Working with Clients from Diverse Backgrounds and Beliefs:
Why Diversity and Understanding is Great
Jackie Phillips
Psychology, Post University
HSV203 – Introduction to Counseling Professions Unit 3 Assignment: Tunnel Vision Tip Sheet
Raymond Six
Due Date: 11:59 pm EST Sunday of Unit 3
Assume the role of the senior staff member in a prenatal parenting education and supportive counseling program. You must create a training or tip guide to help new staff members recognize and overcome cultural tunnel vision when working with their clients. This guide will provide practical strategies to enhance cultural competence and promote more inclusive, effective supportive counseling practices.
1. Define cultural tunnel vision and explain its significance in the context of counseling.
Cultural tunnel vision, in the context of counseling, refers to a limited perspective where counselors may only see the world through their own cultural lens, failing to recognize and appreciate the cultural backgrounds of their clients. This can lead to misunderstandings, biases, and potentially ineffective therapy, especially when the client's cultural values differ from the counselor's.
Narrow Perspective:
Cultural tunnel vision implies a limited worldview, where individuals are unable to see beyond their own cultural assumptions and experiences.
Lack of Cultural Awareness:
Counselors with tunnel vision may lack an understanding of cultural differences and how they impact behavior, thoughts, and emotions.
Potential for Misinterpretations:
Without cultural awareness, counselors might misinterpret client behaviors, values, and communication styles, leading to misdiagnoses and inappropriate interventions.
Impact on Therapeutic Relationship:
A counselor's cultural tunnel vision can damage the therapeutic relationship by creating a sense of distance and mistrust between the counselor and client.
Ethical Considerations:
Cultural tunnel vision can lead to unethical practices, such as imposing one's own values on clients or failing to provide culturally responsive care.
2. Discuss the potential impacts of cultural tunnel vision on the client’s experience and the relationship with their counselor.
Cultural tunnel vision, a lack of awareness of and respect for diverse cultural perspectives, can significantly harm the client's experience and the counseling relationship. It can lead to misinterpretations of behavior, invalidation of lived experiences, and ultimately hinder the development of a strong therapeutic alliance.
Inaccurate Assessment and Diagnosis:
A counselor's inability to understand the cultural context surrounding a client's issues can lead to an inaccurate assessment and, therefore, an inappropriate diagnosis and treatment plan.
Reduced Trust and Engagement:
When clients feel misunderstood or disrespected, they are less likely to trust their counselor and engage fully in the therapeutic process.
In essence, cultural tunnel vision can create a climate of distrust, misunderstanding, and invalidation, undermining the client's experience and damaging the therapeutic relationship. Culturally competent counselors are better equipped to establish trust, build strong relationships, and provide effective care for clients from diverse backgrounds.
3. Provide some examples of tunnel vision and discuss some common biases and assumptions that contribute to cultural tunnel vision.
Examples of Tunnel Vision:
When law enforcement focuses on a specific group based on race or ethnicity, ignoring individual characteristics or potential alternative explanations for behavior.
Medical diagnoses:
Doctors may prematurely focus on a single diagnosis, neglecting other possibilities or alternative explanations for a patient's symptoms.
Criminal investigations:
Detectives may become fixated on a suspect or theory, ignoring evidence or alternative explanations that point in a different direction.
Cultural assumptions:
Counselors or other professionals might assume that clients from different cultural backgrounds share the same values and beliefs as themselves, leading to misinterpretations and misunderstandings.
Political polarization:
Individuals may only consume news and information that confirms their existing beliefs, ignoring or dismissing contradictory viewpoints.
4. List some strategies that your new colleagues can apply to increase their cultural awareness.
“1. Invest in global citizenship training
In a business setting, these workshops will cover things you need to be aware of when it comes to your organization. They will also address topics such as communication, business etiquette, negotiation skills, and marketing skills. If you are interested in finding out more about how to upskill your employees, DeakinCo. offers a Global Citizenship credential.
2. Promote culturally sensitive communication skills
Effective communication is a crucial skill when it comes to managing diversity in the workplace. How you communicate with others, both verbally and non-verbally, can make or break a deal. While it’s ideal if your employees know the language of the country you’re doing business with, effective communication is still possible even if they don’t. It all starts with having a thorough understanding of the local culture, which can help avoid misunderstandings and build stronger relationships.
3. Promote good manners in employees
Promoting good manners in the workplace is an important aspect of building cultural awareness, improving emotional judgement and managing diversity. Regardless of where you do business, demonstrating polite and respectful behavior is crucial for building trust and forming strong relationships with clients and colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds.
4. Celebrate your colleagues’ traditional holidays
There are many ways to celebrate traditional holidays in the workplace. One approach is to include the holidays of different cultures in the company’s calendar of events or announcements. This may be done through email or bulletin board announcements and can provide information about the significance and history of the holiday, as well as any associated customs or traditions.
5. Listen to foreign clients and colleagues
By fostering a culture of active listening and observation, you’re not only promoting cultural awareness, but also creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace. This can lead to increased creativity, innovation and productivity, as well as a more positive work environment for everyone.
6. Pay attention to cultural differences
To promote cultural awareness in the workplace, it’s important to remind your employees to pay attention to cultural differences when working with customers or managing a remote team. This includes being mindful of national and religious holidays, avoiding topics such as politics or religion, and understanding local customs and etiquette.
7. Be aware of different time zones
It’s also a good idea to encourage your employees to be respectful of the customer’s time zone by avoiding contacting them during their non-business hours. This will demonstrate a level of cultural awareness and sensitivity towards the customer’s work-life balance.” (No Author Given, 2023)
5. Suggest ways to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for clients from diverse backgrounds. This may include things like office décor, language use, outreach efforts, etc.
“1. Diversity from Day One -- Implement an Equitable Hiring Process
Creating a welcoming environment for diversity doesn’t just start on a new hire’s first day -- it begins from the very beginning of recruitment. If your organization isn’t taking steps to ensure that applicants from all backgrounds have an equal chance at being considered for each role, you could be doing a major disservice to diverse candidates.
2. Commit to an Inclusive Culture with Measurable DEI Initiatives
Taking concrete steps by implementing new practices in daily tasks and interactions can go a long way. Committing to applying new procedures to the hiring process to enable a fair playing field can be a crucial first step, as well as forming a DEI committee or hiring for a DEI strategy position to focus on these initiatives across all departments within your organization. In these instances, measurable goals could include increasing the diversity of applicants by a specific percentage or deciding on a deadline for forming a DEI committee in the next business quarter.
3. Invest in Ongoing Learning and Development
Investing in learning and development allows employees and managers alike to gain a deeper understanding of key issues and how to address them. Plus, it can also show employees that your workplace is committed to being a part of the solution by actively making space for these conversations.
4. Encourage Open Communication and Feedback
Open communication contributes to a more welcoming work environment and organizational culture, and it can contribute to higher employee engagement by increasing each employee’s sense of belonging. For diverse employees especially, open communication will create a safe space for them to express themselves authentically and communicate their needs at work.
5. Lead with Accountability
Your diversity initiatives only go as far if they are followed with an accountability plan. While your team might say they want to focus on hiring more diverse candidates or offer diversity training, an accountability plan can hold your team responsible for meeting such goals. Not every strategy will look the same -- much of it will likely depend on your type of organization, workplace culture, budgets, etc.” (No Author Given, 2021)
6. Create a case study that demonstrates the successful engagement of a client with cultural differences from the provider as an example to your new colleagues. Be sure to highlight what went well.
A client was convicted of hunting without a license in California, and with a stolen handgun.
After serving two years in a local community prison on a five-year sentence, the client is released early on probation. Part of his probation requirements is that he to attends counseling sessions every week with my agency for a year. His probation officer has presented an outline of what needs to be covered during the sessions, which focus on breaking laws and why laws are important and why they are in place.
The first time I met with the client, I was already well versed in working with people on probation for a wide variety of laws that had been broken. However, this was the first time I worked with a person who had been convicted of killing an animal and then without a proper license. I was fully aware that licenses were required in order to hunt animals in California, but this would be the first time I met with a person who hunted without a license, and, in addition, the weapon was stolen. This didn’t match that the weapon was stolen since the hunters I had met all had legal weapons and equipment. Personally, I am against hunting and fishing, but I also know that since it is legal and allowed, as long as the laws are followed, I would accept the law abiders.
When the client entered my office for the first time, I was expecting to see a typical hunter with camo clothing and well-built physique. Instead, what I saw was a very small person with torn and dirty clothing. When I looked at the client’s paperwork and saw a home address of the local Social Services office, things started to match.
I said to the client that he was free to sit wherever he chose, and after looking at the two chairs in the office, he chose to sit on the carpeted floor. I asked him if it was OK for me to sit on the floor near him. He lightly grunted and shrugged his shoulders. I moved my chair aside and sat a few feet away from him.
From the start, I tried not to judge the client based on the crimes he was committed of, despite my strong feelings about not killing animals. Over time, I found out that the client was homeless and had been living for years in and out in the vast hills nearby. He would come into town for meals at the homeless shelter and then go back to his tent in the hills. He said he stole the gun and then out of desperation for food, killed a deer that was nearby his campsite. Apparently, someone heard the shots and alerted the Sherrif Department and found the client at his tent with the deer carcass and handgun.
During the year of meetings with the client, I was able to find a bed at a shelter where he could stay and get regular food. He remained clean during the year of our meetings, and he seemed to do well with the structure of the regular meetings. I heard the shelter was able to get him set up with some job training and eventually started to work in a local warehouse.
7. Lastly, summarize the key points of your guide and reiterate the importance of expanding cultural competence.
It is always important to remain open-minded about all clients and remember that your job is to serve and help them in all ways possible. It doesn’t help a client to put your beliefs in front of theirs just to make yourself feel better. Your job is to help the client in any way possible.
References
No Author Given, 2023, DeakinCo, 7 STRATEGIES FOR DRIVING CULTURAL AWARENESS IN YOUR WORKPLACE, https://deakinco.com/resource/seven-practices-you-can-implement-to-increase-cultural-awareness-in-the-workplace/
No Author Given, 2021, NeoGov, How to Create a Welcoming Environment for Diversity,
https://blog.neogov.com/how-to-create-a-welcoming-environment-for-diversity
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