Culturally Competent Counseling: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Clients - Essay Sample

Introduction

Culture provides counselors with an increasingly big task of identifying the needs of a given population, understand their culture and shift their efforts to adopt methods that recognize diversity and new world perspectives in counseling (France, Rodriguez, & Hett, 2013). The idea of an individual is to be conversant with multicultural counseling skills useful in meeting the needs of the targeted group from a different culture and background. In that case, the counselor will be able to understand the views that people from a given culture hold about counseling concerning practicing therapy, people with disabilities, and the power of storytelling, among other topics. The chosen diversity for the analysis is French culture. The essay will analyze the French culture to explain the views that the people and their culture hold about counseling and how to counsel clients from the population better. Based on data from two interviews from prominent people in the French culture, the researcher discusses issues that influence counseling services in the French culture and ways to counsel the people in the future. An analysis of my reactions before, during, and after completing this interview will be provided.

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Views and Expectations of Counseling Held by Members of this Culture

The first interview was done with Cara, a practicing counselor in France, and the second was done with Challacombe, a private practitioner in Poitou Charentes, France. Based on the participant views, the main issues that influence counseling services in French culture include language, race, and ethics (Cara, 2020). As a private practitioner in counseling services, Cara (2020) noted that ethics is of importance when administering counseling services in France. The participant pointed out that an inability to govern a counseling session is very unethical for a counselor. The socio-economic status of counseling patients is critical in determining their ability to seek counseling services. Cara (2020) stated that lower and middle-class people in France are highly hardworking and present issues of anxiety and depression. It seems that their economic status affects their lifestyle and ability to cope with daily challenges. In a similar view, Challacombe (2020) recognized that the working class experienced in the U.K usually presents issues of anxiety and depression during counseling sessions.

Other factors that lead to people seeking counseling services include marital status, occupational stress, and children with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). For instance, marital discord is a problem that makes people seek counseling services (Challacombe, 2020). The people in the U.K are committed to seeking therapy and usually take their treatment seriously. However, in French culture, the counseling services seeking behavior is different from that of the U.K citizens. Counseling in French culture is associated with the entire field of mental health and highly stigmatized. Challacombe (2020) noted that the general population in France believes that counseling services are offered to the mentally ill, and such people should be institutionalized. Therefore, the percentage of people who seek counseling services in France is meagre.

The cultural trends in counseling in French culture are profoundly affected by race. According to Cara (2020), racism is a significant issue impacting on counseling services in French culture. However, racism in French culture is not as high as it is in America. The French culture does not marginalize and disrespect people like in the United States of America (U.S.A). The demeanor attitude and accent of the French people is different from that of the Americans and mainly where she lived in Oregon. According to Challacombe (2020), most of the people in France come from the U.K and Italy. They do not have counseling services seeking behavior and consider receiving therapy as not stylish. What contributes to French people not to find counseling service is because they do not admit that they are suffering from anxiety and uptightness. People from France opt to embrace an easy-going life and seen as laid back. When seeking counseling services, the patients go for Neuro-linguistic Programming, to analyze strategies used by successful persons and apply them in reaching their goals.

The race is a significant aspect that defines who seeks counseling services in French culture. Most of the clients are Jewish, and a smaller portion is Asian (Challacombe, 2020). The Jews and Asians are highly marginalized and condemned cultures in France. For instance, Challacombe (2020) stated that Parisians do not socialize with the Jews and Asians. If at any case a Paris resident owns a business, these two cultures are not welcomed. Racism is also evident in the Southern part of France where Jews, Africans and Asians are marginalized. Challacombe (2020) added that racism increases mental health cases in French culture, especially among marginalized groups. Regions with high racism such as French Riviera experience high demands of counseling services.

How to Better Counsel Clients From This Population

Based on the interview findings, culture affects counseling depending on the influencing factors such as the socio-economic status of the population, social norms, race and cultural differences (France et al., 2013). The counselor should have an understanding of the impacts of these factors that can challenge the counseling session with a patient from a given culture. In the French culture, it is evident that the people have specific believes and behaviors that define their take on counseling services. Based on the findings, French culture considers counseling as a mental health practice and most sought by those with psychological problems (Challacombe, 2020). Racism is a high aspect that determines counseling services seeking behavior among the marginalized groups. The counselor has a role in understanding the background of the patient and using the counseling skills to adjust to ones' situation, and negotiate relationships to maintain the wellbeing of the individual in a counseling session. Having the cultural knowledge of the patient is critical in undertaking a transcultural counseling session with a client (d'Ardenne & Mahtani, 2020).

To provide effective counseling services to the patients, Challacombe (2020) combines language thoughts, and behavior patterns learned through experience to particular outcomes. French people consider counseling as a private affair and prefer online sessions than physical meetings with the counselor. Therefore, learning the language and behavior patterns of the patient is necessary to provide effective counseling services in French culture. The World Health Organization (2013) stated that when a counselor is aware of the cultural context of the client, then it is easy to decide on the appropriate measures to communicate based on how the patient asks questions. The counselor will approach sensitive issues facing the client in a systematic manner that provides solutions to the problems presented during the counseling session. Thus, knowledge of the cultural background of a person from the French culture enables the counselor to tailor their counseling to the specific needs of the patient.

Remaining ethical is an essential aspect of providing effective counseling services. Being able to understand the patient is one of the most critical issues of learning their problem or illness (Cara, 2020). Here, the use of language or communication skills between the counselor and the patient is vital. Counselors need to realize the type of person they are dealing with to tame their counseling skills to meet the need of the patient. For instance, Cara (2020) noted that a counselor must take most of the time listening to the patient before making comments, remarks, or advice regarding the problem one is facing. The patient should be allowed to speak without interrupting to ensure the counselor gets most of the details from the patient. Counseling services must follow the standards set by the Ethics Board. Recognizing the personal resources, experiences, information, expectations and choices is essential to provide multicultural counseling services to patients from a given culture (d'Ardenne & Mahtani, 2020).

Reactions Before, During, and after Completing this Interview

I undertook two interviews for Cara and Challacombe, counseling specialists and private practitioners in France. Before the interviews, I knew nothing about French culture, and this gave me a reason to explore the culture to establish issues that determine the provision of adequate counseling services for this population. Having several friends visiting France before gave me the impression that they did not like Americans and Asians. The preconceived bias against Americans was confirmed during the interviews since the participants recognized Americans as having a demeanor attitude towards French people (Cara, 2020).

Initially, the knowledge of French people through my friends gave me a negative impression when I will have a client from that background. However, during the interview, I realized that there are things that a counselor must consider when dealing with patients from other cultures. I learned that effective multicultural counseling requires understanding the population, the patients and their culture. Cara (2020) took the time to learn what offended the responded during the interview. Through that knowledge, Cara established the importance of applying communication skills when counseling a client from French culture. By learning and understanding their language and what makes the client comfortable to express themselves clearly, a counselor can obtain as much information as possible. It calls for ethical measures to be applied during the counseling session with a person from a different culture. The two respondents in the interview confirmed that French people are calm and friendly, unlike Americans. Cities with a high population of Americans tend to experience racism, and this contributes to mental health issues to the marginalized groups. Thus, those seeking counseling services in French culture are mostly the marginalized groups associated with depression and anxiety issues due to their economic status.

After completing the interview, I realized that counseling clients from French culture would take a similar strategy to when dealing with patients from other cultures. Related cultural issues must be considered when counseling people from diverse cultural backgrounds. As a counselor, I must admit the culture, socio-economic background, language and communication capabilities of the client before deciding on the solution that best addresses the clients' presenting problems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the French culture was a significant target population for analyzing people from a different diversity. The findings from the two interviews carried out were useful in making culture-specific conclusions regarding counseling people from the French culture. Based on the analysis, there are distinct cultural knowledge that should be brought into trans-cultural counseling. Before meeting a client from French culture, the counselor should understand the cultural experience to apply during the session to ensure all the needs of the patient are addressed, and a practical solution obtained.

References

Cara, G. (2020, March 22). Personal interview.

Challacombe, D. (2020, March 24). Personal interview.

d'Ardenne, P., & Mahtani, A. (2020). Chapter 3, Counselors. In Transcultural counseling in action. Sage Publications. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446219027.n3

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