A multicultural counselor Essay

It is crucial that a multicultural counselor have ample strategies in order to be effective in multicultural counseling. This is because the counselor handles clients who have diverse cultures and, therefore, need to be adaptive to the various cultural values and beliefs of the client. In order, for a multicultural counselor to be effective, it is vital that the counselor should first understand his or her own culture. This understanding of own culture comprises being aware of one own life philosophies, being able to recognize the different structures involved in reasoning and also being aware of how the understanding effect ones communication and also the style one uses to assist the client. Lack of this understanding may make the counseling process ineffective. Self-awareness helps the counselor identify specific cultural values and the influence they may have in the counseling process. This helps the multicultural counselor be able to counter the effects that the values may pose to the counseling intervention. It is also necessary that multicultural counselor prevent adhering to a specific counseling theory during the counseling process. This is because many cultural groups do not share the type of values, which are implied by the counseling methods (Gielen, Draguns & Fish, 2008). The various values usually do not share the same expectations for the conduct or the outcome of the counseling session of the counselor. This calls for a need for the counselor carry out an investigation about their clients cultural background, be open and flexible to the definitions of the appropriate of the correct behaviors according to the cultural values of the client. It is also beneficial for the multicultural counselor to have an understanding of many languages. This is because language barriers act as a hindrance to effective multicultural counseling. As a result, of the language barrier, the client and the counselor may not understand each other well making the client unable to express the complexity in their thoughts and their feelings. This may also make the counselor feel frustrated due to lack of bilingual ability. Language barriers also lead the counselor to offer the wrong diagnosis (Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development, 2009). Multicultural counselor should acknowledge cultural diversity he or she should appreciate the value of different cultures and use it in assisting the client. The counselor should not have any cultural bias or carry cultural stereotypes into the counseling process. He or she is supposed to understand that all cultural values are the same, and they should be respected. Respect of cultural diversity plays a great part in enhancing the effectiveness of multicultural counseling. This also calls for the multicultural counselor to have humility and modesty. (Gielen, Draguns & Fish, 2008). It is also essential that a multicultural counselor should have social conflict resolution strategies in order to carry out an effective counseling. This helps the counselor to be able to help the client to solve the problems he or she may be experiencing within himself and the conflict that may be existing between him or her and the community. It is also important that multicultural counselor take a pluralistic view in the counseling process. This is where the counselor puts into consideration all aspects of the client’s personal history, social and cultural orientation. (Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development, 2009). Therefore, it is important that multicultural counselors avoid culture stereotypes and false expectation. This is done by understanding their clients’ background and finding the most appropriate strategies to employ in the counseling process. The strategies should suit the needs of the client. The counselor should be sensitive the cultural values of the client. Reference Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD), (2009) Journal of Multicultural Counseling, Birmingham, England, retrieved www. multiculturalcenter. org/jmcd/ on 8 April 2010. Gielen, U. Draguns, J. & Fish, J. (2008) Principles of multicultural counseling and therapy, New York, Brunner-Routledge, retrieved from http://www. netLibrary. com/urlapi. asp? action=summary&v=1&bookid=233302 on 8 April 2010.