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Issues within counseling
The role of counseling
Key issues of counseling
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One of the biggest challenges I have observed is clients, showing up for scheduled sessions. Many of the cases I am assigned are optional. Therefore, engagement is difficult to achieve. I will be attending an in-home therapy session with my clinical supervisor and will assist in developing a treatment plan based on his needs and wants. Engagement will occur together when we work with him with this process. Engagement involves establishing a relationship with the client essential for beginning the change process. The needs of the client are identified and included in the assessment process.
Difficulty engaging clients may occur when the social worker has limited knowledge about the cultures of the client, including appropriate body language, asking culturally sensitive questions and even assessing the needs based on their cultural beliefs and values. For example, one of the client’s that was referred to TSI for a substance abuse evaluation. With her assessment completed, a referral was made to intensive outpatient treatment.
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Within this initial meeting, I will allow her or him to take an active role in the session and will focus on his or her strengths since this provides them with the tools to change. Before the session beginning, if I am not conversant with the individual’s culture, I will research this to determine appropriate body language and proper open-ended questions to ask. Many times during the engagement process I will also utilize the client as a mode of gathering information about their culture and what are appropriate interventions. For example, one of my clients from Somalia reports that depression never occurs in her country and that this was an American made illness. Within this setting, we completed the appraisal and treatment plans that are congruent with her beliefs and values. Her African definition of sadness utilized within the evaluation
It is important to include cultural issues in the helping process to be more effective. We also need cultural competence because the U.S. is becoming more diverse. Therefore with diversity comes different beliefs, norms, and values. Eurocentric values dominate sciences and began cultural universals which puts the clash of dominate and non-dominate cultural behaviors in motion. In 1996 the NASW Code of Ethics increased the recognition of cultural competence. It is important to know diversity exist within ethnic and cultural groups because social workers need to know that relationships between helping professionals and clients may be strained. This happens because of the distrust between groups. Another important aspect is that the professional realizes their own values, biases, and beliefs. The reason for this is because they must value diversity to start with and understand the dynamics of difference. Culturally competent practitioners have to go through developmental process of using their own culture as a starting point to meet all behaviors. Striving for cultural competence is a long term process of development. The literature on cultural competence is theoretical and conceptual. They have not been evaluated in a systematic way. Roughly there are 2 million Native americans in the U.S. Which survive decimating disease, over-repressed in child welfare system, suffer from health problems, and are among the poorest people in the United States. Working with them clearly falls within the social work clearly mandate to serve vulnerable and oppressed clients. However, we do not know how many people from this group is actually receiving help from social workers. Even though it is important to train social workers to provide care in th...
Counselors today face the task of how to appropriately counsel multicultural clients. Being sensitive to cultural variables can be conceptualized as holding a cultural lens to human behavior and making allowances for the possibility of cultural influence. However, to avoid stereotyping, it is important that the clinician recognize the existence of within-group differences as well as the influence of the client’s own personal culture and values (Furman, Negi, Iwamoto, Shukraft, & Gragg, 2009). One’s background is not always black or white and a counselor needs to be able to discern and adjust one’s treatment plan according to their client.
Culture can be defined as behaviors exhibited by certain racial, religious, social or ethnic groups. Some factors in which culture may vary include: family structure, education, and socioeconomic status (Kodjo, 2009). Some may think cultural competence is something that has an end point, however, when the big picture is seen, it is a learning process and journey. From the writer’s perspective, the client-therapist relationship can be challenging. Culturally competent therapists must realize that behaviors are shaped by an individual’s culture. Many changes are taking place within the United States cultural makeup. Therapists and healthcare professionals are being challenged to provide effective and sensitive care for patients and their families. This type of culturally sensitive care requires the professional to be open and seek understanding in the patients diverse belief systems (Kodjo, 2009).
Cultural Competence Understanding culture is an important aspect of being a social worker; this does not mean learning common cultural traits is of great significance to the social work profession. “Consider the second-generation Japanese-American social worker whose practice consists of Mexican-American and African-American families. Memorizing national traits or cultural rituals would be interesting and informative, but ultimately these would be an inaccurate basis on which to “know” these particular families” (Dorfman, 1996, p. 33). When understanding cultural competence, it is important to learn from the client about their culture in order to serve them in the most helpful and efficient way possible. There is a major drawback to memorizing information, and that is, this information will not give you a real understanding of who your client is and what life experiences they have personally faced.
Remember, self-reflection is vital to becoming a culturally-competent counselor. The counselor should consistently re-examine their worldview and personal beliefs about diverse individuals and other cultures. The idea is for the counselor to explore their own prejudices, emotions, and preconceived notions of those that differ from themselves. Remaining curious and willing to learn about culturally distinct groups is a practical way of working effectively with varied clients in counseling and understanding what barriers and prejudices are typical in their
As a social worker, the ability to merge cultural competencies with social work methods and theories allows intervention to be customized to meet their client’s need-based which vary upon culture. Since there are a massive amount of different cultures with different traditions, values, and beliefs the social worker needs to obtain the fundamentals of the culture in order to assess and advocate for the ethnic group effectively. The NASW of Ethics clearly values the competence and the Ethical Principle of Social workers practice within the areas of competence and enhances their professional expertise. In addition, “ Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system or agency or among professionals and enable the system, agency, or professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (NASW, 2000b, p. 61). Cultural competency ensures that our primary mission of the social work profession to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.
I let my client tell me how he felt about illness based on his own values and beliefs. I also used therapeutic communication techniques such as general lead, listening, sitting at eye level with the client etc. to make this as comfortable as possible for him. I think I was appropriate and very successful at retrieving my client’s beliefs about illness and sickness without pressuring him too much. In the future when conducting an interview with another person about their culture, I would use the same techniques and approach as I found it to be very successful, and my client was very comfortable and established a trust worthy relationship with him regarding his illness based on his cultural beliefs and values. This interview contributed in preparing me for the future and also gave me insight on how to conduct a successful cultural assessment without making assumptions. I learned that every culture is unique and has somewhat of a similarity to other cultures, but one must never assume before doing a thorough assessment. This also prepared me in being more culturally competent while providing care to clients and their families from different cultures and
In the social work practice, social workers should abide by and respect the protocol of their particular organization. The first ethical standard I would like to discuss is that a social worker having cultural competence and social (NASW, 1999). A social worker must possess the knowledge of values, customs, tradition and history just to name a few in order to have success with clients that may identify as something other than their own identity. Culture directs impacts human behavior. Within this case study, due to Mrs. Sanchez’s culture, she struggled to assimilate with the American culture and this included her being able to learn the English language. Her culture was very important to her and I respect that. As a social worker, I would have
For clients who express their experiences for the first time in counseling, it can be a powerful force to help them heal. It is important for the counselor to pay close attention to the person’s body language, affect and tone. The counselor must consider the possible scenarios that may occur in the first session. Cultural aspects of the client must be considered. From the client’s perspective, the first session is an important session, even if the first session is mostly an information gathering session. The client may have experiences much trauma in their life, never being able to trust a person with their closest feelings. This is why it is very important to establish rapport and trust in...
The use of active listening is an essential skill to achieve this type of relationship as well as a sensitivity for clients who come from a culture different than the counselor’s culture. Great counseling also includes being honest with the client from the first session where informed consent is provided. It is important to discuss the limitations of confidentiality. Another important factor is to guide the client into setting realistic goals, so the counseling sessions can be more
Sharing personal thoughts with the clients helps to set up positive relationships with the clients. Since I’m a generalist social worker in the making I thought that it was important to do a short interview on a person from a different culture in order to better understand that everyone doesn’t come from the same background/culture. It is so important to find and accept your own strengths and areas for growth. Understanding our own cultural history and identity is a prerequisite for culturally sensitive social work. Sophia an Hispanic girl from Spain who came from a different background then I did. She grew up in Spain where she was raised and learned to speak Spanish. She moved to America when she 16 years of age and at that moment she noticed that her life begin to change. She had to learn how to speak a new language all over again. Sophia said that it took her about three years to be able to speak English though she had been speaking Spanish her whole life. She grew up with a family who was really close together and had very strong values and beliefs. Her family was not very friendly, and they didn’t just trust people right off the back. If you weren’t part of the family, then you had to gain trust and that was just that. Unlike when she first moved to US she had to grow to be friendly to those around her at school cause that’s not what she was used
I work as a clinical therapist in a culture-specific organization providing therapeutic services to immigrants and refugees from war-torn countries. Also, the majority of the client I serve have undergone complex trauma in their countries of origin before migrating to a different country for safety reasons. also, they have been forcefully displaced from their country, lost lives, properties, culture, social support network and uncertainty for the future. They have been exposed to violence, traumatized by witnessing or directly experiencing rape, torture, and killings of family members or friends. Cultural shock, language barrier, and social isolation have tremendous influences on their day to day behavior. hence, during a therapy session,
It is imperative that social workers become knowledgeable about their clients’ cultures and are culturally sensitive. In learning about their clients’ cultures, social workers need to be aware of how powerful and significant culture is in relating to clients’ behavior, values, and beliefs. Becoming culturally competent requires the ability to integrate awareness, knowledge, and skills while maintaining a positive working relationship with the client (Sue and Zane, 1987). Today, the concerns regarding cultural competency continue to accentuate the importance of preparing social workers for a diversified society.
To prevent lack of engagement Young quoted strategies from Joyce, Piper, Ogrodniczuk & Klien 2007; Mennicke, Lent & Burgoyne 1998; Pekarik 1985, Piselli, Halgin, & MacEwan 2011. Which are “Avoid delays in seeing clients, In cases and setting where clients might be expected to drop out early, Make contracts for clients completing a small goal, Do not process clients through several channel, Provide an orientation to the helping process, Use reminders to motivate client attendance, When client terminates early, call him or her and find out why, in cases where the client decides to terminate before goal completion, the helper should go the extra mile, provide a safe environment, Consider negotiating a treatment plan with the client.” Young (2013) I have utilized a few of these to prevent loss of engagement. I have found that giving the client homework or making contracts, using reminders, Contacting the client when they cancel seem to have an impact on the client’s cognitions about the service in a positive
In social work, a social worker has to come to the client’s level and start from there. The client does not have to come to the social workers level. In order for this to happen the social worker has to know the importance of culture, race, gender, sexual, diversity and other forms of diversity to make the best decision for choosing a type of intervention. Understanding the client’s culture, race, gender, sexual diversity and other form of diversity is important because they affect each person differently. An example, Roberto is Latino and in their culture they believe in machomism, so this is something his social worker needs to know when addressing Roberto or someone of the Latino culture. Hispanic women bring machomism