Cultural Biases In Counseling

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Understanding one’s privileges and biases is essential to becoming a culturally competent counselor who can effectively work with diverse clients. When I first began exploring my own biases many years ago, I mistakenly thought that if I worked hard enough at doing so, I would one day be completely free of biases. I now know that I will always have certain biases and privileges, and that while I can work to reduce biases and gain awareness of privileges, becoming more multiculturally competent is a continual process that is never truly finished. However, various activities that I have participated in this semester such as attending a transgender support group, participating in class activities, and reading “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” …show more content…
One of the activities that resonated most deeply with me was the one in which we stood in a circle and stepped forward or backwards as certain statements related to culture were read aloud. One of the statements that caused me to reflect, and even feel guilty, was: “I think about my race or culture on a daily basis.” Although I do sometimes consider my race and culture, it is not something that affects me (or that I even think about or notice) on a daily basis. Stepping forward for this statement caused me to think about the privilege that I have because there are many people whose race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other non-majority status does affect them on a daily basis. The simple fact that I do not need to consider this daily is an indicator of my privilege. Additionally, this activity struck me because although everyone in our class is white and lives in the Midwest, we each ended the activity in different places. This spoke to me about how people can have diverse ideologies, beliefs, and cultural experiences even if they appear to outwardly share many demographic characteristics, a lesson that it will be important to be mindful of as a …show more content…
These include “seek to examine and understand the world from the vantage point of their clients…understand how oppression, racism, discrimination, and stereotyping affect them...[and] seek out educational experiences that foster knowledge and skills for facilitating groups across differences” (p. 18-19). While this involves continual personal and professional growth, I do feel as though engaging in the activities discussed above has helped me to progress in these competencies and learn how to advocate for my clients. Furthermore, several members of the transgender support group gave me advice for how to be a social justice advocate for transgender students. This advice included being mindful that puberty is an especially difficult time for transgender adolescents, who are often experiencing bodily changes that fit with a gender inconsistent with which they identify. Another piece of advice was that it is essential to act as an advocate by creating or enforcing school policies that protect transgender students’ rights to use certain restrooms or play on certain sports teams. Additionally, group members emphasized that the suicide rate for transgender adolescents is far above average because they often lack a supportive home and/or school environment and are frequent targets of bullying. The advice that stuck with me most is: be someone who

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