Counseling the Culturally Diverse. Laura Smith L.

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СКАЧАТЬ an accurate observation, it serves to make the student and other Whites less culpable by equating one form of bias with another. If the student can get other groups to admit they too are “racist,” then less guilt and responsibility for one's own biased beliefs and actions will be experienced.

Second, note that the reaction from the student of color is diametrically opposite to that of the White trainee. This student reacts positively to the material, finds the content helpful in explaining his/her experiential reality, and feels validated and reaffirmed. In other words, the student finds the content of the book truthful, compelling and empathetic. The student of color describes how the content and tone of the book make him/her feel liberated, provide a voice to describe racial experiences, and tap into and allow him/her to express feelings like anger and frustration. The student implies that most courses on multicultural psychology are taught from a EuroAmerican perspective, but the book content “tells it like it is.” Additionally, the student seems to take pleasure in observing the discomfort of White students, expresses little sympathy for their struggles in the class, and enjoys seeing them being placed on the defensive. (We will return to the meaning of this last point shortly.)

      It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that White students and students of color respond uniformly in one way. As we will explore in future chapters, many White students react positively to the book and some students of color report negative reactions. However, in general, there are major worldview differences and reactions to the material between the groups. For example, many socially marginalized group members find solace in the book; they describe a deep sense of validation, release, elation, joy, and even feelings of liberation as they read the text.

      The important question to ask is, “Why do Students of Color react so differently from their White counterparts?” After all, the content of the book remains the same, but the perceptions appear worlds apart. The short answer is that racial realities differ between groups because of differences in lived experience, just like differences in realities between men and women, gays and straights, able‐bodied and those with disabilities, Christians and Jews, and rich and poor. MCT is about being able to bridge these differences, to relate to the worldview of culturally diverse clients, to not silence their stories, to listen to their narratives without becoming defensive, but most importantly, to not impose your definitions of normality and abnormality upon them.

For practicing professionals and trainees in the helping professions, understanding the differing worldviews of our racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse clients is tantamount to effective multicultural counseling. But understanding our own reactions to issues of diversity, multiculturalism, oppression, race, gender, and sexual orientation is equally important to our development as counselors/therapists (Collins, Arthur, & Brown, 2013; Melasmed, 2021). As we will shortly see, that understanding can be quite anxiety‐provoking, especially when we are asked to confront our own biases, prejudices, and stereotypes. The old adage “counselor or therapist, know thyself” is the basic building block to cultural competence and cultural humility in the helping professions.

      BY THE NUMBERS

      How often do well‐intentioned helping professional engage in implicit biases toward clients of color?

       41–83% of clients of color report at least experiencing one racial microaggression in therapy.

       The most common forms of microaggressions were avoidance or minimization of cultural issues.

       76% of the microaggressions experienced were never addressed in the sessions.

       <50% of therapists could even recognize microaggressions.

       Clients of color rated therapists who commit microaggressions or are unable to recognize them as less sensitive, less culturally competent, and less attuned to cultural issues.

       The unconscious bias of helping professionals prevents or ruptures therapeutic alliances.

       Source: Owen, Tao, and Drinane (2019).

EMOTIONAL SELF‐REVELATIONS AND FEARS: MAJORITY GROUP MEMBERS

      As you will shortly see, the book's subject matter (a) deals with prejudice, bias, stereotyping, discrimination, and bigotry; (b) makes a strong case that counseling and psychotherapy may serve as instruments of cultural oppression rather than therapeutic liberation (Sue, 2015; Wendt, Gone, & Nagata, 2015); (c) indicates that well‐intentioned mental health professionals are not immune from inheriting the racial, gender, and other biases of the larger society (Owen, Tao, & Drinane, 2019); and (d) suggests therapists and trainees may be unconsciously biased toward clients from marginalized groups (Ratts & Pedersen, 2014).

Although supported by the research literature and by clinical observations and reports, these assertions can be quite disturbing to members of the majority group. If you are a majority group member and beginning the journey to developing cultural competence and cultural humility, you may share similar reactions to those of the students. Both White students, for example, are reacting with defensiveness, anger and resentment; they believe that the authors are unjustly accusing U.S. society and White Americans of racism, and claim the authors are themselves “racist” but of a different color. They may become defensive and actively resist and reject the content of the book. If these feelings persist throughout the course unabated, they will act as barriers to learning and further self‐exploration. However, what do these negative reactions mean to the students? Why are they so upset? Dr. Mark Kiselica (Sue & Sue, 2013, pp. 8–9), a White psychologist and former provost of a college in New York, writes about his own negative emotional reactions to reading the book during his graduate training. His personal and emotional reactions to the book provide us with some clues.

       I was shaken to my core the first time I read Counseling the Culturally Different (now Counseling the Culturally Diverse) … At the time, I was a doctoral candidate at The Pennsylvania State University's counseling psychology program, and I had been reading Sue's book in preparation for my comprehensive examinations, which I was scheduled to take toward the end of the spring semester…

       I wish I could tell you that I had acquired Sue's book because I was genuinely interested in learning about multicultural counseling … I am embarrassed to say, however, that that was not the case. I had purchased Sue's book purely out of necessity, figuring out that I had better read the book because I was likely to be asked a major question about cross‐cultural counseling on the comps. During the early and middle 1980s, taking a course in multicultural counseling was not a requirement in many graduate counseling programs, including mine, and I had decided not to take my department's pertinent course as an elective. I saw myself as a culturally sensitive person, and I concluded that the course wouldn't have much to offer me. Nevertheless, I understood that … the professor, who taught the course, would likely submit a question to the pool of materials being used to construct the comps. So, I prudently went to the university bookstore and purchased a copy … because that was the text … used for his course.

       I didn't get very far with my highlighting and note‐taking before I started to react to Sue's book with great anger and disgust. Early on in the text, Sue blasted the mental health system for its historical mistreatment of people who were considered to be ethnic minorities in the United States. He especially took on White mental health professionals, charging them with a legacy of ethnocentric and racist beliefs and practices that had harmed people of color and made them leery of counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. It seemed that Sue didn't have a single good thing to say about White America. I was ticked off at СКАЧАТЬ