Discuss ways in which clinical mental health counselors can enhance their multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Enhancing multicultural competence
a. Awareness
i. Self-exploration: consider one's own cultural heritage, values, and personal ethnic identity development
1. "How do I see myself as a member of my cultural group?"
2. "How do I see other people in my cultural group?"
3. "How do I perceive people who differ from me in regard to race, ethnicity, sexuality, and other areas?
b. Knowledge
i. understanding of economic, social, and political systems that affect psychosocial development
ii. knowledge of histories, experiences, customs, and values of people from diverse groups
iii. Read literature and use media to learn about lifestyles, customs, values, and traditions of ethnic groups
iv. Interact with people in their cultural environments
c. Skills
i. recognize kinship influences, or roles played by immediate and extended family, and the community itself
ii. Appreciate and be sensitive to clients' language preference
iii. Recognize and be sensitive to of gender-role socialization
iv. Recognize the role of religion and spirituality within and between ethnic groups
v. Consider the amount of privilege, or lack thereof, that a client experiences