FACULTY OF LEADERSHIP AND
MANAGEMENT
COURSE NAME:
CROSS-CULTURAL COUNSELLING
COURSE CODE:
ABA3193
TOPIC:
WRITTEN TEST: CONCEPT ANALYSIS REACTION PAPER
PREPARED FOR:
DR. DINI FARHANA BAHARUDIN
PREPARED BY:
UMAIMAH USLIMA BINTI HAMDZAH (1210113)
Semester 2 2023/2024
A232
On 12th May 2024 I attend the counselling session with counsellor Ms Chong Shao
Yin. The session was conducting almost 1 hour. Before that, I would like to state my purpose
of the reflection. From conducting this multicultural counselling assessment, I aimed to
expand my understanding of providing effective support to a diverse client background.
The purpose of this reflection is to process the key learning that will equip me to
better serve individuals from various background. By examining my own biases and
exploring cultural competency models, I hope to articulate how this course has prepared me
to handle the complexities of multicultural counselling. Through this counselling session,
there are many benefits that I got and weaknesses that I need to overcome. The advantages
and benefits that I have gained need to be develop and I need to have an action plan to
overcome and improve the weaknesses that I have identified.
Advantages
There are several benefits that I can take in entering a cultural counselling
session. Among them are I can get a deeper cultural understanding, cultural
counselling session help me gain a deeper understanding of our cultural background,
value, belief, and norms that shape their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. From this
understanding can assist clients in better appreciating and accepting their cultural
identity.
From my observing from this session, counsellor had a culturally aligned
problem solving strategies whereby counsellors trained in cultural approaches can
help clients develop problem solving strategies that are aligned with the client’s
cultural backgrounds. This can enhance the effectiveness of interventions and helps
clients feel more comfortable and understood. The client’s narrative may require the
counsellor to provide longer sessions, but patience and respect for the way in which
the client shares their life narrative supports the counsellor’s ability to be an open,
active, and engaged listener and ultimately to help collaboratively develop treatment
goals (Tummala-Narra et al., 2018).
Next, the advantages of entering cultural counselling sessions are clients can
improve their communication and therapeutic rapport. Counsellor who understands
the clients cultural background can communicate more effectively and build a
stronger relationship. This can facilitate greater openness and trust, which are
essential for deeper counselling processes. This reflection can help to create a
relationship capable of sustaining the collaborative work necessary to develop
treatment goals that align with the client’s views (Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018).
Not only that, by attending cultural counselling sessions can overcome cultural
barriers, which are the cultural counselling session can help identify and address
cultural barriers that may impede the counselling process, such as stigma, belief, or
communication preferences. By understanding and appreciating cultural factors,
counsellors can tailor their approach to better meet the clients needs.
Weaknesses
As a client, there are a few potential drawbacks in entering a cultural session.
Firstly, reinforcement of stereotypes because if the counsellor relies too heavily on
generalized cultural assumptions or stereotypes rather than understanding the client as
an individual, it could perceptual harmful stereotypes. This could undermine the
client’s sense of individuality and lead to frustration or a lack of trust in the process.
Next, secondly was lack of culturally competent counsellors because if the
counsellor does not have sufficient training, knowledge, or experience in the client’s
specific cultural background the quality of the cultural counselling may be limited.
This could result in misunderstandings, inappropriate interventions, or an inability to
fully address the client’s cultural needs.
Effect
Attending a cultural counselling session can have several significant effects on
myself. Among of them are I can enhance my self-awareness because the process of
exploring one’s cultural identity, values, and experience can lead to a deeper
understanding and appreciate of oneself. I get a deeper clarity about how the culture
background has shaped our worldview, behaviours, and relationship. According to
Silvia., 2004, self-awareness, a form of consciousness, describes a perspective of
oneself regarding beliefs, performance, behaviours, and evaluation. A commonly
agreed upon definition of self-awareness is, “the capacity to focus attention on
oneself, and thus to self-evaluate whether it be in a positive or negative affirmation”
Not only that, but I can also increase my confidence level because this process
of exploring and affirming one’s culture identity can booster my self-confidence and
sense of personal agency. I feel more empowered to advocate for their needs and
make decisions aligned with cultural values.
The session was strengthened intercultural relationships because the insight
and communication skills gained through cultural counselling can improve my ability
to navigate and strengthen relationships with individuals from diverse cultural
background. This can lead to more fulfilling and harmonious intercultural
interactions.
Theories
From my observation in our session, the counsellor using dimension of
personal identity concept to explore my personal background. From previous
literature review, researcher have developed a conceptual model for infusing culture
into practice with all clients and compiled a comprehensive template of multicultural
competencies for professional practice based on a review of current literature.
(Collins, S., et all., 2010) In another paper in this issue of the journal (Collins, S., et
all., 2010) we provided a rationale for our revised conceptual framework. Researchers
introduce our conceptual model for culture infused counselling and provide a detailed
description of the attitudes, knowledge, and skills identified as central to the
development of culture-infused counselling competence. (Collins, S., et all., 2010).
The counsellor begins by exploring the concept of personal cultural identity as a
foundation for infusing culture into practice with clients. The importance of client
personal culture is the main recourse for counsellor to get to know their clients. This
is parallel with American Psychological Association, 2002 that have mentioned that
about awareness of one’s own personal culture and awareness of client culture is
consistently identified as foundational to multicultural counselling competence. This
is because in the 1st session the counsellor like to ask about my family background.
She loves to ask me about how my father and mother react with my issue, how about
others sibling perspective regarding with my issue.
Challenges
I was surprised because I had challenges in attending counselling session with
my Chinese counsellor. I was feeling discomfort with cultural differences because
when I am explaining my issues with counsellor, I am worried that they won’t
understand my perspective experience. Besides that, I have faced the language
barriers because I can feel that my counsellor had difficulty in communicating Malay
language. I am not fluent in English language because there is not my first language.
In communicating with my counsellor, I will be using mix language Malay and
English, but I will use more Malay language rather than English. My counsellor does
not tell me that she is facing communicating issue, but she tries her best to show to me
that her understanding about my issue is true. This makes me difficulty in expressing
my fully myself and understand the counsellor responses. After observing the
interaction made me reflect on my own cultural biases. It’s easy to operate on
autopilot with in your own cultural framework. Example, during the session there was
a moment when I misinterpreted a counsellor silence.
Finally, the counsellor applies the acceptance skills toward her client. She is genuine towards
herself and clients. The counsellor always shows the appreciation cultural diversity, feel
comfortable with religious differences and belief. The counsellor shows the empathy and try
her best showing the mutual understanding towards clients. As a conclusion entering a
cultural counselling session can provide significant benefit for myself, determined my
potential weaknesses and the personal effect on my development for a new perspective.
References
1. American Psychological Association. (2002). Guidelines on multicultural
education, training, research, practice, and organizational change for
psychologists. Retrieved 15 September 2003 from: [Link]
pi/[Link]
2. Collins, S., & Arthur, N. (2010). Culture-infused counseling: A fresh look at a
classic framework of multicultural counselling competencies. Counselling
Psychology Quarterly, 23(2), 203–215.
3. Ratts, M. J., & Greenleaf, A. T. (2018). Counselor-advocate-scholar model:
Changing the dominant discourse in counseling. Journal of Multicultural
Counseling and Development, 46(2), 78–96
4. Silvia, P. J., & O'Brien, M. E. (2004). Self-awareness and constructive
functioning: Revisiting “the human dilemma.” Journal of Social and Clinical
Psychology, 23(4), 475–489
5. Tummala-Narra, P., Claudius, M., Letendre, P. J., Sarbu, E., Teran, V., & Villalba,
W. (2018). Psychoanalytic psychologists’ conceptualizations of cultural
competence in psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(1), 46–59.