Reference no: EM133601603

Consider the broader definition of culture introduced in this module and the challenges of stereotyping, discrimination, and racism that persist in today's systems and structures. How can some of the theories and models introduced within this course support a more culturally informed, responsive, and humble approach in career counselling?

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The framework of culture-infused competencies by Collins and Arthur (2007) describes three domains of core competencies:

Domain I: Demonstrate Cultural Awareness of Self - Counsellors are encouraged to recognize they are cultural beings and consequently their own cultural identity shapes their worldview and approaches to "counselling." Consequently, counsellors strive to increase awareness of their own personal cultural identities and views on work, life, and learning.
Domain II: Demonstrate Cultural Awareness of Other - Organizational, social, economic, and political contexts impact a client's understanding of career concepts, challenges, and success. Counsellors are encouraged to help clients cope and adapt to contextual factors impacting their barriers.
Domain III: Establish A Culturally Sensitive Therapeutic Relationship - This is characterized by a culturally sensitive working alliance where the goals and tasks of the career counselling process are agreed upon and established in a collaborative, trusting, and respectful manner. Counsellors are encouraged to be mindful of counsellor-client mismatches and culturally inappropriate interventions that can impede a client's motivation.
The core construct is cultural identity. In their Culture-Infused Career Counselling (CICC) model, Arthur and Collins (2011) identified six guiding assumptions:

Culture is relevant in career interventions with all clients, not just those in designated groups
Culture is also relevant for all counsellors and career practitioners
Views of career and career issues are socially and culturally defined
Career theories and models contain cultural assumptions
Career goals and interventions need to be collaboratively defined with clients to ensure they are a cultural fit
Counsellors and career practitioners may need to go beyond traditional roles to change systems and policies

Pope (2019) developed the Career Counseling with Underserved Populations (CCUSP) model, offering tips for working effectively with individuals from nondominant cultures:

Take responsibility for your own biases/prejudices
Know/use process of cultural identity development
Know special issues of specific cultures
Directly address issues of discrimination
Recognize that group career counselling has strong appeal to many minority clients
Pay particular attention to the role of the family
Pay attention to special issues of dual-career couples
Be aware of special issues using career assessment tools with individuals from diverse cultural groups
Help clients overcome internalized negative stereotypes or internalized oppression
Attend to coming-out issues with clients for whom cultural membership is not obvious
Overcome societal stereotyping as a limitation on occupational choice through occupational role models/networking interventions
Maintain a supportive atmosphere in your office
Provide positive advocacy for culturally diverse clients

Leong (2011) also described the Cultural Accommodation Model (CAM) which defined several domains which are equally important to understanding a human's experience:

Universal (U) - traditional "Western" models of career development tend to focus on the knowledge base of mainstream psychology and universal laws of human behaviour which have been supported by long-standing, large-scale bodies of research.
Group (G) - all persons share an association/bond with some "group" whether that be based on cultural identities, social class, occupation, religion, or gender. It is this domain where the cross-culturally applicability/suitability of the U domain is critically analyzed and critiqued.
Individual (I) - the personal differences and unique human experience. This helps us to challenge stereotypes or overgeneralizations of the G domain.
To apply the CAM in practice, counsellors must strive to:

Identify cultural gaps/blind spots in existing theory
Select current culturally specific concepts/models to fill gaps and accommodate the theory
Test the culturally accommodated theory
The notion of acculturation, that is the modification of or changes in a person's culture as a result of contact with another culture, has been expanded to help counsellors further understand the cultural location of their clients (Nuttgens & Campbell, 2010).

Traditional: Clients speak only their language of origin, hold traditional beliefs, and practice traditional customs
Marginal: Clients may or may not speak English or French as well as a language of origin, and do not see value in either mainstream or traditional cultures
Bi-cultural: Client accepts practices and beliefs of both mainstream and traditional cultures
Assimilated: Clients have rejected their culture of origin in favour of mainstream culture
Pan traditional: Clients are integrated into mainstream culture, but make an effort to continue traditional ways and to recover lost practices and customs
Clearly, cultural values, language factors, and unique experiences must be considered when determining the counselling strategies to be implemented when working with clients from a different culture. However, counsellors will have some essential human experiences in common with their clients. Knowledge, empathy, and experience working with essential human processes can be a beginning to building a strong culturally sensitive therapeutic alliance.