Case Study Review
For this paper, I chose the case of the Vietnamese student, Lee, from our chapter 4 reading. The case describes Lee as a student who is seeing the school counselor because of some academic difficulties that he is having (Corey, Schneider-Corey, & Callanan, 2011, 2007). Lee is described as slow and deliberate in his style of conversation. The school counselor quickly assigns him to a remedial speech class. During a session with the counselor, Lee tells her that his father wants him to major in pre-med when he applies to college. Stacy, the counselor, gives Lee a homework assignment of telling his father that he no longer wants to apply to college and that he wants to “follow a direction that appeals to him” (Corey, Schneider-Corey,
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It is important that I respect the culture and ways of Lee and his family and not try to encourage or instruct him to treat his father differently than his normal culture. It is also important for me to respect the confidentiality of Lee. Telling him to go home and talk to his father in a way that would violate the cultural ways of his family could risk Lee being told by his father to no longer see me as his counselor and could also cause a problem for the school. It is a mistake for a counselor to impose their worldview on their client. Lonner and Ibrahim (1996) define “worldview” as “how an individual sees the world from a moral, social, ethical, and philosophical perspective. It is the source of a person’s values, beliefs, and assumptions” (p. 293).
I would not immediately refer Lee for remedial speech class. I would first do research to find out if this is normal for someone of Vietnamese culture who speaks English as a second language to speak slowly. I would take a culture-sensitive approach to counseling Lee. As lee’s counselor, my job is to help him by using the transcultural integrative model of ethical decision making by identifying the problem or dilemma that lee is experiencing, as well as consider the possible and probable courses of action, and finally choose the best course of action to help Lee (Corey, Schneider-Corey, & Callanan, 2011,
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Preparing him for counseling will help him learn to use his therapy experience to meet the everyday challenges he faces in his life. Understanding his culture and the ways of his culture will help in developing a trusting relationship with Lee. This is important since Lee was referred by a teacher and did not volunteer to come for counseling on his own. It is also important to develop open and honest dialogue with Lee, and create a treatment approach that respects his cultural identity and his individual characteristics (Healthcare Providers Service Organization, 2008).
Some cultures avoid making eye contact when talking to someone as a sign of respect, but if the counselor is not aware of this, they can easily mistake this for dishonesty, or being ashamed or uncomfortable (Healthcare Providers Service Organization, 2008).
As an effective counselor, it is important to shape your counseling practice so that it fits the client’s world and develop sensitivity to the cultural differences. Learning to practice from a multicultural perspective will make a counselor’s job so much easier and more rewarding for both the counselor and he
It is pertinent to study the history of racial oppression when preparing to counsel a client from an ethnic minority if the counselor is from the majority culture. The problem is it would be difficult to examine the complete history and would be highly impossible especially in a short time. However, a therapist can gain knowledge of some of the essentials of history such as, religion, family structure, and background information. If the therapist or counselor is uncomfortable counseling these individuals he/or she can refer the client to someone who has more knowledge or has the same cultural background as the client. For instance, a therapist must become aware of the sociopolitical dynamics that form not only their clients’ views, but their own as well. Racial and cultural dynamics may interfere into the helping process and cause misdiagnosis, confusion, pain and reinforcement of biases and prejudices towards their client.
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.
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
The topic of this paper focuses on the battles school counselors face as the law and ethical standards collide. School counselors face a number of legal and ethical issues and recognizing a clear decision isn’t always easy. School counselors have to work with a large number of students, parents, and administrators while conforming to ethical codes, state laws, and school board guidelines. This topic is of great relevance to me as I will be going into the school counseling profession. It is also a meaningful topic to me because life-changing decisions are made every day in reference to legal and ethical issues. Researching this topic has shed some light on the difficulty for school counselors to fulfill both legal and ethical requirements. The main reason for this is that laws and ethical codes may sometimes provide differing and contradictory messages regarding the same subject. This can lead to legal ramifications, even while following ethical norms as we will look at in the example case of Woodlock v. Orange Ulster B.O.C.E.S. (2006/2008).
A therapist will face problems, issues and client troubles everyday. The professional must understand how their client relates to the world around them. These feelings and ideas affect how the client sees the problem and how they respond to their situation. Their actions, in turn, have bearing on individual thoughts, needs, and emotions. The therapist must be aware of the client's history, values, and culture in order to provide effective therapy. This paper will outline and provide information as to the importance of cultural competence and diversity in family therapy.
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
Understanding the counseling session from the client’s perspective is a very important aspect in the development of a therapeutic relationship. A clinician must be an excellent listener, while being to pay attention to the client’s body language, affect and tone. The dynamics in the counseling session that is beneficial to the client include the recognition of the pain that the client is feeling. The detrimental part of this includes a misunderstanding of the real issues, a lack of consideration of the cultural aspects of the client, and a lack of clinical experience or listening skills. In this presentation, we will discuss the positive and negative aspects of the counseling session from the client’s perspective which includes the client’s attitudes, feelings, and emotions of the counseling session. We will next examine the propensity of the client to reveal or not reveal information to the counselor, and how transference, and counter-transference can have an effect on the counselor-client relationship.
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
Multicultural and cognitive-behavioral approaches both place importance on tailoring the therapy to the particular situation (Hays,1995). The counselor recommended therapy with his wife, but he continued to focus on therapy with Louis. He believed that they should go to another therapist because he already started to build a rapport with Louis. He understood
Patterson clearly displays a level of awareness with in the therapeutic environment consistent with the aims of Multicultural Counseling. As Hays (2008) notes, that Multicultural Counseling is unlike the major counseling theories in that instead of describing how therapy is done, it stems from the question “With whom is it done?” (p. 177). Focusing on the person is a practice that encourages respect and rapport vital for maintaining a healthy counselor-client relationship.
The diversity among clients and the counselor is an issue that has recently come to the forefront. The counselor must be very cautious and sensitive to the cultural values of their clients, gender and gender preference, age, language preference, ethnicity, and spirituality and religious beliefs.
Kim, B. S. K., Ng, G. S., & Ahn, A. J. (2005). Effects of client expectation for counseling success, client-counselor worldview match, and client adherence to asian and european american cultural values on counseling process with asian americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 67-76.
There are different perspectives, however, which put stress on various aspects of culture and try to identify its boundaries and its substitutes. Some regard culture as separate entity from demographic factors, some point out acculturation as one of the obstacles, which makes culture difficult to identify, some show how an intimate and meaningful relationship between a counsellor and a culturally different client to be established. In this essay I will be discussing what the different concepts of understanding of culture in Counselling are, by examining different authors and perspectives and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses.
Taking the techniques of counseling class was a great course that contributed to my evolution as a perspective therapist. Certain skills I already possess such as, great communication, being empathetic, and open to learning. However, throughout the class I learned different therapy policies such as confidentiality, attending skills, and self-awareness. Having knowledge of these basic practices and skills has contributed to me becoming well rounded, self- aware, and a competent perspective counselor. I have made moderate progress towards the learning goals I established for myself in the beginning of the semester. During the beginning of the semester I anticipated learning different counseling approaches, becoming culturally competent, and learning how to be more confident. Throughout the course not much was mentioned about theoretical approaches and how to incorporate the framework into therapy. Nonetheless, the content that I learned allowed me to be more culturally competent, self-aware, and confident. To be culturally competent, it is essential to know basic background information about a client before assisting them. It is imperative to know basic information about a client such as age, sex, and nationality to determine how to assist the individual. Not knowing certain information may contribute to unethical work and a disservice to the
(Hays & Erford, 2014 p 59). In the counseling world in order to effectively work with clients from diverse background and cultures, it is important to provide a culturally safe environment and promote equality to all persons. Our main focus should be those that have already experienced discrimination due to their race/ethnicity, gender, age or economic status. Our efforts and “Beliefs that all people should have the right to equitable treatment and fair allocation of societal resources, the goal of social justice counseling is to establish an equal distribution of power and resources through advocacy to ensure that all people have the tools and resources for a “good life.” (Hays & Erford, 2014 p 59). The Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies (MSJCC) has implemented and created several competencies useful for the counseling profession. These competencies work as the foundation for something positive if properly implemented. It allows the counselor to address issues of power, privilege, and oppression and how each day the client is faced with a variety of worries that require the counselor to intervene and recommend the proper interventions needed in order for the client to move