The concept of multicultural counseling competence is one concept that was of personal interest to me because psychotherapists attend to clients with different backgrounds. Some of the psychotherapists lack the right skills in managing diverse clients. This concept requires understanding and emotional connection with the patients (Wang, & Kim, 2010). Therapists in most situations have the right training, which is needed, however they need to bring incompetence to practice. Furthermore, therapists should do their best in order to facilitate the progress through mental healing.
I believe that the article communicates adequately on the issue of multicultural competence in counseling. There are three characteristics of multicultural counseling competencies, which include; having an awareness of the biases, values, and assumptions of the other cultural group, be able to understand the worldview of those who comes from a different culture. In this regard, attaining multicultural competence implies that the therapist stands a better chance in attending to other clients from different cultural backgrounds (Wang, & Kim, 2010).
Method involves selecting a mixed group of individuals, which consisted of racial, and gender diversity. The scales used in the measurement include that of emotional self-control on Asian and American values and the scale of European American values using the scale of Asian Americans. The test was aimed at measuring client perception of the therapeutic working alliance (Welfel, 2013). Participants took tests, and their feedback was noted every time. Same participants had a chance to experience different therapeutic sessions.
Evidently, the journal article relates to chapter four because the emphasis lies on competence in psychotherapy practice. Chapter discuss about the components of professional competences and the standards that guide professional competence. Multicultural competence is part of professional competence because the therapist has to put in efforts towards professional practice (Welfel, 2013). Furthermore, the therapist deals with a clients who may have different cultural backgrounds. Such situations require adherence to the set professional standards. Multicultural competence is guided by professional standards of practice. Additionally, there exist challenges, which define the limits of competence within the practice. The field of multicultural counseling competence has drawn wide interest from a number of researchers as psychotherapists seek to understand how they can offer counseling services to clients who have different cultural backgrounds (Wang, & Kim, 2010).
The article has a shortcoming because the researchers have selected participants from different cultural backgrounds but performed the therapeutic experience tests on only two. In this perspective, other cultural experiences are not evaluated, which means that the tests are not entirely multicultural. However, the two experiences presented by the tests play a significant role in providing a standard for evaluating the experiences. The results of the study indicated that the culturally responsive counselors were better than culturally neutral counselors in terms of expertise and competence were. Other factors that made a counselor more competitive include the attractiveness and trustworthiness. Taken results raise a question about the essence of multicultural competence and the relationship between client perception about working alliances and multicultural competence.
References
Wang, S., & Kim, B. S. (2010). Therapist Multicultural Competence, Asian American Participants' Cultural Values, and Counseling Process. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(4), 394-401.
Welfel, E. R. (2013). Ethics in counseling and psychotherapy: standards, research, and emerging issues. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.
