Reference no: EM133281560

Assignment:

Discusses the importance of multicultural competency and understanding the variables of diversity as a counselor. As counselors, we need to be self-aware of our own biases, values, beliefs and other cultural characteristics. It is essential that we demonstrate compassion and cultural competency with our clients to be able to capture life from their perspective. One of the topics in this chapter that fascinated me was the discussion and debate of racial microaggression. When it comes to racism, there is often controversy because every individual experiences microaggressions differently. Sue et al. claims that microaggressions occur unconsciously, usually unintentional but can cause a lot of harm to the therapeutic process for the patient. It was interesting to see the criticism of Su et al.'s article.

"Doesn't everyone, regardless of race, occasionally experience verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities?" (Thomas, 2008). Thomas argues that it is difficult to establish the objective reality of one's perceptions. Personally, I disagree with this statement because I find it to be ignorant of the fact that the objective reality does not matter as much as the subjective perception, as that is what the patient is experiencing. As therapists, we should be viewing reality from the client's perspective, not our own. Their reality may not be the objective rule, but it is the reality they live in and know. We would be doing a disservice to them by invalidating their experiences.

I am curious to know what your thoughts are on this controversy? Let's say your client is an Asian immigrant who comes in expressing their anger about prejudice in their workplace. The client has been working at said company for two years and sees that all his white coworkers have been promoted at work but he can't even get a raise from management. He strongly believes that it is because of his race. One of Sue et al.'s examples of microaggression is asserting that race does not play a role in career advancement or education.What is your honest reaction to his story? Can you recognize any of your own biases pertaining to racism in the workforce?