7C:357 Advanced Group Counseling and Psychotherapy Dr.

Nicholas Colangelo Spring 2001 Multicultural Considerations in Group Counseling

Class Presentation #1

James Bethea Noel Estrada-Hernndez Robinson A. Vzquez-Ramos

March 7, 2001

Multicultural Perspectives
Multicultural/Bilingual overtones of the American population. Socio-political factors (Civil Right Movement). Demographic change in the Racial/Ethnic composition of the population. Effective delivery of Group Counseling Services. Clients culture. Sensitivity to individual differences Professional Competences (knowledge, awareness, attitude and skills).

Counseling Approaches
Many counseling approaches fail to meet the complex needs of various ethnic and minority clients. The ethnic and minority clients perceive that the counselors have stereotyped perceptions about their needs. Asian-American, African-American, Latinos, NativeAmerican and members of other minority groups terminate significantly earlier than do European-American clients.

The dropout rate is often caused by barriers such as:

Language difficulties. Culture-bound values. Stereotyped generalizations about social or cultural group.

Pedersen (1989, 1990, 1994) views multiculturalism as the fourth force in the counseling field, along with the psychodynamic, behavioral, and humanistic perspectives.

Pedersen believes that multiculturalism is the most important new idea to shape the profession in twenty years.

Some of the basic assumptions Pedersen makes about multiculturalism have a significant impact on techniques in group work.
Culture is best defined broadly rather narrowly. The multicultural perspective is relevant to all aspects of counseling practice rather than being limited to exotic populations and special interest groups. Multicultural needs to be understood as a continuous in all fields of counseling rather than as an attempt to develop a new and separate field. Multiculturalism can be the basis for people to disagree without one person being right and the other being wrong.

If the counselor intends to be involved in group work with culturally diverse population:
He/She must be willing to modify their strategies to meet the unique needs of the members.
He/She must be aware that no one right technique can be utilized across the board with clients irrespective of their cultural background.

He/She must feel there is a need to develop culture specific strategies for diverse population.

Advantages and limitations when using group formats with culturally diverse client populations:
Advantages
Members can gain much from the power and strength of collective group feedback. They can be supportive of one another. As members see their peers challenging themselves and making desired change in their lives it gives them hope that change is possible for them.

Limitations
Some individuals may be reluctant to readily disclose personal material or share family conflict. They may see it as shameful. People from some cultures rely on members of extended family for help rather than seeking professional assistance. Some individuals may not feel comfortable in a group. Some may be hesitant to join a group because of their unfamiliarity with how group works.

Multicultural Considerations in Group Counseling

If you hope to become an effective multicultural group counselor, you need to be able to understand the importance of the following components:

multicultural awareness in group practice

multicultural skills as a group counselor

Issues and strategies leading culturally diverse counseling groups

Multicultural Awareness and Skills in Group Practice

How may a counselor work ethically and effectively with group members who are culturally different from themselves? If counselors do not understand how their cultural background influence their own thinking and behavior, there is little chance they can work ethically and effectively with group members who are culturally different from themselves. Understanding and respecting difference in people is included in the ACAs code of ethics: Counselors will actively attempt to understand the diverse cultural background of the client with whom they work. This include, but is not limited to, learning how the counselors own cultural, ethnic, racial identity impacts her/his values and believes about the counseling process. (A.2.b)

Multicultural Awareness and Skills in Group Practice:

Most of the code of ethics of the various professional organizations now give some attention to applying these principles when working with culturally diverse clients. For example, the APAs Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs has developed guidelines for providers of psychological services to ethnic, linguistic, and culturally diverse population.

Multicultural Awareness and Skills in Group Practice:

Corey (1997) provides a sample of some APAs modified guidelines for working with groups:

Group counselors acknowledge that ethnicity and culture influence behavior. Group counselors consider the impact of adverse social, environmental, and political factors in assessing problems and designing interventions. Group counselors are aware of how their own cultural background, attitude, values, believes, and bias, influence their work, and they make efforts to correct any prejudice they may have. Group counselors respect the roles of family and community hierarchies within a clients culture. Group counselors inform members about basic values that are implicit in the group process (such as self-disclosure, striding for independence and autonomy, risk taking expressing emotions, directness in communicating, and trust in the group).

Issues and Strategies Leading Culturally Diverse Counseling Groups

Some experts view culturally diverse counseling groups as being potentially disruptive to the general goals of counseling, whereas others see the composition of such groups as only a minor problem that can be dealt with effectively as a part of the counseling process. Intracultural Counseling
Ethnic similarity between counselor and the client represent the optimal pairing arrangement.

Cross-cultural Counseling
Believe that the counselors training and sensitivity can transcend ethnic differences.

Multicultural Considerations in Group Counseling

Group members bring with them their values, beliefs, and prejudices, which can quickly become apparent.
One goal of multicultural group counseling is to provide new levels of communication among members. This goal can prove helpful in overcoming stereotyped attitudes by providing accurate information about oneself and ones racial, ethnic, or cultural group. The second goal is to establish sensitivity, understanding, and trust with members of other cultural groups.

Potential Issues in Culturally Diverse Counseling Groups (Johnson et al., 1995)

Extreme emotionality Lack of communication Group nondirection Racial, ethnic and cultural identity Color blind norm Self-disclosure Trust Feelings of belongingness Theoretical orientation of the leader Educational preparation and technical experience of the leader

Strategies and Recommendations

If possible, group counselors should avoid having a single member of a minority or out-group in group counseling, because such an arrangement may block communication and group cohesion. It may be necessary for some types of group to have coleaders from different racial, ethnic, and cultural background. Change the way individual members interact with another. Assess and explore potential prejudiced attitudes held by group members.

Johnson, Torres, Coleman, and Smith (1995) provide some recommendations for group counselors interested in building cross-cultural awareness and competence:
Consultation or group coleadership with minority counselors already serving specific cultural groups.
Participation in a cultural immersion experience. Actively taking inventory of the needs and issues of minority groups in their communities.

Language training when possible, or at least becoming familiar with the correct pronunciation of ethnic names, values, and traditions.