Diversity And Achievement Gap Analysis

Growing up, my parents had difficulty understanding the communal culture of the American society, in which I naturally absorbed in my developmental process. I am a first generation American. My parents are both immigrants: my mother from Colombia and my father from Puerto Rico. They had difficulty understanding events I would want to take part in with my friends that are an everyday part of an American childhood, such as sleepovers and after-school activities. Although being bilingual now has its own benefit, where I was one of few that spoke Spanish, it set me apart from the other children. In addition to these cultural difficulties, my parents both worked in factories, coming with its own stigma both inside my family and out. It created …show more content…
These people are just as worthy of treatment as people who speak English and not in the minority. There have been recent studies regarding the achievement gap in the education system, which has shown that increasing diversity has a positive correlation with increased academic performance of those students who are at the bottom end of the achievement gap. I feel that the same concept can apply to mental health services. The more diversity there is within mental health field, the more psycho-education performance can increase albeit those consumers have a way to ensure they understand the psycho-educational information via translators or translated handouts, which currently are limited. This concept goes hand in hand with cultural competency, which due to my childhood, is another one of my passions and has inspired me to facilitate numerous groups about cultural diversity and similarities among cultures. If consumers and staff alike have a greater cultural competency, it creates an empowering, respectful environment enabling consumers to have an enhanced benefit from treatment and their surrounding