Evaluating Multicultural Counseling Competencies

As a school counselor in an international school, students are unique in that many, if not the majority, strongly identify with their home culture and legitimately expect to re-assimilate back into their home context in the future.

Many international school students are removed from their home culture as career demands of parents arise and may not feel a sense of voluntary internationalism (Dixon, & Hayden, 2008). Further our student’s parents frequently work within embassies or companies with a strong presence of their home culture thus further preserving original cultural ties. There can also be an influential common thread of experience that binds these students together in a demographic subculture that Unseem (1976) referred to as Third Culture Kids or TCKs in an atmosphere where diversity is the norm and tolerance an explicit value.

Even in the most interculturally understanding and respectful school communities, one of the essential qualities of all school counselors is a foundation of culture-infused counseling competence to inform our work with students. Below you will find a list of Collins and Arthur’s (2007) domains and competencies of culture-infused counseling. As you read through it, consider which of these competencies you could develop further to improve your work. What would you hear yourself saying or see yourself doing that would show an increased level of mastery?

A Framework of Culture-Infused Counseling Competencies

Domain I: Cultural Awareness—Self: Active awareness of personal assumptions, values, and biases

• Core Competency I – Demonstrate awareness of your own cultural identities.
• Core Competency 2 – Demonstrate awareness of differences between your own cultural identities and those of individuals from other dominant or non-dominant groups.
• Core Competency 3 – Demonstrate awareness of the impact of culture on the theory and practice of counseling/psychology.
• Core Competency 4 – Demonstrate awareness of the personal and professional impact of the discrepancy between dominant and non-dominant cultural groups.
• Core Competency 5 – Demonstrate awareness of your level of multicultural competence.

Domain II: Cultural Awareness—Other: Understanding the worldview of the client.

• Core Competency I – Demonstrate awareness of the cultural identities of your clients.
• Core Competency 2 – Demonstrate awareness of the relationship of personal culture to health and well-being.
• Core Competency 3 – Demonstrate awareness of the socio-political influences that impinge on the lives of non-dominant populations.

Domain III: Culturally Sensitive Working Alliance

• Core Competency 1 – Establish trusting and respectful relationships with clients that take into ac- count cultural identities.
• Core Competency 2 – Collaborate with clients to establish counselling goals that are responsive to salient dimensions of cultural identity.
• Core Competency 3 – Collaborate with clients to establish client and counselor tasks that are responsive to salient dimensions of cultural identity.

Adapted from Collins and Arthur (2007). A Framework for enhancing multicultural counselling competence.

The above competencies are particularly relevant to international school counseling. However, as globalization further influences the cultures of both our domestic and international counseling work and our understanding of culture expands to include ability, sexuality, ethnicity, among numerous others, these competencies have become central to our effectiveness regardless of location. To further explore this topic please refer to the references below. – AC

Adam Clark is a school counselor at Yokohama International School in Yokohama, Japan. Find out more at http://whoisadamclark.com/who-is

References

Collins, S., & Arthur, N. (2007). A framework for enhancing multicultural counselling competence. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 41(1), 31-49

Dixon, P, & Hayden, M. (2008). ‘on the move’: primary age children in transition. Cambridge Journal of Education, 38(4), 483-496.

Useem, R.H., & Downie R. (1976). Third-culture kids. Today’s Education, 65 (3), 103-105.

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