Professional Practice: Evolving Understanding of Diversity

This essay explores the author's evolving understanding of diversity before and after completing a relevant course. Initially, diversity was perceived mainly as visual differences in languages, cultures, and religious practices. However, the course expanded this understanding to include the diversity of personality and ways of working, emphasizing that diversity extends beyond external appearances such as nationality, gender, or culture. The author reflects on how this new understanding impacts their professional practice in the field of alcohol and drug addiction counseling, acknowledging the role of cultural background and personal history in addiction cases. The essay also touches upon the importance of communication skills and interaction with people of diverse backgrounds. The author references academic sources to support the evolving perspective on diversity and its implications for professional effectiveness. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a variety of study tools and solved assignments for students.

Running head: DIVERSITY
DIVERSITY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Name of the University
Author note:

1DIVERSITY
The world is diverse in all aspects and the job of counselling requires a person to
understand diversity in its true sense. The counsellors have to deal with people of various
social strata and mind-set. Therefore it is imperative for a person in the profession of
counselling to study and understand diversity in its true sense so that he or she may cater to
the target population effectively.
I thought I had a clear understanding of diversity before the commencement of this
course and for me diversity was mainly the various languages and cultures that people
practice and profess throughout the world. The various religious sects, the various concepts
of society and hierarchy of social order is what I understood as diversity. Diversity was
mainly visual as per my idea before the commencement of the course.
However a lot of the things what I perceived as diversity changed after I studied the
various materials given in the course and a large chunk of knowledge base was added to my
existing idea about diversity.
I studied and learnt that according to Ahmed and Swan (2006) “The challenge of
diversity is much more than a change in terminology from categories like gender, ethnicity,
age and class to the more encompassing and concealing term ‘diversity’”. Diversity is much
more than what is just visible in our eyes and the external appearance or look of a person.
Now as a counsellor in the field of alcohol and drug addiction I can safely say that diversity
of the personality of people is much more varied than the external appearance of diversity. In
the field of work diversity is not only what is externally visible as the nationality, gender, or
culture of the staff members, but it is actually the way people work and perceive work
(Barak, 2016). “In a way, not only is diversity becoming a performance indicator in the
United Kingdom, but it is also something organisations are increasingly performing” (Ahmed
and Swan, 2006).

2DIVERSITY
According to Holck, Muhr and Villeseche (2016) the literatures concerned with
diversity and identity are intertwined. Identity of the people and their idea of self-identity, if
examined, it will be understood that every individual has different idea and perception about
their surrounding and each other.
The field in which I am working, I have to deal with various people most of whom are
affected by addiction of very critical nature. Therefore the reasons behind getting addicted are
different in each case. The effects of such addiction is different in each case. The cultural
background of people also plays a crucial role in the identity formation (Adams & Bell,
2016). Most of the addiction cases I have seen, the victims either had a difficult and
challenging past or they had a lack of guidance.
I acknowledge the fact that I have understood diversity much better after properly
studying the material related to the course. I have interacted with people of diverse
background and improved my communication skills.

3DIVERSITY
Reference:
Adams, M., & Bell, L. A. (Eds.). (2016). Teaching for diversity and social justice. Routledge.
Ahmed, S., & Swan, E. (2006). Doing diversity.
Barak, M. E. M. (2016). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Holck, L., Muhr, S. L., & Villesèche, F. (2016). Identity, diversity and diversity management:
On theoretical connections, assumptions and implications for practice. Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 35(1), 48-64.