13/01/16 Oswald Bennie Level 4 Diploma in Christian Counselling
Learning Criteria: ( K 7.1 ) Explain, in a counselling context a working definition for
culture, diversity and transcultural counselling.
Culture
Culture as defined in The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ), is: ' the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular people or society ' (OED, 2012). Culture is a social concept that includes values, attitudes and behaviour common to a group of people. Culture informs the essence of our being, shaping our upbringing and our view of the world around us. Culture has a bearing on how we think, feel and process our ...view middle of the document...
Transcultural or Cross-Cultural Counselling
Most approaches to counselling are developed by well-educated white therapists, working with well educated white counselees who accept the values and attitudes of the well-educated white culture. Our culture has a bearing on our views of right and wrong, pathology, money, the ideal family, the importance of success, the influence of early childhood, or how to counsel others. Therefore the traditional counselling approaches often fail to fit other cultures or sub cultures ( such as, the elderly, teenagers, single adults, those obese or the unemployed ) within the local community.
Both counsellor and client brings with them their own values, perspectives, beliefs, and expectations into the counselling room. Therefore communication is likely to be more difficult if the counsellor and client hold different cultural viewpoints. Both counsellor and client will have to break through personal barriers, that is, ( individual values, attitudes, and perspectives ) and also cultural values ( the ideas, and viewpoints held by the people in their own culture ) inorder for effective communication to take place.
For counsellors working across cultures and language, the counsellor needs check that the client understands what's being communicated in terms of content as well as whether the style of counselling is beneficial for the client. For example, a non-directive approach to counselling may be confusing for the client if they come from a culture where they are taught to obey those in authority and probably expect to be directed in some way.
By recognise the influence of their own culture and sub culture, counsellors can prepare themselves to understand and appreciate clients from different cultures.
Some general cross-cultural principles could be:-
1.) The counsellor needs to understand the client's worldview. This involves trying to
imagine what the client's world is like.
2.) The counsellor is...
