becoming multiculturaly competent within multicultural context has been growing since the 1960’s due to the emergence of the multicultural counselling movement (D'Andrea & Heckman, 2008; Jackson,1995). Over the past few decades many social and cultural changes have led to an increase in the number of diverse romantic relationships. Increasing integration for people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in areas such as educational institutions, employment and social environments as well as an increasing in geographical traveling have provided more opportunities for

As we grow and experience our own intimate relationships with others, we cannot help but be influenced by our own experiences as well as these ideas of how relationships are supposed to be by the evidence we have gathered over or life time (Shaw, 2001). Given, that our values and issues surrounding relationships are entwined with our social and historical context, therapist should pay close attention to how they perceive client relationships. It is therefore, important that counsellors be aware of the contextual issues within their practice, as part of helping diverse couples with their relationships, while paying attention to the different diversity factors (Thomlison,