Multicultural Care: A Clinician's Guide to Cultural Competence (Psychologists in Independent Practice Series)

In today's increasingly diverse society, clinicians must provide appropriate and effective services when working with multicultural clients. Examining the role of context on our clients, ourselves, and our world is critical.In this book, Lillian Comas-DAaz offers a comprehensive, practical approach for enhancing your understanding of clients' contexts, developing a multicultural therapeutic relationship, and adapting your healing approach to your clients' needs. Each chapter demonstrates the application of cultural competence to a different aspect of clinical practice: self-awareness, assessment, engagement, treatment, psychopharmacology and testing, folk healing, and general multicultural consciousness. "Culture is the proverbial elephant sitting in the middle of one's consulting room. If one ignores this elephant, he or she runs the risk of collision. Notably, if one approaches culture from a reductionistic perspective, he or she may reenact the fable of the blind men touching different parts of the elephant and misidentifying the animal. In other words, the clinician ends up misinterpreting the effects of culture on clinical practice. Instead, when one recognizes the role of culture, he or she develops an approach to clinical care that examines the impact of context on clients, ourselves, and the world. My intention in writing this book is to help clinicians increase their clinical cultural competence. Although there are numerous resources on cultural competence, they tend to emphasize the training of graduate students as opposed to the continuing education of practicing clinicians (Rogers-Sirin, 2008). I intend for this book to bridge this gap by offering resources to graduate students, clinicians in training, novice therapists, and seasoned practitioners alike. To facilitate the journey toward cultural competence, I propose the adoption of a multicultural care perspective. This approach involves enhancing understanding of clients' contexts, developing a multicultural therapeutic relationship, and adapting the healing approach to clients' needs. As a clinician, you already have most of what you need to endorse a multicultural care approach. You can become a multicultural caring clinician without abandoning your theoretical orientation. At the core of multicultural care is a desire to work with multicultural clients. Although all people have cultures, I use the term multicultural individuals to refer to culturally different individuals and/or people of color"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) "Culture is the proverbial elephant sitting in the middle of one's consulting room. If one ignores this elephant, he or she runs the risk of collision. Notably, if one approaches culture from a reductionistic perspective, he or she may reenact the fable of the blind men touching different parts of the elephant and misidentifying the animal. In other words, the clinician ends up misinterpreting the effects of culture on clinical practice. Instead, when one recognizes the role of culture, he or she develops an approach to clinical care that examines the impact of context on clients, ourselves, and the world. My intention in writing this book is to help clinicians increase their clinical cultural competence. Although there are numerous resources on cultural competence, they tend to emphasize the training of graduate students as opposed to the continuing education of practicing clinicians (Rogers-Sirin, 2008). I intend for this book to bridge this gap by offering resources to graduate students, clinicians in training, novice therapists, and seasoned practitioners alike. To facilitate the journey toward cultural competence, I propose the adoption of a multicultural care perspective. This approach involves enhancing understanding of clients' contexts, developing a multicultural therapeutic relationship, and adapting the healing approach to clients' needs. As a clinician, you already have most of what you need to endorse a multicultural care approach. You can become a multicultural caring clinician without abandoning your theoretical orientation. At the core of multicultural care is a desire to work with multicultural clients. Although all people have cultures, I use the term multicultural individuals to refer to culturally different individuals and/or people of color"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) In today's increasingly diverse society, clinicians must provide appropriate and effective services when working with multicultural clients. Examining the role of context on our clients, ourselves, and our world is critical. In this book, Lillian Comas-Díaz offers a comprehensive, practical approach for enhancing your understanding of clients' contexts, developing a multicultural therapeutic relationship, and adapting your healing approach to your clients' needs. Each chapter demonstrates the application of cultural competence to a different aspect of clinical practice: self-awareness, assessment, engagement, treatment, psychopharmacology and testing, folk healing, and general multicultural consciousness. Ample clinical vignettes are provided, along with clear, easy-to-remember tools for integrating multicultural sensitivity into clinical practice. Importantly, the book draws on research and the APA Multicultural Guidelines to support the models and principles, which are illustrated with clinical material. This book is a must-read for all clinicians. Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: Multicultural Care in Clinical Practice 12 Chapter 1. Cultural Self-Assessment: Knowing Others, Knowing Yourself 19 Chapter 2. Engagement: Telling Stories 34 Chapter 3. Multicultural Assessment: Understanding Lives in Context 55 Chapter 4. Cultural Analysis: Looking Through a Multicultural Lens 80 Chapter 5. Multicultural Therapeutic Relationship: Seeing Yourself in the Other 104 Chapter 6. Psychopharmacology and Psychological Testing: Engaging in Cultural Critical Thinking 125 Chapter 7. Multicultural Treatment: Part 1. Fostering Empowerment 142 Chapter 8. Multicultural Treatment: Part 2. Incorporating Culture-Specific Healing 160 Chapter 9. Multicultural Consciousness: Extending Cultural Competence Beyond the Clinical Encounter 186 Memoirs of Culturally Diverse Individuals 201 Resources 204 Glossary 209 References 214 About the Author 248 lastpg 248 Multicultural Care offers a comprehensive, practical approach for enhancing a clinician's understanding of clients'contexts, developing a multicultural therapeutic relationship, and adapting a healing approach to one's clients'needs. Each chapter demonstrates the application of cultural competence to a different aspect of clinical practice: self-awareness, assessment, engagement, treatment, psychopharmacology and testing, folk healing, and general multicultural consciousness. Ample clinical vignettes are provided, along with clear, easy-to-remember tools for integrating multicultural sensitivity into clinical practice. Importantly, the book draws on research and the APA Multicultural Guidelines to support the models and principles, which are illustrated with clinical material. This book is a must-read for all clinicians. Multicultural Care offers a comprehensive, practical approach for enhancing a clinician's understanding of clients contexts, developing a multicultural therapeutic relationship, and adapting a healing approach to one's clients needs. Each chapter demonstrates the application of cultural competence to a different aspect of clinical self-awareness, assessment, engagement, treatment, psychopharmacology and testing, folk healing, and general multicultural consciousness. Ample clinical vignettes are provided, along with clear, easy-to-remember tools for integrating multicultural sensitivity into clinical practice. Importantly, the book draws on research and the APA Multicultural Guidelines to support the models and principles, which are illustrated with clinical material. This book is a must-read for all clinicians. Introduction : multicultural care in clinical practice Cultural self-awareness : knowing others, knowing yourself Engagement : telling stories Multicultural assessment : understanding lives in context Cultural analysis : looking through a multicultural lens Multicultural therapeutic relationships : seeing yourself in the other Psychopharmacology and psychological testing : engaging in cultural critical thinking Multicultural treatment, part 1 : fostering empowerment Multicultural treatment, part 2 : incorporating culture-specific healing Multicultural consciousness: expanding cultural competence beyond the clinical encounter.