Cultural Diversity In Counseling

Less than one third of individuals who experience psychological distress seek help from a mental health professional (Andrews, Issakidis & Carter, 2001). It has come to my realization that more individuals seek mood regulating medication for temporary relief from their feelings than those who seek therapeutic help to explore the cause of their distress. I am by no means suggesting that medication is the wrong way, medication can be used when there is evidence of a chemical imbalance contributing to such psychological distress. As the world continues to develop and new issues begin to surface, more people should consider taking steps to counseling rather than medication which only helps with a quarter of the issues, if any in some cases. The …show more content…
Empathy is an essential part of the process, to begin exploring, the counselor must have the ability to empathize with clients, by entering his/her world and see things from the client’s perspective. The first meeting is quite crucial, as this can make or break the rest of the therapeutic process. Cultural diversity impacts counseling primarily by setting the tone for mindfulness in all that we do. Much of the literature we come across makes mention of the importance of considering cultural interpretations of our actions, mannerisms, décor, approaches, etc. By making these conscious considerations, we ensure that we keep the needs of the client a primary focus. As we train to consider eye contact as we also formulate our questions to be culturally relevant but not too stereotypical, we are actually practicing being mindful of all the details of our approach. If this makes it sound like cultural diversity is the beginner level of individualization that is exactly what I am trying to say. Cultural diversity contributes greatly to the counseling process. When the counselor is able to learn other cultures, he/she is able empathize easily with clients of different …show more content…
These issues will resurface when a client’s personal situation hits a nerve. When this happens the counselor tends to focus more on what he/she is experiencing instead of what the client is dealing with. Because effective counseling require that we give the client our full focus, we need to find creative ways to deal with those issues and maintain focus throughout our sessions. This will never be easy because we are humans, but taking steps early in this program will help us when we get to the beginning of our