Cultural Competence Pedagogy: A Developmental Approach for Counseling Students and Graduates
Conference Strand
Teaching, Training, and Supervision
Abstract
As social, political and academia-related agendas develop surrounding cultural competence, counselor-educators must be intentional about the incorporating of a variety of learning methods such as experiential interactions. Using weekly process groups within the university’s diversity course, this study created a weekly immersion experience that facilitated cultural competence growth on three developmental levels – student, graduate, and supervisor.
Evidence
American Counseling Association (2014). ACA Code of Ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author.
AMCD (2016). Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. AMCD Issues Statement on Tennessee SB 1556 / HB 1840. Retrieved from http://www.multiculturalcounseling.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227:amcd-issues-statement-on-tennessee-sb-1556--hb-1840&catid=1:latest&Itemid=123
ASERVIC (2016). Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling. Spiritual Competencies. Retrieved from http://www.aservic.org/resources/spiritual-competencies/
Cannon, E. P. (2008). Promoting moral reasoning and multicultural competence during internship. Journal of Moral Education, 37(4), 503-518. doi:10.1080/03057240802399384
Collins, S., Arthur, N., Brown, C., & Kennedy, B. (2015). Student perspectives: Graduate education facilitation of multicultural counseling and social justice competency. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 9(2), 153-160. doi:10.1037/tep0000070
D'Andrea, M., & Daniels, J. (1991). Exploring the different levels of multicultural training in counselor education. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 78-85.
Dickson, G. L., Jepsen, D. A., & Barbee, P. W. (2008). Exploring the relationships among multicultural training experiences and attitudes toward diversity among counseling students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 36(2), 113-126.
Hipolito-Delgado, C. P., Cook, J. M., Avrus, E. M., & Bonham, E. J. (2011). Developing counseling students' multicultural competence through the Multicultural Action Project. Counselor Education and Supervision, 50(6), 402-421. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6978.2011.tb01924.x
Ober, A. M., Granello, D. H., & Henfield, M. S. (2009). A synergistic model to enhance multicultural competence in supervision. Counselor Education & Supervision, 48(3), 204-221.
Sells, J. N., & Hagedorn, W. B. (2016). CACREP accreditation, ethics, and the affirmation of both religious and sexual identities: A response to Smith and Okech. Journal of Counseling & Development, 94(3), 265-279. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcad.12083/full
Smith, L. C., & Atieno Okech, J. E. (2016). Ethical issues raised by CACREP accreditation of programs within institutions that disaffirm or disallow diverse sexual orientations. Journal of Counseling & Development, 94(3), 252-264. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcad.12082/full#jcad12082-sec-0160
Smith, L. C., & Atieno Okech, J. E. (2016a). Negotiating CACREP accreditation practices, religious diversity, and sexual orientation diversity: A rejoinder to Sells and Hagedorn. Journal of Counseling & Development, 94(3), 280-284. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcad.12084/full
Worthington, R. L., Soth-McNett, A. M., & Moreno, M. V. (2007). Multicultural counseling competencies research: A 20-year content analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54(4), 351-361. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.54.4.351
Format
Individual Presentations
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Sonja Sutherland is an Assistant Professor of Counseling at Richmont Graduate University in Atlanta, Georgia. She also serves as the Director of Institutional Effectiveness. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Georgia, an NBCC Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC), and an NBCC Approved Counselor Supervisor (ACS). Dr. Sutherland also hosts a radio show in the local Atlanta area focusing on family wellness and mental health. In the field of counseling since 1998, and licensed since 2001, Dr. Sutherland has provided therapeutic services in the private practice, psychiatric residential, in-home, and outpatient mental health settings, for adolescents and adults, through individual, group, couples, and family therapy. Dr. Sutherland has specialized in working with adolescents and families for the last 15 years. During the last decade Dr. Sutherland has also served as a Director of Mental Health and Clinical Services for mid – large sized outpatient mental health organizations providing therapeutic intervention in the Cobb, Atlanta, and Stone Mountain areas. In this capacity, Dr. Sutherland provided strategic and financial direction, administrative oversight and accountability for clinical service provision, as well as clinical supervision for mental health professionals providing services to the community at large. Dr. Sutherland's areas of research interest include counselor supervision, counselor cultural competence development, and evidence-based treatment & residential models of care for at-risk adolescents (commercially sexually exploited youth, family relationship restoration, and integration of spirituality in treatment).
Start Date
2-9-2018 2:30 PM
End Date
2-9-2018 3:45 PM
Recommended Citation
Sutherland, Sonja A., "Cultural Competence Pedagogy: A Developmental Approach for Counseling Students and Graduates" (2018). National Cross-Cultural Counseling and Education Conference for Research, Action, and Change. 16.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ccec/2018/2018/16
Cultural Competence Pedagogy: A Developmental Approach for Counseling Students and Graduates
As social, political and academia-related agendas develop surrounding cultural competence, counselor-educators must be intentional about the incorporating of a variety of learning methods such as experiential interactions. Using weekly process groups within the university’s diversity course, this study created a weekly immersion experience that facilitated cultural competence growth on three developmental levels – student, graduate, and supervisor.
Description
Cultural competence and its importance is addressed in many forums within the profession. Discourse in the field regarding cultural competence and respect for diversity has continually been pressed to the forefront in recent years. Professional organizations such as ACA, ASERVIC, ALGBTIC, AMCD and CACREP have contributed to the discourse. The American Counseling Association (ACA) saw fit to further clarify its stance through the 2014 iteration of the ethical code. In 2015 the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) endorsed the Multicultural and Social Justice Competencies (Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler & McCullough, 2015). The same group, in response to conscience clause legislation, published a statement standing against values discrimination in counseling. In its 2016 statement, surrounding conscience clause legislation, the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC), clarified its support of ACA’s non-discrimination statement and their commitment to “assisting counselors in honoring diverse perspectives while remaining true to their own values”.
As social, legislative and academia-related agendas develop, counselor-educators must guide counselors-in-training in making sense of and engaging the discourse as part of their cultural competence development. Research suggests that training programs incorporate a variety of learning methods, including experiential interactions. This study incorporated weekly process groups in the cultural diversity course at the university that simulated a weekly immersion experience that allowed for the asking and answering of two questions that are key to cultural competence development, “Who am I?” and “Who am I with you?” Students processed difficult emotions and worked to increase cultural awareness. Simultaneously, final semester interns and masters/doctoral-level graduates engaged in a similar process from within their own developmental spheres as counselors-in-training. This workshop presents the evolving perspectives surrounding cultural competence development of counseling graduate students, as well as masters and doctoral level clinicians in the field.