SLWK 1216 Winter 2020 - Diverse Counselling: Social Positionality

This essay provides a critical reflection on social position and its impact on diverse counselling practices, particularly within the context of Toronto's diverse population. It examines an article focusing on anti-black racism and community engagement, emphasizing the importance of active listening and cultural competence. The reflection incorporates personal insights and proposes goals for cultural emergence, including developing cultural competence and understanding racial identity to promote inclusivity and address societal issues. The essay concludes by highlighting the significance of cultural diversity in fostering a positive workforce culture and preparing individuals to address cultural issues within their communities. The provided solution is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study resources including past papers and solved assignments.

Running Head: DIVERSE COUNSELLING
DIVERSE COUNSELLING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note:

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INTRODUCTION
Critical reflection on Social position and thought regarding working with diversity
Social position refers to developing knowledge about working with people from different
culture. It is the chance to acknowledge the culture and its effect that is more difficult to
understand. It can affect of impact the other members of the community a person is living in.
According to Pruden et al., (2015) the Human Right Commission of Ontario (OHRC) is strictly
against the discrimination based on ancestry, creed, race, color, place of birth, and the source of
ethnicity. The mission of the organization is to promote the human rights and engage the human
being in relationship building with proper principle of dignity and accountability.
Working with diversity refers to showing equal respect for every culture and race existing
within the community. According to the research, Toronto is the place that is observed with
greater diversity. From the personal opinion, it should be mentioned that, people possess the
tendency to be asked with the question about their lives and the cultures (Yuya, 2018). Working
with the diversity is the excellent quality an employee can possess to maintain a healthy
workplace environment within the organization.
Discussion
Examining the chosen article
This article is based on the African citizens contributing for making the community
stronger. Kumsa et al., (2014) mentioned about developing an effective plan for anti-black
racism in the community of Toronto. The plan must adhere to the responsibilities that can
leverage the experiences along with the insights of Black Torontonians. There are several aspects
mentioned by the researchers to add within the development plan including – childhood

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development, community and health related services, scope for jobs and supports for efficient
income, justice system and policies, and black leadership with community engagement. The
article also mentioned about raising awareness for anti-black racism within Toronto. This
campaign was grounded on the experiences drawn by the black leaders, educators, and the entire
communal group and organizations (Ontario Human Rights Commission. 2018). The article
mentions various comments from different leaders or other professionals about diverse culture.
To quote Okeima Lawrence – Living in Toronto the persona was always addressed as Jamaican
Kid. The comment mentioned the fact of acknowledging the fact that being a black is a matter of
complexity for the world however the person was a Canadian (Kumsa et al., 2014).
Reflection on active listening
During the course of discussion, the two main techniques of implementing the acquired
knowledge from the article. Firstly, to infuse the knowledge about diverse culture a person must
be aware about the culture or region of the other person involved within the communication. It is
a thoughtful procedure for the person to exhibit concern about the culture of the other person
(Anucha et al., 2018). In this way the conversation will contain a mutual respect for both the
persons involved within the conversation. Secondly, before moving for a communication, the
person should research about the effective confrontation. This step refers to reading about the
original history about the person’s origin and insight of the other personality. Pre-awareness
about the cultural history of any person help the other to build a healthy conversation within any
workplace or within any community.
Developing two goals for cultural emergence

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After reading the existing materials on cultural diversity, one can easily set certain goals
to be achieved for emerging as a cultural personality. Firstly, introducing the self with the
concept of cultural competence. Cultural competence refers to becoming aware about the
available cultural traits surrounding the location a person is living. It assures a healthy
communication procedure for both the participants of the communication procedure. Secondly,
understanding the racial identity and the policies to omit such negative practices from the entire
society. Race is a concept that involves a serious history irrespective of the place and origin.
Hence, it is important for a person to identify own racial identity before measuring any other
people and their racial identity also.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that, cultural diversity is the most crucial thing to be
incorporated within the characteristic traits of every human being. The purpose of setting these
goals by a particular person is to making the self prepared for addressing the issues related to
cultural diversity living within a community. Along with this, it is an important factor to ensure a
positive workforce culture within the organizations also.

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References
Anucha, U., Srikanthan, S., Siad-Togane, R., & Galabuzi, G. E. (2018). Doing Right Together
for Black Youth: What We Learned from the Community Engagement Sessions for the
Ontario Black Youth Action Plan.
Kumsa, M. K., Mfoafo-M'Carthy, M., Oba, F., & Gaasim, S. (2014). The contours of anti-black
racism: Engaging anti-oppression from embodied spaces. Journal of Critical Anti-
Oppressive Social Inquiry, 1(1).
Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2018). Interrupted childhoods: Over-representation of
Indigenous and Black children in Ontario child welfare.
Pruden, C., Hsiung, C., Derbyshire, P., Hamilton, T., Hurst, M., Corradetti, O., & Wolf, S. R. S.
(2015). Elder in the Making-Aistammatsstohksin K-12 Lesson Plans for Alberta
Educators Inspired by the Film.
Thomas, D., & Zuckerman, A. (2018). Black lives matter in community
pssychology. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 4(2), 1-8.
Yuya, K. (2018). Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present
(Book Review). Studies in Social Justice, 12(1), 182-187.