Working to Become A Diverse Group Counselor
A personal goal of mine, as a future counselor, is to become a diverse group leader. I desire to lead groups with cultural sensitivity and not limit members because of ethnicity, gender, religion, class, etc. My goal is to pursue a considerable amount of information on culture and the issues surrounding it, while conducting a therapeutic group. According to The Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW), section B.7, Best Practice In Performing, It is the group counselors responsibility to practice cultural sensitivity and seek information regarding diverse and cultural issues by working with group members and actively seeking outside sources (Thomas & Pander, 2008). I desire to use culture as an advantage in my
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In order to accomplish group competency, I will need to continue psychoeducation in counseling, attend conferences, and experience group counseling first hand. Keeping my education current and relevant will guide me to new understandings and the competency needed to be a therapeutic counselor. Attending conferences will lead me to further education and new findings. The art of practicing group counseling will allow me to learn from my experiences. All of these ways to accomplish competency will strengthen my appreciation for group counseling (Killacky & Hulse-Killacky, 2004).
Conclusion
As a future counselor, I will strive to meet my goals of becoming a competent and multicultural counselor. The ASGW and The ACA Code of Ethics is intended to guide counselors by demonstrating group leader responsibility, practice, strategies and interventions that are consistent with ethical and community standards (Wilson, Rapin, Haley-Banez, Conyne, & Ward, 2000). I hope to become a well rounded, competent, and diverse counselor who can conduct effective group
counseling, where the co-leader can take a few minutes work on some better communication methods so that the client can learn some new and healthier methods to communicate. When the co-leader does not have a client to work with, the co-counselor can be part of the counseling process with the leader of the group. When attracting group members, most counselors are attract group members by using printed materials and websites to attract group members. Counselor can also attract clients by word-of-mouth. By asking counselors if they would know people that would benefit from counseling (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2014).
Support the recruitment and retention of underrepresented student populations by creating coordinating, and managing the two tiered Diversity Achievement Program: the Secrets to Success Transition Program alongside the Diversity Peer Mentoring Program § Create, maintain, and schedule various diversity and inclusion related initiatives such as the Social Justice Speaker Series, the Diversity Dialogue Series, Soup & Substance Luncheons, and Cultural Heritage Months § Recruit, train, and supervise undergraduate student workers and student mentors for the Diversity Peer Mentoring Program § Taught three sections of the First Year Seminar for 25 first year students § Work with, train, and supervise a graduate assistant from the master 's program in
Reflection Hays and Erford (2014) define the factors affecting our counselor identity as our culture, lifespan period, gender, sexual orientation, and the last but not the least our prejudicial beliefs. In the country that I have grown up, we did not have too many Asian descents living among us and the insight that we have about both Native Americans and Asian Americans were just a paragraph length of information in sociology books. I would just add a couple American movies have had some people included in the film as side characters or neighbor members. Preparing for this week’s assignment gave me a lot different perception about Asian Americans, Native Americans and multiculturally component counselors.
Often times today, people of other racial classes and ethnic groups are experiencing oppression as a marginalized group in society today. Racial biases and culture have become an important issue in mental health due to social constructs, racial stereotypes and racial ideology. As a result, they tend to have an impact human development, racial and cultural identity. Therefore, it has become necessary for counselors to indentify and become fully aware and competent in this area due to the changes our society has undergone in multiculturalism and globalization. Due to cultural diversity, identification of minority groups has led to major breakthrough in the field of multicultural counseling/ therapy (Sue &Sue,2014).
In nursing school, students were introduced to the idea of cultural competence. It is a concept that I am familiar with due to my cultural background. Being respectful and aware of the beliefs and values of other traditions cannot be neglected and ignored. We are all global citizens that hold different views and perspectives, therefore leaders must equip themselves with the understanding that people expect and will act differently based on their cultural beliefs.
As a woman of color, I believe it is essential that I become aware of my own biases in order to help individuals that have different beliefs, values, and cultural practices. When I was done completing the “Multicultural Counseling Competencies: A Self Examination” assessment, I became aware of my strengths, weaknesses, and areas where I need to grow as a future college counselor. To begin with, I notice that I questioned myself continuously whether I take the time to evaluate the limits of my competency when helping a student from a different cultural heritage from mine.
The text book, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom with Molyn Leszcz begins with the preface of the fifth edition. In the preface, Irvin D. Yalom introduced Molyn Leszcz as his collaborator and how they met at Stanford University in 1980. He then discussed how they both worked hard collaboratively to combine old and new material to make this edition. Their goals for this edition were to prepare student therapists for the present-day workplace and to keep the current methods from decaying, so that students can gather wisdom and techniques of the field when they get the opportunity to utilize those methods as therapists. Yalom briefly talked about what each chapter in the text would discuss.
According to Virginia Brabender, co-author of Essentials of Group Therapy, this form of treatment involves “a small group of members and one or more therapists with specialized training [verbally communicating among each other] …it is designed to promote psychological growth” (Brabender 15). In practice, this method has been proven to be quite successful in treating psychiatric patients: “review studies…consistently reveal that group therapy is effective in producing positive changes” (Brabender 161). Furthermore, it has been determined that group therapy allows patients with different forms of mental disorders, including severe anxiety and PTSD, to see benefits in their esteem, satisfaction in life, and behavior (Brabender
As a College counselor I have to identify non-dominant cultural background students as an individual gaining data about not only ethnicity, gender, social class, language proficiency but also family type, family background, immigration status, religion etc. Understanding multiple non dominant identities helps me to understand how they read and see their environment. Furthermore; all these factors shape personal and group values and attitudes, including awareness about what works and what doesn’t work, what is useful and what is not, what makes sense and what does not. I need to be well-informed about cultural differences and competent in responding their needs and, trustful, respectful, nonjudgmental and trained working with diverse population.
Ethically, it is the integrity, competence, social responsibility, and refinement of moral practice by continuing education. The counselor must provide services where the counselor constantly strives to become better in their profession by continual learning, growing, and develop skilled, ethical judgment to provide the highest level of care that exceeds the client's expectations. Continuing education, conducting research, or involving one’s self in multicultural groups or opportunities to learn about other cultures is a way to continue to grow and best serve multicultural
Professional Collaboration in Counseling As an independently counselor, counselor needs to collaborative with other mental health professional because they are on their own and do not have a supervisor that will be able to assist them when their client has a crises. A counselor should collaborative with other mental health that are in the same filed to get their feedback before doing a final decision especially when a client has an additional and a co-occurring disorder. Counselor’s that collaborative with other mental health are able to help each other more because they are in the same professional and they might experience what the other counselor is going through. A counselor that is part of a collaborative with other mental health is able to deliver proper services to their client because other counselors have more experience and can guide the counselor to the proper path to provide the proper care.
Ethical Issues in Group Therapy: Involuntary Membership Group psychotherapy is often voluntary, but sometimes members have been mandated by the court or other authorities to participate. Participation is usually easier for voluntary members since it doesn’t have the added psychological barrier of being forced to attend. For this reason, mandated members have difficulty with participation and are sometimes perceived as reluctant (Roth, 2005). It is important that members understand the dynamics within the group and what goals and processes are involved in being a part of that group. This essay will focus on the strategies of assisting group leaders and group members in engaging in the process of psychotherapy by providing informed consent, learning
Like other professions in the mental health field and helping professions, counseling typically attracts those who are imbued with a need to help others, to make a difference in others’ lives, the community around them and sometimes even the world. There are many facets to a counselor and to counseling, some of which take on personal attributes such as personality, the values and beliefs held by counselors, and what they perceive their role in the counseling profession to be. Other facets involve ethical considerations in therapy, the importance of the profession, the value and process of change, important counseling practices and the value of necessary self-care a counselor ought to engage in. The role of a counselor is to act as a conduit to change and wellbeing in a client.
Introduction After the Advanced Skills Facilitation course, I had learned many counselling skills in group counselling and different settings of group counselling. Also, it provided a lot of exercises for us to practice group counselling sessions. Thus, there are many things that I can make a reflection on it.
Much discussion is devoted to the literature regarding group work as it remains an integral part of the social work field. Group work is important as “the need to belong is one of the most basic and powerful human needs as well as the most social” (Ashford, & Lecroy, 2008, pg. 140). Group work is found to be an effective intervention and has become a major treatment modality in the mental health services (Knight, 2017; Clements, 2008). This intervention has been found just as effective as an individual intervention (Knight, 2017). Groups have played an instrumental part in transforming how the social work field thinks about the helping process for clients.