Cultural competency describes a set of skills, principles, and values which respect, acknowledge and work toward optimal interactions between the individual and the several ethnic and cultural groups that a person might come in contact with (Ang, & Van Dyne, 2015). Effective communication is at the heart of cultural competency and has a basic desire for mutual respect and empathy. Diversity and cultural competency are sometimes linked together because both of them encourage acceptance and acknowledgement of differences in appearance, behavior, and culture as a whole. Cultural competency is an important aspect to individual workers who come into contact or interact with people from other cultures and backgrounds. Such workers are supposed to have an in-depth understanding of how to respectfully and effectively interact with people from a wide range of cultures. These individuals should possess the key components for a high degree of cultural competency which includes awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills (Ratts et al, 2016).
A counselor is required to have a high level of cultural competency for him or her to be in a position to heal patients who come from a diverse cultural background. The culturally competent counselor is supposed to address the client’s cultural context because all behaviors are learned and displayed in a particular cultural context (Ang, & Van Dyne, 2015). A counselor is supposed to have multicultural competencies which will help him or her prepare the resources of counseling that will fit with the needs of other cultures around the world. If he or she makes wrong or culturally inappropriate assumptions, he or she will not be able to make an accurate assessment, meaningful in understanding nor appropriate in his or her interventions. Culturally competent counselors are supposed to be aware of the cultural complexity of their own cultural identities and be in a position to “hear the voices” of their culturally different client as well. When learning about a culture, the counselor is supposed to define it in the lines of demographic, ethnographic, status and affiliation (Ang, & Van Dyne, 2015). A counselor should know that cultural similarities and cultural difference are equally important in his or her work, and he or she should understand that insight of multicultural awareness can be learned but often cannot be directly taught.
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The Framework of Multicultural Competence
For a counselor to succeed in healing his or her work, he or she should be able to use the three-level developmental sequence. The first level is developing an assessment of the cultural awareness needs. Accurate awareness can be described as the ability to accurately define a situation from both the counselor’s own viewpoint as well as from the viewpoints of individuals from other cultures (Ang, & Van Dyne, 2015). Counselors are supposed to possess the following characteristics to be perfect with their accuracy in awareness. A counselor should have the ability to interpret both direct and indirect communication styles of his or her patients and should be very sensitive to nonverbal cues. He or she should be able to recognize linguistic and cultural differences being expressed by the patient. The counselor should clearly understand and be sensitive to the myths and stereotypes of the cultures. He or she should have the ability to articulate elements of the individual’s own culture and have an appreciation for multicultural education. He or she should have a concern for the wellbeing of people from different cultures. A counselor should be able to accurately distinguish good from bad in the other cultural context. Lastly, a counselor should be aware of his or her stress-limit when he or she is working with members of other cultures (Ang, & Van Dyne, 2015). By possessing these traits, a counselor is in a good position to ask the right questions.
The second level of competency is the individual’s knowledge. A counselor uses knowledge to understand the complex alternatives and ambiguity in each cultural context (Ratts et al, 2016). A counselor is deemed highly qualified in this level if he or she has competency in the following areas. Having knowledge about the history of cultures other than your own; understanding the role of money, values, education, attitudes and behavior in other cultures; familiarizing with the language and slang of another culture; know about the teaching and learning resources available in other cultures. He should have knowledge of how each individual’s own culture is understood by the members of other cultures; should have a developed a professional expertise relevant to people in other cultures, and also possess information that will be perceived as useful by individuals in other cultures; should know about the social services in other cultures, and how they are delivered. Lastly, he or she should have knowledge about the culture shock and acculturative stress and know how other cultures interpret their own rules, customs, and laws (Ratts et al, 2016).
The last level of competency is how skillful a counselor is. A counselor with multicultural skills will possess the following capabilities. He is able to use the teachings and learning techniques of other cultures; has the relevance of a person’s natural learning and teaching style in other cultures (Ratts et al, 2016). He or she is able to analyze feedback accurately, and within the context of other cultures; has the ability to cope with stress in the new cultural contexts, and develop new ideas in the framework of these new cultures. He or she is able to anticipate the consequences of events of another culture, and be able to function comfortably by finding common ground with the members of other cultures without losing his or her integrity.
A counselor who possesses all of the above traits can be classified as highly qualified in multicultural competency. He or she will be able to heal his or her patients perfectly and paint an excellent picture about his or her work.
References
Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2015). Handbook of cultural intelligence . Abingdon: Routledge.
Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar ‐ McMillan, S., Butler, S. K., & McCullough, J. R. (2016). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies: Guidelines for the counseling profession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development , 44 (1), 28-48.
