Relationship Conditions and Multicultural Competence for Counselors of Children and Adolescents

Mental health providers for children and adolescents are being called upon to respond to the changing demographics in the United States (VanderGast, Post, & Kascsak-Miller, 2010). Since the beginning of the multicultural movement in counseling, the primary focus has been on racial and ethnic diversity, while the additional dimensions of personhood, including gender, sexual identity, age, religion and spirituality, ability, socioeconomic status, and language, have been neglected (Collins & Arthur, 2010). In a recent survey examining self-perceived multicultural competence in child therapy, Penn and Post (2012) found that multicultural education and training affects self-reported multicultural knowledge and skills. Penn and Post suggested that increased knowledge and application of culturally responsive services positively alter counselors' perceptions of multicultural competence. Therefore, counselor educators should identify activities that promote cross-cultural competence among counselors working with children from diverse backgrounds. Professional associations, including the American Counseling Association, American Psychological Association, and Association for Play Therapy, have delineated standards and practices for working with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Similarly, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) 2009 Standards emphasize the importance for students to gain awareness of cultural differences and develop multicultural competence. At this time, CACREP-accredited counseling programs are required to provide multicultural training (CACREP, 2009; Pieterse, Evans, Risner-Butner, Collins, & Mason, 2009). Although counseling programs advance multicultural knowledge and skills with an array of pedagogical strategies, most counselor educators suggest that multicultural curricula be infused throughout programs (Bemak, Chung, Talleyrand, Jones, & Daquin, 2011). Sue and Sue (2012) recommend inclusion of the following four components in every course: (a) a consciousness-raising component, (b) an experiential component, (c) a knowledge component, and (d) a skills component. Pieterse et al. (2009) found that most multicultural course curricula were focused on elements of ethnicity, particularly racial identity. Pieterse et al. indicated that only one third of course syllabi focused on gender, social class, or spirituality as dimensions of multiculturalism. Whereas 26% of syllabi included curricular content aimed at counseling geriatric clients, there was a paucity of information relating to cultural adaptations for working with children and adolescents. The authors found scant attention to skill development in working with diverse clients. Because "every interaction between practitioner and client involves a multicultural encounter," Collins and Arthur (2010) argued that counselors must have experience interacting with individuals from diverse backgrounds (p. 204). Sue and Sue (2012) suggested that culturally competent counselors need to (a) actively work on the process of becoming aware of their assumptions of humans, (b) understand the worldview of their clients, and (c) continually develop and practice appropriate interventions with diverse clients. Researchers have indicated that increased multicultural training is a significant predictor of increased multicultural competence (Johnson & Jackson Williams, 2014). In our work as counselor educators, we find two primary challenges to teaching counselors-in-training about multicultural contexts that affect client well-being. First, counselors-in-training are often exposed to multiculturalism from a narrow viewpoint that begets viewing diverse and disenfranchised groups in stereotypical ways. Thus, counselor educators are called to teach issues involving multiculturalism from a perspective that includes multiple dimensions of identity (Collins & Arthur, 2010). Second, multicultural competence involves moving beyond one's level of cultural complacency by actively engaging and interacting with people from diverse cultural environments. …