Q) How do you think multicultural awareness relates to effective and ethical communication?

Discuss with examples.

Ans) Once you master the skill of riding a bike, you will always be able to ride a bike, or so
the theory goes. But counselors would be mistaken if they apply that same logic to
multicultural competence, says Michael Brooks, president of the Association for
Multicultural Counseling and Development, a division of the American Counseling
Association. Instead, he says, remaining multiculturally competent requires constant work,
study and development as counselors move through their careers.
Some counselor educators and practitioners think, incorrectly, that once they have learned
about multiculturalism in a class or by reading a book, that they have checked the box and
are done, Brooks says. Other counselors believe they are automatically competent about
multicultural issues in counseling because of their own backgrounds, heritage or exposure to
those from other cultures. For example, Brooks says, a counselor might think, Well, I dated
someone from this culture, so I know about issues relating to this group. Although the
counselor likely learned from that experience, Brooks says, that one particular experience
should not be considered representative of an entire group of people.
Brooks says counselors should view multicultural competence in a similar fashion to a
professional certification. You obtain it, and then you maintain it, says Brooks, an associate
professor in the Department of Human Development and Services at North Carolina A&T
State University in Greensboro.
ACA President Cirecie West-Olatunji agrees, saying that counselors must accept the idea that
multicultural competence is ever changing and demands constant work and attention. Maybe
were competent enough in that moment, but well never be a card-carrying member of
multicultural competence and that is something we have to learn to be OK with, says
West-Olatunji, the counseling program director at the University of Cincinnati and director of
the universitys Center for Traumatic Stress Research.
The importance of striving toward multicultural competence cant be overstated, she says.
We understand and believe that to be multiculturally competent is to be effective [as a
counselor]. We cant avoid it or see it as an add-on or optional.
Despite extensive training in multiculturalism, West-Olatunji says that when she started out
in counseling private practice, she was still operating from a predominantly Western
perspective and treating her clients as if they were middle-class white males.
Most of what I had learned in my course work was based on evidence-based interventions
with middle-class white males, she says. So, I had very few resources that were shown to
be effective with diverse populations. In effect, I had to first educate my clients about how
to behave as middle-class white males, and only then could I provide interventions. Over
time, my clients patiently taught me about their own realities and worldviews. Then I was
able to develop culturally responsive interventions.
Having the capability to work with clients from their own cultural perspective is more
expedient in resolving issues, West-Olatunji says. She offers the concept of ambiguity as an
example. In Western cultures, counselors are taught that when a client asks a question, the
counselor should reflect it back, saying something along the lines of, What do you think the
problem is? And what do you think the answer should be?
That ambiguous, reflection-based response may work within a conventional Western
perspective, West-Olatunji says, but counselors must also have an awareness of when that
perspective doesnt fit with the client sitting in front of them. Otherwise, counselors run the
risk of compromising their credibility with those clients. For a lot of culturally diverse
clients, those kinds of reflective responses can appear as though you dont know [the answer]
or youre avoiding the question, she says.
Instead, West-Olatunji suggests that counselors use more engaging responses with culturally
diverse clients. For example, counselors might consider asking these clients to role-play as if
they were talking with someone important in their life who has provided them with those
kinds of definitive answers in the past. Lets have a conversation with that person and move
forward with that, West-Olatunji might tell a client.
Just as each counselors work is never done when it comes to multicultural competence,
West-Olatunji says the profession as a whole must continue reaching higher as well.
Although we have come a long way in disseminating research about multiculturalism in
counseling, we still have a long way to go, she says. First, counselors-in-training and
practitioners still evidence resistance to the topic of multicultural counseling. We need to
continue to investigate resistance to multicultural counseling. Second, counselor educators
conduct the bulk of the research. So, much of the research is about what multicultural
counseling is rather than how we enact it. Now is the time for us to investigate clinical
practice in the area of multicultural counseling.
For example, West-Olatunji says, research has shown that many African American clients
utilize spirituality as a way of maintaining well-being. We know that, but what does that
mean when Im working with a client? she asks. When the door closes, what evidence-
based practices do I have available to me that use spirituality for working with African
American clients?
West-Olatunjis hope is that the profession will keep growing, moving forward and seeking
answers to questions regarding multiculturalism.
To probe this issue further, Counseling Today contacted several ACA members who have
studied, researched or worked in the area of multiculturalism. Read on for their thoughts
about the state of multiculturalism within counseling.