Prevention and crisis intervention Unit 4 Cultural Sensitivity

Stages (cont.) Heightened Awareness of Culture: Description: Therapist is aware that cultural factors are important in fully understanding clients. Consequence: Therapist feels unprepared to work with culturally different clients; frequently applies own perception of clients’ cultural background and therefore fails to understand the cultural significance for a specific client; can at times accurately recognize the influence of clients’ cultural backgrounds on their functioning.

Proposed Stage and State-Specific Consequences in Therapists’ Development of Cultural Sensitivity Unawareness of Cultural Issues: Description: Therapist does not consider a cultural hypothesis in diagnosis. Consequence: Therapist does not understand the significance of the clients cultural background to their functioning.

Stages (cont.) Burden of Considering Culture Description: Therapist is hypervigilant in identifying cultural factors and is, at times, confused in determining the cultural significance of clients’ actions. Consequences: Therapist believes that consideration of culture is perceived as detracting from his or her clinical effectiveness.

Stages (cont.) Movement Toward Cultural Sensitivity Description: Therapist entertains cultural hypotheses and carefully tests these hypotheses from multiple sources before accepting cultural explanations. Consequences: Therapist has increased likelihood of accurately understanding the role of culture on clients’ functioning.

Mexican Americans Enmeshed Family Structure Language Barriers Different Levels of Acculturations Strong Catholic Religious Focus

African Americans History of racism dating back to slavery Group with the most salient differences from mainstream group Mistrust of mainstream institutions Clergy as traditional support system when in crisis

Asian Americans Shame and obligation Rigid family roles and structures Counseling should be problem focused and formal

People with Disabilities Physical or mental impairment that substantially prevents the normal course of human development and accomplishments. Often viewed as weak, dependent, abnormal, and inferior. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) challenges discrimination against disabled.

Subgroups within the Disabled Group Disabled Elderly: intervention must be holistic. Alzheimer’s dementia is stressful for the entire family. About half of the elderly population suffer from at least one severe disability.

Subgroups Mentally disabled people are also protected by ADA. Includes: Major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, panic disorder, anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and PTSD.

Subgroups Developmentally disabled people People with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and autism.

Interventions Crisis occurs because caregivers often do not know what to do Need support systems Case Management Collaboration Must change societal reactions from fear, repulsion, anxiety, embarrassment and avoidance to meaningful relationships

Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders Gay: typically refers to male homosexuals Lesbians: female homosexuals Bisexuals: males or females who are attracted to same sex and opposite sex partners Transgenders: people who feel that they were born the wrong gender and change from male to female or female to male

Issues Suicide Fear of being discovered Family crisis because expectations won’t be met Coming out Sex-change surgery