DIVERSITY CHALLENGES AND REFLECTIONS
Couples and family counseling often involves understanding and integrating diverse influences on the system’s presenting issues, as well as ongoing wellness and development of the system. Counselors must be aware not only of these influences, but also the manner in which they may impact the system members—differing degrees, perceptions, and meaning. In addition, the intersection of multiple diversity issues can create another layer of challenges for couples and families.
Familiarizing yourself with multicultural standards of practice is a first step in developing cultural competencies, as is exploring your own thoughts and beliefs regarding diversity. For this Assignment, you consider a point in your life when your family was touched by diversity, discuss how it affected your family, and how such an issue might be handled in a counseling session.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
To Prepare:
· Review the Learning Resources and consider the many challenges diverse populations bring to counseling sessions.
· Reflect on a time when diversity touched your family.
Assignment:
In your Journal, identify a time where diversity touched your family. Based on this time, answer the following questions:
· What impact did this time have on your family?
· Hypothetically, if you addressed the issue in a family counseling session, what do you think the counselor should know and explore with your family to fully address the issue?
· How will you be sensitive to the impact diversity has on families and couples in your own professional practice?
· Your journal should be 2-3 pages in length, excluding the title page, and in APA 7 standard format for student papers (See Section 2.2 of the APA 7 manual). Please note this is a personal journal so use of first person (“I” “my) is acceptable, and APA references are not required.
Readings
· Canfield, B. (2021). Diversity and intercultural work in family counseling. In D. Capuzzi & M. D. Stauffer (Eds.). Foundations of couples, marriage, and family counseling (2nd ed., pp. 47-59). Wiley & Sons.
· Sperry, L. (2010). Culture, personality, health, and family dynamics: Cultural competence in the selection of culturally sensitive treatmentsLinks to an external site.. The Family Journal, 18(3), 316–320. doi:10.1177/1066480710372129
· Sperry, L. (2011). Culturally, clinically, and ethically competent practice with individuals and families dealing with medical conditionsLinks to an external site.. The Family Journal, 19(2), 212–216. doi:10.1177/1066480711400560
· Shannon, P. J. (2014). Refugees’ advice to physicians: How to ask about mental healthLinks to an external site.. Family Practice, 31(4), 462–466. doi:10.1093/fampra/cmu017