A 23-year-old monolingual Portuguese speaking trans-female with a history of intravenous drug use would first experience culture shock upon entering a homeless shelter. Her unilingualism would make it difficult for her to communicate with others at the homeless shelter (Mallow & Cameronkelly, 2006). Also, she is likely to face harassment and discrimination due to her gender. Consequently, she might struggle to conceal her identity. Having a history of intravenous drug use, culture shock and gender-based discrimination could lead her to relapse.
The social worker at the homeless shelter should first help the trans-female to build her cultural competence by teaching her basic communication in English. Essentially, understanding basic communication skills will enable her to feel comfortable and adjust to the mainstream culture at the shelter. The social worker could also help her to make friends by getting her to know a variety of people, especially those who share similar values. Moreover, the social worker could avail transgender-inclusive facilities at the shelter to protect the safety and privacy of the trans-female. The social worker should also be friendly to the individual, embrace her diversity, and encourage her to develop positive self-image (Mallow & Cameronkelly, 2006). Moreover, the social worker should address the risk factors that could make the individual to relapse to drug and substance abuse. Lastly, the social worker could cultivate a culture of tolerance to diversity at the homeless shelter by implementing stringent policies against bullying and discrimination.
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The meta-cultural competency framework developed by Mallow and Cameronkelly (2006) would enable the social worker to learn the skills and knowledge, which would help create a positive relationship with the individual. Essentially, meta-cultural competency would enhance the social worker’s self-awareness and by extension, enable the social worker to understand the values and perspectives of the individual. Lastly, meta-cultural competence would inform the social worker’s strategies of helping the individual.
Reference
Mallow, A., & Cameronkelly, D. (2006). Unraveling the layers of cultural competence. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 5 (3), 63-74. DOI:10.1300/j233v05n03_04
