Multicultural counseling

Introduction

Multicultural counseling tends to suggest that even in the counseling setting, it is essential to recognize the difference between the counselor and the client. The counselor must recognize that the client is different from the counselor. 

Multicultural counseling

The school counselors tend to be a unique place of promoting individual student’s development. The multicultural counseling competency differs based on the specific issues, sites, and cultural groups related to diverse clients. As a school counselor, it is important to develop a better understanding of the needs of students, their communities, and families (McIntyre et al. 2006). The school counselor should know that understanding multicultural counseling helps in facilitating student development, and ensure equal access to quality education for all students irrespective of the student’s cultural background.

 It is essential for the school counselor to possess the skills, knowledge, attitude, and abilities necessary for planning, organizing, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive school counseling program (Robinson & Bradley 2005). It is necessary for school counselors to receive knowledge and skills related to addressing the student diversity in school communities. Diversity does include not only the US ethnic and gender diversity, but also the diversity of sexual orientation, international populations, and disabilities. The learning of multicultural counseling competencies for school counselors should include the field component in which students interact with diverse populations instead of only learning about diverse populations in classroom and textbook activities. About multicultural counseling, it is necessary for school counselors to know how to help their school communities to learn about the importance of understanding cultural differences.

During counseling, school counselors should know that there is always the danger of stereotyping clients and confusing other influences especially socioeconomic status and race with the cultural influences. The most obvious danger in counseling is oversimplifying the student’s social system to emphasize the most obvious aspect of their background (McIntyre et al. 2006). The individual student influenced by ethnicity, race, life stage, educational level, sex roles, and national origin. Thus, school cultures must view the identity and development of culturally diverse people regarding the multiple interactive factors instead of a strictly cultural framework. A school culture should ensure that he considers all the facets of the student’s personal history, social, cultural orientation, and family history.

In multicultural counseling, a school counselor should understand that one of the essential differences between multicultural counseling is the difference between culture and race (McIntyre et al. 2006). Differences tend to exist among racial groups and also with each group. Therefore, various ethnic identifications exist within each of the five racial groups. Even though the ethnic groups may share the physical characteristics of race, they might not necessarily share the beliefs and values of common culture. Hence, the school counselor must be cautious in assuming that for example, all Asians and blacks have similar cultural backgrounds. It is not possible for school counselors to adapt student’s ethnicity and cultural heritage; however, they can become more sensitive to things and their own and student’s biases.

Conclusion

The school counselors tend to provide services for helping students in the personal, social, academic, and career development. The beliefs in their level of performance in particular tasks and activities impact the behavior and motivation of professional school counselors. An essential role of the school counselor is advocating for the student’s needs and ensuring equal access and opportunity for all students. Hence, it is essential for school counselors to be multiculturally competent in helping their students to achieve success in school and also in their communities.

Reference

Robinson, B., & Bradley, L. (2005). Multicultural Counseling: Research on perceptions of school counselors. Guidance and Counseling, 21, 30-35.

Tong, M., Huang, W., & McIntyre, T. (2006) Promoting a positive cross-cultural identity, Reclaiming Children and Youth, 14, 203- 208

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in graduate paper writing service if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom research paper writing service.