Abstract
This paper discusses the issue of personal values, personal identity, and challenges that counselors face when engaged in multicultural counseling. The issues are addressed from a personal perspective and experience at work. It gives my personal world views in every category of variables that shape people’s culture. It also describes how my personal values have influenced the way I interact with other people in the society. Lastly, the paper analyzes in-depth, the challenges and opportunities I have faced working in a multicultural environment.
Personal identity and growth
Part 1:
Every person has their own world view and cultural values on issues such as race, ethnic group, family, gender, sexual orientation, religion and social class. These are among the variable that shape people’s cultural perception. It is a common thing to find people basing assumption on these variables. None of these variables are determined physiologically but however they are personal or objective. They simply depend with an individual and their cultural context. Because these variables vary with different culture, they can be considered subjective. An individual’s cultural context can shape his or her perspective on race, ethnical group, family, and the others variables.
Values also entail preferences but in the context of a course of action or an outcome of action. It basically is a person’s sense of good or bad. Personally I have also developed personal perspective and values on the variables that shape people. I believe people should are equal irrespective of race. Intelligence and smart thinking does not choose any of the above mentioned variables. I believe that discriminating people by their race is wrong. The world has reached a point where members of each race have shown that they are as equal as any other human being in terms intelligence. Given the opportunity to use it, they can perform just like any other person. I enjoy meeting and interacting with people from different races in order to understand them and know their culture.
Living in an environment with ethnical diversity means that ethnicity is one of the major problems in this society. However, in the same way people should be treated equally according to their racial background, ethnicity is not to be different. No really chooses where and how they should be born and raised. Diversity of people makes the society an interesting place to live in. This is because there are certain characteristics that are unique and are only found in a particular ethnic group. Integrating these groups to live together is the only way to make them complement each other.
Gender has been an issue in the society since the beginning of time. The female gender has always been considered the weaker sex. The society, which is has been male dominated, has defined roles for each of the gender. Because of these roles, people have developed a mindset where females have to be confined in the homes subjected to men. Despite all these, I strongly believe in women being equal rational beings as men. Given the opportunity to show case their rationality, women can do it even much better. Being confined in the surroundings of the home impedes women’s rationality. They have to be exposed to all the opportunities available in the society so that they can live out their full potential. The only difference between men and women is their physiology, but when it comes to rationality, all human beings have equal intelligence and capacity to be rational.
The world today has embraced people who identify with homosexuality and other forms of sexual orientation. But however, this has not been completely achieved since there are many societies especially in the third world countries who strongly oppose any sexual orientation other than heterosexuality or a straight orientation. This is the form considered normal. With secularization quickly taking root in the society, many people are gradually coming to accept people different sexual orientation. However, coming from a religious background, homosexuality is strictly forbidden. Therefore I really do not entertain homosexuality and other forms of sexual orientation other than straight. I find them unimaginable. However, this may not affect my professional life in any way.
The family is an important institution to that builds values and character in individual. Considering a person’s family history is important for understanding them. As a counselor engaging in multicultural counseling, these are among them most important information to seek in order to understand an individual and figure out how to assist in the case.
Being born and raised in a Christian family, I was taught to love my neighbors as I love myself. I would only differ with a member of some other religion when it comes to our religious beliefs. Religion is hardly integrated with the work culture. However it shapes some important characters for good delivery of one’s skills and knowledge. Integrity is one of the many aspects that are shaped by religious beliefs. I believe in religion playing a central role of imparting virtues in people. Religion may not be used as a discriminatory factor as long people remain professional by observing work standards and rules of an organization.
When it comes to social class, I tend to desire associating myself with a respectable class. I would want to interact with the upper class and be like them. However these are only desires that can be controlled. Because of how and where I was raised, I can interact easily with anyone from any class of the society.
Part 2:
My personal worldview and cultural values were not the same as they are currently. Growing up, my perception on some of the variables was very different. This can be attributed to the nature of society that was then and my cultural context. Things change over time. As I mentioned earlier, secularism is taking root in the society and shaping the way people think and view issues. Back in the day, some of these issues were clear in my mind how I was supposed to view them. But gradually as I interacted with people from different culture it became clear to me that the variables mentioned above are only lines that divide humans.
My values were definitely shaped by my cultural context, family background, and religious beliefs. My ethnic community played a role in making see certain things the way I see them or the way I used to see them. Religion shaped my belief system. It is very clear to me that am not supposed to corrupt or dishonest, thanks to religion. I developed respect for seniors and other people in the society because religion taught me to be obedient. The family provided the perfect environment that helped me put into practice my belief system.
Through this practicing I was able to develop knowledge of what is good and what is bad, and how we are supposed to interact with others. As I went through formal education, my understanding and perception got changed with respect to some issues and similarly, my understanding got deeper with respect to other issues.
Part 3:
Cultural values and perceptions can create conflict in the society as people interact with each other. The likelihood of a conflict is in fact made worse in cases of a diverse society. Such a society has mixed people of different cultural background with different beliefs and traditions. Conflict is also a result of people strongly believing that their cultural background is the best and the only way of doing things.
Ethnocentric attitudes are fueled by cultural values and people’s inability to be sensitive to others culture and the way they think. A group of people will behave according to the norms and values of their culture. Another group living close to them may fail to interpret their behavior because of they hold a different world view about how they should behave. This situation may result in a complete misunderstanding and hence lead to conflict of the two groups.
Often you will find the elite class of the society being in conflict with the low class members. The elite believe that their lives should be complicated with advance technology and lifestyle. Their children going to private schools while the other members of the society using public facilities. Because of this differing interest, there is usually conflict when people from different social classes interact.
Cultural values can also create healing and growth. As mentioned earlier, some culture can complement other culture because of the different characteristics they have. A society with multiple cultures can therefore live together in harmony when they understand each other. For instance, a cultural group where people are comfortable with establishing personal relationships even in a work environment can beneficial in business negotiations.
Part 4:
Cultural values have been very essential in influencing how I interacted with other in the society. I have learned to understand other people’s point of view and be sensitive to their way of thinking. During my childhood for instance, my culture taught me to respect my seniors as well as my peers. Respect is not demanded but earned. Because of this, I found myself honoring my leaders in different spheres. Even if I disagree with them, I would definitely find an honorable way to speak my mind out without showing any form of disrespect to them.
My cultural values have also helped interact with women in a respectful manner. I have learnt to know that women are equal human beings who deserve the respect of others in the society especially men. To me issues such as domestic violence, where a man beats his wife and children, are very weird. Because of my family background, I have developed a liberal mind set of a nurturing parent model. People are allowed to do whatever they want and explore their environment but the leader or the father only offers protection and advice on the right way to go.
Because of this liberal mindset, I have found it easy to interact with people from different background and belief systems. I have also been able to interact professionally and casually with people of different sexual orientation, class and religion. The only thing that people are required to have in relation to developing good relationships in a multi diverse society is ability to be sensitive of other’s cultural values. In this way one can easily respect others as well as earn the respect of others.
Opportunities and challenges of working in a multicultural environment
Diversity creates difficulty for counseling. There three major issues involved in creating this difficulty. This includes: the cultural context of the counselor, the cultural context of the client, and the different variables that comprise the identity of an individual. Personally as a counselor I have been forced to work while making assumptions. For instance I have been forced to assume that I can easily understand and acknowledge the culture of my clients the same way I understand my own culture. Working with this assumption requires that I understand my culture very well in order for me to understand my clients’. This is the only way effective intervention can be administered to the client. Therefore self awareness as a counselor can be a challenge sometimes as one is expected to understand the totality of him or herself.
One big challenge I have faced when working in a multicultural environment is accepting diversity. This is not only a problem I have faced but also a common problem among many people in the work environment. This challenge comes from ignorance and sometimes from prejudice. It is common to find people paying attention to minor details such as a person’s sir name, place of birth, accent, and physical address when interacting with colleagues and clients. Sometimes this attention is unnecessary because it is intended to awaken the stereotypes people have developed on ethnic groups, races, religion, social class, and gender.
Sometimes decisions are made in the work place out of open prejudice. For instance, some ethnic communities and races are known to have weird accents making it hard for people to understand them when they speak a formal language like English. There are some opportunities that people with accents will fail to get. As a counselor engaged in multicultural counseling, there are clients who may fail to corporate with me because in trying to help them. In most cases these are people from particular cultures. This is basically the challenge of stereotyping. Counselors as well clients can easily be involved in stereotypes due to the fact that in a multi diverse environment there are individual differences.
Multicultural counseling also has opportunities that accompany it. There are numerous theories that counselors use for practice. Some of these theories cannot be assumed to be applicable in all circumstances. By practicing in a multicultural environment, a counselor is able to use the theories and identify the areas where assumptions cannot be made. Multicultural counseling has been beneficial to me since I have become aware of my own assumptions, values, and biases. It has helped to understand the personal value of my clients as well as develop intervention techniques that are strategic and appropriate.
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