On Wednesday, March 2, 2016 I attended a Building Cultural Competency Workshop (BCCW), which was held at the Festival Highlands room at James Madison University. This event brought together multiple Health and Behavioral Science majors (Social Work, Nursing, etc.) in order to discuss cultural competency in our own lives. This workshop brought the HBS majors together in order for us to learn from one another how we can work effectively in cross-cultural situations, including in our workplace and on our campus. While there, we had speakers discuss different topics on cultural competency. Then after each speaker, we broke into the small groups we were assigned to and discussed our own thoughts on the subjects including our own culture. At one
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After attending this workshop, I feel like I learned how to approach many situations within the social work profession. As a social worker, I will encounter many unique backgrounds and circumstances that I may not have any clue what it is like to be in their shoes. Nonetheless, this workshop taught me how to still go about these relationships without feeling that I have nothing to offer. I would have to see that despite my differences with a client, I have to respect them and their culture. That means letting them know that I accept them where they are at and that I would like to learn more about where they are coming from, including their background. Social workers are called to, “challenge preconceived notions to be accepting of alternative ways that others understand, feel, and behave.” (DuBois, Miley, 167, 2014). Cultural competence means being aware, of your self and of others. This awareness may also include being culturally sensitive, including things like language we use, the atmospheres we meet our clients in, the décor we use, and the list goes on. Furthermore, the workshop gave us ways to stop discrimination in our community and workplace, which will help us relate and be open to hearing out the clients. One of the big topics was to not generalize. As a social worker, we will have a lot of “bad egg” cases, yet we cannot assume what their situation is before we do some investigating with the client. Sometimes these clients are made out to be the villain rather than seeing that they may be a victim in certain areas as well. Not only that, but as social workers we can advocate for those who feel like their culture and backgrounds give them no voice. By building that trusting relationship and learning more about the diverse cultures, social workers can help will give a voice to the
After attending this workshop, I feel like I learned how to approach many situations within the social work profession. As a social worker, I will encounter many unique backgrounds and circumstances that I may not have any clue what it is like to be in their shoes. Nonetheless, this workshop taught me how to still go about these relationships without feeling that I have nothing to offer. I would have to see that despite my differences with a client, I have to respect them and their culture. That means letting them know that I accept them where they are at and that I would like to learn more about where they are coming from, including their background. Social workers are called to, “challenge preconceived notions to be accepting of alternative ways that others understand, feel, and behave.” (DuBois, Miley, 167, 2014). Cultural competence means being aware, of your self and of others. This awareness may also include being culturally sensitive, including things like language we use, the atmospheres we meet our clients in, the décor we use, and the list goes on. Furthermore, the workshop gave us ways to stop discrimination in our community and workplace, which will help us relate and be open to hearing out the clients. One of the big topics was to not generalize. As a social worker, we will have a lot of “bad egg” cases, yet we cannot assume what their situation is before we do some investigating with the client. Sometimes these clients are made out to be the villain rather than seeing that they may be a victim in certain areas as well. Not only that, but as social workers we can advocate for those who feel like their culture and backgrounds give them no voice. By building that trusting relationship and learning more about the diverse cultures, social workers can help will give a voice to the