After taking the Multicultural Counseling course last semester, I became aware of many of the issues or circumstances that can come up when counseling certain clients. As I learn about many of the different assessment tools available, I am also realizing that I need to be very sensitive to the cultural biases that may be present. The text mentions, “Each cultural dimension has unique issues and concerns. Thus, to be effective counselors must possess a depth of knowledge concerning the culture of clients as well as an awareness of available resources for acquiring information about persons of diverse cultures (Dana, 2005).” I absolutely believe that many people working in schools, or making any kind of decisions in schools, don’t have enough knowledge about all types of cultures. Maybe it could be the school counselor’s job to educate the staff on how to be more culturally aware.
I do really appreciate some of the information that the text shares in Chapter 15. Many of the topics mentioned throughout the Chapter, I have not even thought about. The Chapter gives good tips and advice on how to handle certain clients in different situations, and also discusses sensitivity issues that can come up. For example, I would have never known how to handle giving an assessment to a client who has a visual or hearing impairment. Also, many of the tables throughout the Chapter provide useful information on how to handle clients with certain disabilities. I don’t have much direct experience working with these types of clients, so any help that can be provided is much appreciated.
Changing up topics, I also really appreciate being able to watch everyone’s interpretation videos. The experience of actually doing the interpretation session was pretty amazing in itself, but I am also enjoying the entire process overall and am gaining an immense amount of knowledge based on the feedback that everyone is receiving. Ami’s session really gave us a good idea of how a true session could go in the “real world”. I am also looking forward to receiving feedback about my own interpretation session, mostly because I am really curious to hear what I could have done better and what I did well. I truly enjoy the “hands on” approach to this class. I also believe that I will able to take the feedback that I have received, and apply it to my job as a school counselor.
Drummond, R.J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals ( 7th ed.). Upper Saddle River , New Jersey
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