Effective Cultural Intervention Counseling Techniques

To be able to counsel people in our diverse society, a counselor must have knowledge of different cultures in order to provide effective cultural intervention counseling techniques. Culture encompasses the customs, norms, traditions, shared values, history, arts, folklore and institutions belonging to a group of people.

Understand Other Cultures

• In order to understand other cultures, the counselor must be sensitive and have an understanding of how he views his own culture. If he's ethnocentric, he will view his culture as superior and compare other cultures to it. It's important for him to be able to understand his biases, such as stereotyping or racism, and learn to suppress those biases in order to develop an understanding of other cultures. If he realizes his biases will taint his thinking, he shouldn't do an intervention. The client should be referred to another counselor who is unbiased.

Hire an Interpreter

• If a counselor can't speak the language of the client, she should have translators available or a relative of the client who can interpret if the client is comfortable with that. There are many different dialects in some cultures, so familiarity with dialect is important. Misunderstandings can occur if the interpreter is unfamiliar and interprets incorrectly.

Acknowledge Cultural Diversity

• Acknowledge cultural diversity and appreciate its value to aid the client. Chinese Americans can be passive and, as a sign of wisdom, prefer not to confront issues. If the counselor isn't aware of this cultural difference, he may feel the client is resisting treatment. In the case of Africans, social relationships and the community are often important. Resolution of social conflict is often more important than personal conduct in order to keep peace in the community. Latin cultures often feel the family is their main source of support. If the family isn't supportive, it can bring stress and shame to the person and cause him to resist treatment. For successful intervention, the family should be involved in counseling. In some cases in which religious factors, such as healers, are involved, they may also be included in therapy.

Recognize Individual Differences

• In addition to social and cultural orientation, people are influenced by factors such as race, ethnicity, nationality, age, level of education, sex, occupation, environment and socioeconomic class. They may also describe and understand their illnesses differently because of their cultural background. These differences should be incorporated by the counselor, along with the person's history and family history, to understand the whole person.

Understand Race vs. Culture

• There are many ethnic differences within the five racial groups. The Asian race includes more than 50 different ethnicities, such as Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Pacific Islanders. Among Hispanics there are major differences between Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans. Blacks include not only Africans but Cajuns, West Indians and Haitians. Each Native American tribe has its own variances. Whites also have various ethnic differences, such as German, Dutch and British. It's important for the counselor not to stereotype clients and to assume that all members of a race are alike.

Use a Balanced Counseling Approach

• By examining the counselor's assumptions and accepting the variables of the client that make up his identity -- including beliefs, attitudes, skills and knowledge -- the counselor can provide more effective intervention with a balanced, client-centered approach. Understanding and sensitivity go a long way in creating trust between counselor and client.