Cultural Competency in Counselling: Maria's Case Study Analysis

This case study examines the challenges of cultural competency in counseling through the analysis of Maria, a 40-year-old Italian Catholic woman experiencing depression due to her lesbian relationship and her inability to reconcile her sexual orientation with her religious beliefs. The assignment explores the complexities of navigating Maria's internalized homophobia, stemming from her Catholic background and the societal pressures she faces. The counselor's role involves understanding Maria's cultural and religious context, building a therapeutic alliance, and employing strategies to address her psychological conflicts. The assignment emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, non-judgmental approaches, and the need for the counselor to facilitate Maria's acceptance of her sexual orientation while considering her relationship with her partner and family dynamics. The case study highlights the significance of providing a supportive environment, potentially involving community programs and support groups, to help Maria overcome her feelings of guilt, isolation, and internalized homophobia. The analysis also extends to the perspective of Maria's partner, Gill, emphasizing the need for her support and understanding in Maria's journey towards self-acceptance.

Running head: CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN COUNSELLING
CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN COUNSELLING
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author note

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Case Study: Maria
Maria, a 40-year old Italian woman suffers from depression due to the complications that
arose in her relationship with her partner Gill. Maria has been in a 20 years long relationship
with Gill, her lesbian partner but now she is in a dilemma whether to continue the relationship or
not. As per the case, the main reason for this situation is Maria’s inability to confront her family
regarding her relationship and most importantly her sexual orientation. Hailing from the Italian
Catholic background, Maria sees herself as defective due to her sexual orientation. She feels
ashamed that she is lesbian because her Catholicism describes same-sex relationship as sinful.
Chui et al. (2018) opine that counselors, just like their clients are diverse in their views
and opinions about the beliefs and values that concern counseling. To put it simply, clients’
values might not always align with the values of the counselor. I have referred to this fact
because I think it is important to know that our clients might not hold the same belief and values
as we do. In dealing with Maria, I will face the difficulty to understand her Catholic belief
because I come from a background where same-sex relationships are neither considered sinful
nor welcomed. One major issue of diversity arising in case of Maria is that she belongs to an
Italian Catholic family that is very different from the Australian culture. Furthermore, Maria is
closely attached to her Catholic values and beliefs but at the same time feels helpless about her
sexual preferences. As a counselor, I will face the difficulty to make Maria understand that she is
not wrong and that her relationship with Gill is not sinful even in God’s eyes. Sometimes we
tend to become judgmental about clients like Maria who are so rigidly involved in following
religious faith. This leads to cultural incompetency when counselors are unable to help clients to
integrate their sexual orientation into their religion. Boroughs et al. (2015) examined the cases of
some LGBT clients and found that possessing qualities like self-awareness, a historical

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perspective and nonjudgmental approach enhances cultural competency of the counselors.
Maria’s case also brings forth the complexity of her ideals colliding with that of her partner gill.
In order to address the situation of Maria, we will have to proceed with the therapeutic
treatment that addresses her psychological conflict. The book titled Psychology and Indigenous
Australians: Foundations of Cultural Competence by Ranzijn, McConnochie and Nolan (2009)
provides a solid ground on which we could base our knowledge on counseling. Although the
book focuses on the psychological study of Indigenous Australians, it contains important and
valuable knowledge about trans-cultural communication. Dealing with Maria, who hails from a
different religious and cultural background would require us to understand the psychology
behind her thoughts and then proceed systematically.
The first step in the therapeutic process is to agree about the goals of the therapy.
Secondly, we must make the client consent on the tasks and processes that she will have to
perform during the therapy. Lastly, we will have to build a positive relationship with the client to
provide her a free and comfortable space. It is important to understand her situation properly and
act as an advocate to her. Counselors across the globe use the term ‘coming out’ to describe the
acceptance and acknowledgment of LGBT people about their sexual orientation. When an
individual discloses his or her sexual preference to the family and the family is not accepting of
it, it causes added guilt and stress to the individual. In Maria’s case, we could see that she has not
even ‘come out’ to her family and yet she feels guilt and depressed. It is our responsibility being
a counselor, to know in details about Maria’s family and her bond with her family. Then, we
could even meet her family and make them aware about the LGBT community without directly
disclosing Maria’s secret. However, it is important to take consent from her before approaching
her family. Further, we need to interact with her partner Gill and try to analyze her feelings for

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Maria and make her understand Maria’s dilemma. We must be aware of the fact that different
cultures have different perceptions about homosexuality where some cultures are welcoming and
others are hostile. We should not compel Maria to confess about her relationship to her family.
Maria has developed a feeling of internalized homophobia that means that she thinks all
the stereotypes and myths surrounding homosexual relationships are true (Frost, 2018). Due to
this, it has become difficult for her to be in a committed relationship with Gill. She feels isolated
ad helpless. We as counselors should arrange for a session where Maria gets to meet other
similar individuals and engages in healthy and jovial activities. In addition, we could organize an
LBGT community program where Maria can display her talents and share her experience at the
same time. Further, we could encourage her to visit other Catholic people who have similar
sexual orientations and make her realize that she is not alone in her battle. I would also be good
if we could provide a platform where Maria can explore her true potential and understand that
she is not defective just because she is a lesbian. In this way, we can help Maria overcome her
guilt and positively accept her sexual orientation. We have to focus also on Gill who is
unwilling to hide her relationship with Maria and feels betrayed by her partner. We should make
Gill understand Maria’s predicament and encourage her to support her partner. Apart from that,
we can take Gill’s assistance to help Maria come out of her guilt. Gill could play the role of a
supportive partner who stands strongly by her partner’s side and helps her come out strong from
the situation. Counselors like me who are straight in their sexual preferences sometimes tend to
approach such issues like that of Maria from that perspective. It is important for us also to be
open to our clients about our sexual orientation in order to help them come out of their own
internalized homophobia.

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References:
Boroughs, M. S., Bedoya, C. A., O'cleirigh, C., & Safren, S. A. (2015). Toward defining,
measuring, and evaluating LGBT cultural competence for psychologists. Clinical
Psychology: Science and Practice, 22(2), 151-171.
Chui, H., McGann, K. J., Ziemer, K. S., Hoffman, M. A., & Stahl, J. (2018). Trainees’ use of
supervision for therapy with sexual minority clients: A qualitative study. Journal of
counseling psychology, 65(1), 36.
David M. Frost, I. (2018). Internalized Homophobia and Relationship Quality among Lesbians,
Gay Men, and Bisexuals. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2678796/
Ranzijn, R., McConnochie, K., & Nolan, W. (2009). Psychology and indigenous Australians.
South Yarra: Palgrave Macmillan.