Multicultural Counseling Portfolio By Mark Scherschligt Kansas State
Multicultural Counseling Portfolio By Mark Scherschligt Kansas State University
Purpose �The purpose of this portfolio is to demonstrate my multicultural competence in the domains of awareness, knowledge, and skills. By achieving multicultural competence in these areas, I will be able to effectively support and advocate for all students, including culturally/racially diverse students as a school counselor.
Self-Awareness �Growing up in a middle-class, white, Christian family in Kansas I grew up being taught to respect and appreciate the differences in other people. I did not pay much attention to race/ethnic differences growing up, mainly because I was ignorant of the problems in society with little interactions with people different from me. When I went to college, my perceptions began to change. � The video on the right discusses how my bias and stereotypes about people different from me began to change (click on video to start). �The experience described in the video illustrates the importance of defeating stereotypes through knowledge of different cultures along with experiences with people from diverse groups. This is why as a counselor I will seek to expose students to other cultures and people who are different from themselves. The ability of a counselor to be aware of their own biases and worldview and working to defeat their own biases is a key competence of multicultural counseling.
Multicultural Counseling �My definition of multicultural counseling is the counseling of diverse people where the counselor is self-aware, has deep knowledge of different cultures and races, and is able to effectively apply interventions to diverse groups of clients in order to provide mental health services. Furthermore, multicultural counselors advocate on behalf of all students and promote social justice in order to provide equal access to education and positive mental health. �I will achieve this definition of multicultural counseling in my work as a grades 7 -12 counselor by consistently building my multicultural counseling competencies and advocating for all student of all cultural/ethnic backgrounds.
Counseling: LGBT � My first awareness of this group was the realization that my aunt was a lesbian. The realization that my aunt was a lesbian was a shock initially, but since then I have learned more about this population and spent more time with them which has led to me working successfully with several LGBT students. I now feel very comfortable working with these students and am self-aware of my thoughts towards them. � I have several current and former students who are members of the LGBT community. I have found that building a successful relationship with these students and earning their trust is key to successful counseling. This is done through active listening and understanding their worldview. Furthermore, I make sure school policies are not heterosexually biased, I work to eliminate homosexual discrimination and homophobia in the school, assist LGBT students build a positive self-identity, and work with parents and families struggling with a student’s LGBT identity. � I will continue to educate myself about counseling this group of students in order to consistently build my knowledge about them and increase my competency in providing useful interventions. I will also do the following as Sue and Sue (2013) recommends: � 1. Advocate for inclusion of LGBT issues in the curriculum. � 2. Provide adequate social services and a nondiscriminatory school environment. � 3. Address self-management and social skills relevant to LBGT youth in the counseling curriculum and during counseling sessions. � 4. Work with the administration to consistently enforce anti-discriminatory policies � 5. Support groups for LGBT students to feel safe and be able to discuss concerns � Sue, D. W. & Sue, D. (2013) Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. Sixth Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
Counseling: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders � My first close awareness and interactions with people from Asia was in college. This occurred when I became friends with a Chinese student. I enjoyed discussing the differences in our cultures and learning about Chinese customs and beliefs. This led to the defeat of several biases and stereotypes for me personally and allowed me increased self-awareness with my thoughts towards this population. � I have had limited opportunities to work with students from this population, but I will continue to educate myself further so I am prepared for eventually working with this group. When working with this group I will understand the cultural differences between their culture and western society such as emphasizing the collective, hierarchical, and patriarchal orientation of their culture. I will also utilize other counseling recommendations such as using a problemfocused approach, self-disclosing strategies used in the past, allowing the students to evaluate suggested interventions, and be aware of acculturation conflicts. Furthermore, I will seek out interactions with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in order to further my knowledge on their culture and seek opportunities to learn further counseling approaches with this population.
Counseling: Poverty �Growing up in a middle-class family, my first awareness of poverty would be going to a friend’s house who was poor. Currently a large percentage of my student population, 51% according to KSDE, is economically disadvantaged. �In order to adequately serve my students of poverty, I have made myself knowledgeable on social class and poverty related issues, have become aware of my own social class privilege, and increased my empathy for the difficulties of life in poverty. Furthermore, I am consistently looking for ways to reduce barriers to learning and achievement for economically disadvantaged students. For example, I have worked with a homeless student frequently to obtain him food and housing assistance along with healthcare. I also am active in advocating on behalf of my poor students by educating myself on resources available to them and utilizing them whenever possible. I will continue to educate myself on resources for these students along with issues facing them. I will work to provide social justice by eliminating barriers to their education.
Worldview of Clients �I believe a significant part of multicultural counseling is understanding and empathizing with the worldview of clients. Our unique worldviews are products of our cultures, relationships, spirituality, race, sexuality, economic standing, personal experiences, and the society we live in. Understanding the worldview of our clients allows the counselor to build a therapeutic relationship, better identify the problems of the client, and implement culturally-appropriate interventions. �I will seek to understand the worldview of my clients by further building my knowledge of their cultures and values through research and experiences with diverse groups of people along with building understanding relationships with my clients.
White Privilege �White privilege to me is typically unknown acts of privilege or lack of discrimination because of a “white status” in American society. �White privilege is what I experience on a daily basis. This experience happens everywhere I go and with everyone I interact with. Sometimes it is more evident than others but it is always there. For example, when I go to a store, I am often approached by white women to help them get something from a tall shelf (because I am tall and white, and thus not feared or looked down on). I have never noticed anybody watching me to see if I am going to shoplift or move away from me in the isle. I do not get treated disrespectfully because of my race nor do I have any microaggressions directed towards me. This one example of going to the store shows how I experience white privilege, but it does not just happen at the store, it happens everywhere I go and I am aware of that. This self-awareness is an important competence in multicultural counseling. I will continue to be aware of my white privilege and utilize this knowledge when working with students who do not experience privilege.
Multicultural Competencies in Schools �My current multicultural competency in schools is improving. I have high expectations for all students and consistently show a caring attitude towards them. I have created a counseling curriculum that is culturally-sensitive and celebrates multiculturalism. I respect all cultures and am inclusive of all people. I have increased my own multicultural awareness as a result of this class and look to increase the awareness of the other staff members at my school. �I plan on doing the following to increase the multicultural competence of myself and my school district. I will raise awareness of multiculturalism and move others and myself along the components of awareness, acknowledgement and knowledge, advocacy, and action. Furthermore, I will complete the following as recommended by Carroll (2009): examining current policies and changing language in policies to reflect multiculturalism, reexamining curriculum in classroom and put an emphasis on utilizing multicultural materials, examine and provide culturally appropriate assessments, and examine and reform climate factors (p. 14).
Case study #1 � Case Study: Malachi (p. 115 of text) � Response: Malichi is angry because he is facing systemic oppression in his search for a job. Furthermore, therapist is enforcing the client’s negative views towards therapy and probably whites by his traditional therapeutic approach and personal biases towards the black client. First, therapist does a poor job at building the relationship because of his lack of cultural knowledge and his own personal biases towards people of color. Furthermore, therapist’s belief of individualism is causing anger and frustration from Malichi because he instead values collectivism and would like assistance in finding a job where he is most likely facing racism and oppression. A better way to support Malichi is better build therapeutic relationship so Malichi can be more trusting of therapist, instead of further deepening his mistrust of a white therapist. The therapist should also be aware of the challenges facing Malichi in his hunt for employment and provide more empathy and understanding. The counselor should also provide advice and help for Malichi’s job search instead of implying he is lazy and should do it all on his own.
Case Study #2 �Case Study: Jackie (p. 370 of text) � Response: The first thing I would do to help Jackie is build therapeutic relationship. By building the relationship, I will be better able to earn Jackie's trust and be able to implement interventions. In addition to building the relationship, the suicidal thoughts would need to be addressed immediately. I would need to perform a suicide risk assessment and refer her to an outside therapist to help her with the suicidal thoughts. Assuming there was not an immediate danger to the Jackie for suicide, I would seek to understand the sources of her anger problems, low mood, and other problems. For example, I would seek to find the reasoning behind her statement of "not being smart enough. " This problem could possibly be related to the classroom conditions. I would meet with the teacher and make sure the classroom curriculum and styles are modified considering cultural factors (p. 371). Since there is also some problems with the family, I would also speak with Jackie's mother about possible family therapy or interventions.
Multicultural Theory to Learning in Counseling �As a school counselor, it is essential that all students’ academic, social/emotional, and college/career needs are met. I do this by consistently advocating on behalf of all students, regardless of race, culture, socioeconomic status, or sexual identity. Furthermore, I am integrating the competencies of multicultural counseling into my school through curriculum, individual counseling, advocacy, group counseling, collaboration and consultation with other professionals, and school-wide interventions. �I will continue to apply multicultural theory by continuing to learn more about multicultural theory through professional development, counseling journals, and handon experiences such as internship. I will use this knowledge in my school to improve my use of multicultural theory in my counseling practice.
Reflection �This class has been a true multicultural journey for myself. It has raised my self-awareness, challenged long held beliefs, and provided essential multicultural counseling knowledge and skills. I look forward to continuing my multicultural journey by continuing to gain knowledge about other populations of people and skills that can be utilized in my counseling. Furthermore, I will implement the multicultural counseling skills and knowledge I have gained in my school district in order to advocate for all students and promote social justice.
References �Carroll, D. (2009). Toward Multiculturalism Competence: A Practical Model for Implementation in the Schools. In J. M. Jones (Ed. ) The Psychology of Multiculturalism in the Schools. A Primer for Practice, Training, and Research (pp. 1 -16). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. �Kansas State Department of Education. (2015). Kansas Report Card 2014 -2015. Topeka, KS: Author. Retrieved from http: //ksreportcard. ksde. org/home. aspx? org_no=D 0338&bld g_no=3938&rpt. Type=1 �Sue, D. W. & Sue, D. (2013) Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. Sixth Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
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