Running head: MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE 1

Multicultural Competence - Case Study

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Multicultural Competence - Case Study

Case Study: Mental Health Counseling

You are a staff counselor working at a community mental health clinic. Your caseload

includes working clients from diverse backgrounds who have serious and chronic mental

disorders. One of your clients, a 20-year-old man from Central Africa, has been diagnosed with

Schizophrenia. One day his parents are present when you make a home visit. They want to invite

the extended family to a healing ceremony for their son and have asked a local shaman to

perform a ritual to banish any bad spirits that are interfering with their son's cure. Because you

have been successful in establishing a relationship with their son, they respect you and want you

to take part in the ceremony.

Discussion

In counseling, multicultural competence is the ability of the counselor to approach

counseling the context of the client’s world (Ratts et al. 2016). Multicultural competence

expands the roles of counselors as therapists by stipulating them to get in touch with their own

biases, behavior, assumptions, values, and limitations. This allows counselors to assist clients

from a relevant perspective. In knowing this, the 20-year old client, who is currently diagnosed

with Schizophrenia, requires special needs in his case.

There are some key areas of multicultural competence required in working with this 20-

year old client who is currently diagnosed with Schizophrenia. First, counselor awareness of

personal cultural values and biases is needed. According to Constantine, Miville, and Kindaichi

(2008), for the effective counseling process, a counselor needs to cognize any cultural values or

bias they possess and recognize their practice limits. Therefore, before getting involved with the

healing ceremony implemented by the clients’ family, the counselor must understand all
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concerns regarding ethics, values, and beliefs of Central Africans and his/her own religious

biases. Another multicultural competence that is needed in this case is the culturally suitable

intervention strategies. Before engaging in the ceremony, the counselor must maintain the

knowledge of the client’s family dynamics, the bias in assessment, hierarchy, and discriminatory

practices that may affect the client.

No one is immune from bias, even us counselors. Personally, I have possesses biases. As

a counselor working on this case, the only bias I can see becoming an issue is the constant

involvement of the family. This would arise, especially if the family works against everything

the client and I have worked so hard to attain and establish. According to Ratts et al. (2016), the

counselor’s bias is one of the main sources of ethical issues that counselors encounter when

working with clients within the context of the professional therapeutic relationship. The ethical

issue arises when the personal values and biases of the counselor clashes with those of their

client. In order to ensure the ethical practice is being followed, I would consult with a supervisor

with concerns. I would also take the necessary steps to ensure my personal biases and view

won’t cloud judgments or distort the clients’ self-esteem.

As a counselor working with this 20-year old Central Africa client, there are several

multicultural counseling skills and intervention techniques that will be helpful. First, the skill of

self-awareness would be very beneficial. It would be essential for me to understand my own

cultural experience and acknowledge how it contributes to cultural biases, privileges, and

prejudices. Another skill that would be helpful is communication. Communication, both non-

verbal and verbal, is a crucial aspect in a therapeutic relationship (Remley & Herlihy, 2014).

Communication skills will help me in understanding Central Africa’s culture. This will be crucial

in effective counseling.
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References

Constantine, M. G., Miville, M. L., & Kindaichi, M. M. (2008). Multicultural competence in

counseling psychology practice and training. Handbook of counseling psychology, 4,

141-158.

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.

Remley, T. P., & Herlihy, B. (2014). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson