Multicultural Counseling: A Necessary Skill for Counselors

Introduction

Aspects of culture include color, race, gender, ethnicity, and unique features such as disabilities. Being a skilled multicultural counselor is very important because clients present various cultures that impact them. Like a Christian may prefer a Christian counselor. Therefore, as a counselor, you need to understand and believe that having multicultural skills would mean being effective in your field of work. Through this, it would mean that multicultural counseling is a required course for counselor training. The essence of learning all of this is a competent counselor to be able to handle any client's situation despite their aspects and their cultural life and beliefs. In this case, we have Doug and Mary, who are married, and they are both deaf. They are both Christians and have different races by origin. They require a marital counselor, and they are not really into any counselor since they demand one who is a Christian.

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Furthermore, the Christian counselor should also have an understanding of American Sign Language. In their aspects, they need someone that they can relate too and one that is very sensitive to their culture. The paper focuses on local community resources and support, Cultural research, and reflection on multicultural sensitivity about Doug and Mary's case

Local Community Resources and Support

The deaf counseling center is a professional deaf-owned organization that supports all sorts of therapy, even marital ones. It is dedicated to counseling, coaching assessments, consulting, and psychiatric practices. It has all sorts of therapists who are always eager to learn and advise people who have different cultures. It is full of deaf licensed professional counselors. Its main goal is to offer national deaf therapy services (Dillon et al., 2016). They are specialized, committed, and work with deaf people together with their families.

They allow clients to pay for therapy sessions through PayPal. They have also partnered with Parasail to ensure that every client makes user-friendly payment plans that best suit their needs. It would be among the best local agencies for Doug and Mary since they create culturally sensitive counseling sessions. As stated, one of their objectives is to hold Deaf therapy services across the US, and it means that they offer a Deaf-friendly environment for all deaf clients (Dillon et al., 2016). Their counselors have no room for racism, as it would be against their code of conduct.

Also, they provide counseling to social life balance, as they understand that it is bought about by not knowing how to balance work and social life. They offer employees and workshops. They also provide stress management counseling; the stress symptoms can become overwhelming and lead to feeling helpless or even vulnerable. In marital counseling, they have a different section like counseling for engaged couples who are about to get married, advice for young couples who just got married, and the advice for couples who have been married for a long time or old couple. They accomplish this by providing safe, non-judgemental, and confidential therapy services.

When it comes to culture, they are susceptible. The therapists make sure their clients get comfortable with the counselor assigned to them. The counselors who deal explicitly with faith life. This means that if a client needs a Christian counselor, they can comfortably assign one for them (Dillon, et al. 2016). They also don't have counselors who deal specifically with racism, color, gender, and other features associated since each therapist is a professional. With the reviews from social media, the Deaf counseling center has the most effective multicultural counseling.

On the other hand, Hope counseling center offers counseling services, and also it is a Christian based organization. It has been in existence since 1991. It has worked cooperatively to provide counseling and support services to many people. It has several branches worldwide. Its root is in the United States, where it is well established to offer a variety of services. Their main address Hope Counseling Centers, 4404 South Florida Avenue, Suite 3 Lakeland. Any client can contact them through the main phone (Lakeland): (863) 709-8110, main fax (Lakeland): (863) 709-8118 or email contact@hopecounselingeap.com.

Therapists of Hope Counseling Centers are specialized in various aspects. They give marriage counseling, relationship counseling, achievement counseling, family counseling, personality testing, and psychological testing. Also, they are dedicated to giving disability testing and counseling alongside ADHD testing. One of the things that make them ideal for the case is that the counselors have learned disability identification. They offer the mid and end of term interrogation sessions. Being a Christian based organization, they are acutely sensitized when it comes to culture. They help Christian normalize the challenges and frustrations of the Christian life. When it comes to marital counseling, they have articles and even eBooks that help to offer useful multicultural advice. They have items like marriage in a cross-cultural context, which allows married couples to deal with different cultures.

They also maintain a healthy friendship in Christianity and marriage through internet resources like audio streaming or video. They also have recommended eBooks like hold me tight by Sue Johnson. These articles and eBooks help to utilize theories from emotionally focused and strengthening one's marriage. Furthermore, they have marriage retreats for married couples only. From the blog and social media platforms, we have all have positive reviews about the hope counseling center, especially when it comes to cultural aspects.

Cultural Research

When it comes to counseling, culture is an essential aspect. Many people who seek advice come from very different backgrounds. According to Shannon 2020, information from a broad cultural length is necessary for our various worlds; it allows counselors to help people in underserved communities. It is essential to understand multicultural counseling processes and cross-cultural relationships, Like racial identity, which a model of indicial differences (Shannon 2020).

When it comes to clients with unique disabilities like being deaf, the counselor should understand the sign language. For Doug and Mary, they should choose a counselor that understands the sign language in the American style. Considering they are Christians, they also look for a counselor who is a Christian. Doug and Mary come from different backgrounds; in this case, they should find a counselor who knows the different regions. With this, they can be able to talk to the counselor comfortably since they can be able to connect with the counselor (Shannon, 2020). The sage journal describes how culture and its impacts are highly ranked (Ratts et al., 2006). Culture is the cutting edge of the recent development in our social life, primarily marriages. The significance of religion is that it allows individuals to examine their own social and cultural biases and how they can change their perspective about other people's cultures.

According to Dillon et al., 2016, there are range factors that affect mental health include sexuality, race, gender identity, and social, economic conditions. To educate people and eliminate racial injustices, the following should be considered. All programs must be analyzed to ensure accuracy and completeness; all content areas must be presented with multiple cultural perspectives (Dillon et al., 2016). Multiculturalism should be taught as a separate subject in counselor training to allow them to learn about different cultures from a diverse population.

Reflection on Multicultural Sensitivity

Cultural sensitivity is an awareness of cultural differences and similarities between people without assigning them either positive or negative values. Cultural sensitivity is extraordinary because it allows us to function effectively in other people's cultures and respect the value of their culture (Dillon et al., 2016). It helps reduce cultural barriers between counselors and their clients. We can promote multicultural sensitivity by learning to embrace other people's perceptions and even join them while celebrating their culture like traditional holiday festivals.

We can also learn by asking questions during the intercultural exchange counseling and being willing to let go of our ethnocentric opinions. When it comes to people with disability like Doug and Mary who needs counseling services, we can give them a counselor that they are comfortable with. Counselor awareness of clients is essential we dealing with clients like Doug and Mary with sensitive cultural beliefs (Shannon, 2020). Through this, it will help as one would feel bias or have a limitation while working with them. The counselor must recognize that their client's view of something could be very different from their own. To achieve this, the counselor must be aware of their emotional reactions to things like ethnicity and familiarize themselves with their culture.

Conclusion

Multicultural counseling consists of two parts, understanding the clients and recognition of a counselor's own culture. The counselor must recognize any idea that they have about any population based on their ethnicity or color so they can work progressively with their clients. This ensures that all individuals with different backgrounds receive the quality help they deserve. Counseling organizations should also have a culturally appropriate intervention strategy. A counselor can respect their client's religious views, languages, and beliefs. They also maintain knowledge about family dynamics and discriminatory practices that may impact their clients. For the counselor to expand their skills, they must acknowledge their cultural heritage and the effects of racism and discrimination. They should also look for other learning opportunities to improve their understanding of different cultural practices for diverse communities.

References

Dillon, F. R., Odera, L., Fons-Scheyd, A., Sheu, H. B., Ebersole, R. C., & Spanierman, L. B. (2016). A dyadic study of multicultural counseling competence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(1), 57. . Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Dillon4/publication/282760419_A_Dyadic_Study_of_Multicultural_Counseling_Competence/links/59d414fc4585150177f974d1/A-Dyadic-Study-of-Multicultural-Counseling-Competence.pdf

Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., NassarMcMillan, S., Butler, S. K., & McCullough, J. R. (2016). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies: Guidelines for the counseling profession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 44(1), 28-48. Retrieved from https://www.drmanivongjratts.com/uploads/2/8/2/3/28230485/msjcc_-_guidelines_for_the_counseling_profession.pdf

Shannon, J. (2020). Using Moonlight to Explore Intersectionality in Counselor Education. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health,1-11. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jordan_Shannon2/publication/340035491_Using_Moonlight_to_Explore_Intersectionality_in_Counselor_Education/links/5e83d3294585150839b2bf55/Using-Moonlight-to-Explore-Intersectionality-in-Counselor-Education.pdf