The Nature Of Cultural Competency In Social Work

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Cultural Competency is “the process by which individuals and systems respond respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors…” (Sue 24). In order to be culturally competent there are many factors that you must be knowledgeable about and practice in everyday interactions. Some of which include “understanding culture and its function in human behavior and society, ...have a knowledge base of their clients cultures and be able to demonstrate competence…, and obtain education about and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression” (NASW 1999). I will have to know how to understand, interact with, and find the best possible solution for those who are both in my culture and those who come from many other cultures along with socio-economic backgrounds. As I was reading the introduction to Chapter two in our assigned textbooks I could not help but relate with what the content in the book started out at. Saying that all social workers must understand the perspectives of all people gets really overwhelming, especially when starting your path learning about social work. I felt like no person could be completely culturally competent because of the fact that you had to display being accepting and understanding and actually mean it. …show more content…

Understanding that cultural competency is learned over a long period made me wonder how I could be culturally sensitive to others from different cultures without making an assumption about their culture or treating every client as if they are from the same culture or position as I am. Which goes back to my question of how someone could be culturally competent but in a different mind set as their

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