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Cultural Competency in Counseling

   

Added on  2021-06-14

6 Pages1319 Words151 Views
Running head: CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN COUNSELINGCULTURAL COMPETENCY IN COUNSELINGName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor note

1CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN COUNSELINGCase study: GeoffreyA divorced man of 56, Geoffrey is an Aboriginal Australian who is confronted with thesituation where he is separated from his family and is currently jobless. Geoffrey has three adultdaughters but is separated from them also. He had a bad phase of five years of alcohol and drugabuse. However, after successfully completing the rehabilitation program three years ago,Geoffrey is now a changed man but those five years of his life had a heavy toll on his health andhis financial condition as well. Finding himself in such a situation, Geoffrey has developeddepression and a feeling of guilt and worthlessness. Further, he has distanced himself from anyproductive activity over the past few years and feels like brain dead. The case of Geoffrey is very complex, as it involves not only a man’s struggle with hispast demons of alcoholism and drug addiction but also an Aboriginal individual. To a non-indigenous counselor like, it would be difficult to address Geoffrey’s issues because his cultureis different from the mainstream Australian culture. Ranzijn, McConnochie and Nolan (2009)have clearly defined the psychological needs of the Indigenous Australian population in theirbook Psychology and Indigenous Australians: Foundations of Cultural Competence. The authorshave rightly pointed out that research that is more extensive is necessary to understand the sadhistory of the Aboriginal people and develop advanced psychological relationships with them.Often, this creates a barrier to the practice of counselors in dealing with clients like Geoffrey.Cultural competence issues like familiarizing with the values and practices of Indigenous people,understanding their perceptions of alcoholism and divorce might arise while addressingGeoffrey’s case. The above-mentioned book includes a detailed description of the Indigenouslife, its history and beliefs amongst others. Cultural concepts like Dreaming, importance offamily and relationships, reciprocity and egalitarianism are associated with Aboriginal people.

2CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN COUNSELINGLacking the knowledge about these concepts, we are bound to face issues of diversity andcultural competency while approaching Geoffrey. In regards to alcohol and substance abuse, ithas been found in numerous studies conducted by the Australian government that IndigenousAustralians have a lower rate of alcohol consumption as compared to non-Indigenousindividuals. Similar is the case with drug addiction where only a quarter of Indigenous people areinvolved in drug abuse. We as counselors might stereotype Geoffrey as belonging to a culturethat encourages alcohol and substance use without knowing these facts. This leads to poor orclouded judgment on part of the counselor owing to weak cultural competency. Marriage anddivorce in Aboriginal tradition are also intrinsic matters to them. Marriages in Aboriginal culturedo not imply a contract between two individuals only but involves the interests of the communityentirely. Divorce therefore, also involved the interests of the families involved and not just thetwo individuals. Divorce in Aboriginal culture could occur either unilaterally or by mutualapproval and involved the termination of cohabitation. Thus, staying away from family for sucha long time might have caused Geoffrey to feel isolated and worthless. A lack of understandingof these facts about Aboriginal marriage and divorce may result further in wrong approach of thecounselor. In order to approach the case of Geoffrey, it is therefore important for us to consider allthe implications. We must remember that our thoughts about marriage and divorce might not bealigned to the ideas of Geoffrey. As Ranzijn, McConnochie and Nolan (2009) have mentioned intheir book, Aboriginal clients must be approached sensitively because they do not have the sameupbringing as many of us Australians have. As a first step, we should wash away all thestereotypes that we form about Aboriginal people and treat him like a normal human being.However, we have to be careful not to be too casual with him because although we might treat

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