The field of psychology and psychotherapy derives from times where gender inequality was a norm. Although individuals believe that this conception has been alleviated they fail to see how many are still, to this day, oppressed, limited, constrained, and shamed. Not only is this due to their gender but also sexual orientation, race, culture, and many other factors. Feminist therapy accentuates that change in society is necessary instead of the need to adjust to society. I believe therapy should always enmesh individual, human, and equal rights. Individuals may come to therapy thinking something is wrong with when in reality, the society is the problem. Change in these instances can occur through guidance, awareness, empowerment, and social …show more content…
I think these approaches really broaden the options for individuals with different circumstances. Personally, I would like to incorporate cultural feminism into my practice. Coming from a mixed background, I first-hand, have seen the influences cultural context has on the devaluation of women’s strengths. If I had given into these views I would not be where I am now, as a doctoral student away from home. Therefore, empowering women within diverse cultures is important but at the same time arduous. It is difficult to change the culture and the values that people have had over long periods of time. It can also be demanding for an individual to let go of that linkage to their family in order to oppose their views. An intervention like assertiveness training might help from a cultural standpoint because it allows the client to become aware of their rights and change their negative beliefs about themselves in order to make changes in their everyday …show more content…
For example, if someone was feeling depressed because of oppression within their culture, this model would stay away from diagnosing this client or pathologizing them. Instead, the therapist would look for ways to guide this client through awareness and need for social change. For individuals who come from collectivist cultures also emphasize the role of community. This therapy does a good job of taking in individual differences and being aware of roles the community might have on that person. On the other hand, a limitation working with clients that are culturally diverse might be that a therapist could devalue their cultural norms when they don’t necessarily have a problem with them. Their culture can then feel criticized by the therapist and cause the therapeutic relationship to become
In B. L. Duncan, S. D. Miller, B.E. Wampold, & M.A. Hubble (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy (2nd ed., pp. 143-166). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
While her therapist helps her with her father, the therapist unintentionally improves her relationship with her husband. At Southeastern Louisiana University’s common read, Smith explains, “I think I was able to meet him [her husband] because I cleared up a lot of silly stuff through therapy” (Smith). This confirmation allows the reader to receive a higher understanding of the effect therapy impacted Tracy K. Smith.
Although, even if the therapist is from the same cultural background this can still be hard to counsel these clients because of different traditions, language dialects, family values, and ancestry. This does not mean that the therapist cannot help these clients, but this could hinder the therapist and client relationship if brought up in an entire different environment. For instance, you can have two individuals from the same cultural background and family values, but these individuals live in an entirely different environment or learned different family values and belief system. When working with a diverse client, it is very important to monitor your own culturally beliefs and be willing to work with the client no matter if you have any biases or prejudice towards them. Some of the strategies that could be helpful in these situations include, (a) treat the client the same way you would like to be treated, (b) research some information about the clients background and, (c) beware of your own cultural biases and prejudices when counseling minorities if your unaware of their backgrounds.
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).
Race and ethnicity can influence a client’s experience of self and others in a variety of ways. A client’s personal race and ethnicity can influence his or her experience within the context of therapy through the set of beliefs he or she brings into the room. This set of beliefs and customs influences how he or she views therapy and whether there is motivation to be there. If the client’s culture does not usually seek therapy for their problems, or even believe in mental illness, it is likely the client will have apprehensions about trusting or speaking to the clinician. If the clinician is not aware of this possibility, the clinician may wonder why the client is in therapy if he or she will not speak or allow rapport to be built. A responsible clinician will take this into consideration.
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.
When advocating for the success of a client when utilizing this theory, a counselor must be prepared to identify and eliminate barriers, prejudices, oppression, and discrimination that may create a psychological obstruction in the client. Learning culturally-competent counseling practices and current theoretical approaches while practicing self-reflection will help the counselor acquire the skills necessary to engage with a diverse clientele. Strategies such as; identifying cultural differences, understanding and addressing issues in the counseling process, the counselor’s ability to understand self, and ongoing education are all important strategies in combating oppression and eliminating barriers.
...p their own solutions to problems. Clients may need some guidance, education, or direction depending on their abilities and how the therapy is going. It is then that I want to be able to help them feel more empowered and recognize that they can make changes with effort on their part.
Furthermore, my goal is to let client fix their problems on their own through insight and guidance from the therapist. I envision a successful therapeutic process being when a client follows their goals and achieves positive outcomes in their lives. I seek to gain a therapeutic process with my clients by building rapport, trust, and helping them gain insight. When my clients are stuck and need motivation, I plan to remind them about their goals and the positive things that will come with change. If family is important to a client, informing the client about their family and their happiness may help motivate them to continue to
It is interesting to note according to Raskin et al. ( 2011), “Our basic practice [client centered therapy] remains true to the core conditions no matter who our client may be. We also assert that our ability to form an initial therapeutic relationship depends on our own openness to and appreciation of respect for all kinds of difference” (p. 183). I believe that the cultural diversity that CCT maintains is important in a multiplicity open therapeutic environment. The implications for a non discriminatory form of therapy are that it can be used across populations. This allows for broader use of this theory and the chances for positive outcomes is increased because the availability.
The purpose of this essay is to connect the feminist theory to the film “The Help,” and underlie certain ideas that are demonstrated throughout the film. I specifically chose this film, because it takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 19060s during the time Jim Crow laws were still very much alive, and practiced. Skeeter, a young white Caucasian woman has just graduated and returned home from attending Ole Miss to take care of her fairly sick mother. Aside from her associates and colleagues, who are more into finding a husband on their time off from Ole Miss, Skeeter focuses all of her time into becoming a journalist. Throughout the film family servants are well within each white family social circle, they are referred to as “The Help,” and are exclusively black women. As tradition the servants are passed down throughout family generations, which means the child they raised would become their boss in the future. Each servant had their own story to tell and conflicts of their own to deal with, including Skeeter. As time progresses Skeeter decides to write a column on the black servants in relation to their white bosses, with the help of her fifty-year-old servant Aibileen Clark. Hesitant to help, Aibleen along with other black servants gather to tell their different stories while accepting the consequences it will bring. As a feminist, it is one who supports feminism, which is the advocacy of women’s right on the grounds of politics, social, and equality to men, but in this case white women as well. Throughout the essay are explorations of the different issues relevant to feminism.
This is a difficult question because there is an assortment of answers, which vary depending on the individual. Possibly, clients come to therapy because they are overwhelmed by problems. Considering the narrative approach clients come to therapy because of dominant discourses that have created problem saturated stories in their lives. Clients come to therapy in search of change.
However, certain cultures value collectivism over individualism. Within such cultures, clients are likely to be more influenced by societal expectations rather than their own personal well-being. Moreover, the client may be looking for a more direct approach to counselling and could find the lack of structure off-putting. A culturally competent person-centred counsellor strives to work with the client’s external and internal world while developing an “appreciation and openness to all kinds of differences” (Raskin, Rogers & Witty, 2014,
Much so, regardless of one’s cultural significance, behavior influences being. However, the essence of behavior “is based largely on culture” and is a key factor in explaining and intervening in human behaviors (Chavis, 2011). To that end, it important for therapist to be conscientious of the cultural variabilities in serving diverse clients. According to Corey (2009), modern behavior therapy suggests a systematic and strategic approach to psychotherapy. Like other approaches, there are advantage and disadvantages to utilizing a behaviorally grounded approach.