CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICE (Essay Sample)

Cultural diversity in psychological practice Name: Institution: Cultural diversity in psychological practice In the modern world, demographic changes have become increasingly prominent globally, thus suggesting that multicultural competency and counseling is inevitable. The counselors also need to have multicultural competence, which is the ability to interact appropriately with people who are socioeconomically or culturally different. We need to be competent so as to communicate with clients who come from various cultures. With this in mind, this journal discusses the importance of multicultural competence in the effectiveness of multicultural counseling. The increasing diversity of culture today means that many individuals who seek help from psychologists or work together could be from different cultural backgrounds. To adapt to this situation, counselors need to have a good understanding of the various ways in which culture impacts the counseling relationship. For instance, a male counselor could casually greet a female Muslim client with a handshake, yet it is not allowed in the Muslims' cultural background. The lack of awareness or sensitivity to people's cultural backgrounds may have serious consequences, such as the client's refusal to participate, thus hindering the counseling relationship. Today, the roles of counselors or psychologists have evolved, and it requires them to be culturally aware of the diversity in culture, which is having multicultural competency. In further elaboration, multicultural competency is being fluent in two or more cultures. For instance, we can use three dimensions to define a culturally competent counselor. Firstly, such a counselor always tries to understand things from the culturally different client's perspective. Secondly, these instructors actively practice and develop an intervention strategy when serving a customer from a different culture. Lastly, they are aware of their assumptions about biases, behaviors or values. All in all, having multicultural competence enables people to understand that their methods of interactions may not be beneficial to individuals with different cultural backgrounds and also realize that cultures should not be a problem for proper communication. Despite being multicultural competent, it is worth noting that cultural groups are not discrete, but rather they are overlapping, hence resulting in a noticeable difference between each person. Therefore, instead of paying too much attention to the client's differences, it is necessary to employ a global system that is an individual-centered approach. The person-centered approach means that the counselor’s role is still the same, to guide and assist the clients achieve ob...