Essay Counselling
L0 6.1 Working with Diversity and Difference 28th March 2013
In this assignment I will explore how diversity, equality and anti-discrimination practices need to be addressed in the counselling room. It will also explore how the BACP ethical framework helps inform and guide our counselling work and the legal requirements of being a counsellor.
Clients come to counselling from a wide range of diverse backgrounds. Pederson (1994) sites Diversity as a broad definition of multicultural counselling which covers “ethnographic variables such as ethnicity, nationality, religion and language; demographic variables such as age, gender and place of residence; status variables such as social, educational and economic; and affiliations including both formal affiliations to family or organizations and informal affiliations to ideas and a lifestyle ' (p229)”
Counselling has traditionally been an ethnocentric or “culturally encapsulated” activity based on the prevailing white, middle class, which has a central notion of normality based on distinctive mainstream approaches, values and assumptions such as the individual is encouraged to be independent and autonomous and these are highly valued and rewarded in society.
Further, I have been taught that I have to work hard to achieve success and the nuclear heterosexual family is seen as the central ideal where the male is the breadwinner and head of the household and the female is homemaker and subordinate to the husband
Culturallly, individuals are encouraged to be competitive and there is a win loose element as well as a master and control where something has to be done about a situation and solutions sought.
Communication is expected through the medium of english with limited physical contact and direct eye contact and we have been brought up to control our emotions.
Time and adherence to it is viewed as a commodity and holidays are based on traditional Christian religious festivals who favour a single god concept.
In this assignment I will explore how diversity, equality and anti-discrimination practices need to be addressed in the counselling room. It will also explore how the BACP ethical framework helps inform and guide our counselling work and the legal requirements of being a counsellor.
Clients come to counselling from a wide range of diverse backgrounds. Pederson (1994) sites Diversity as a broad definition of multicultural counselling which covers “ethnographic variables such as ethnicity, nationality, religion and language; demographic variables such as age, gender and place of residence; status variables such as social, educational and economic; and affiliations including both formal affiliations to family or organizations and informal affiliations to ideas and a lifestyle ' (p229)”
Counselling has traditionally been an ethnocentric or “culturally encapsulated” activity based on the prevailing white, middle class, which has a central notion of normality based on distinctive mainstream approaches, values and assumptions such as the individual is encouraged to be independent and autonomous and these are highly valued and rewarded in society.
Further, I have been taught that I have to work hard to achieve success and the nuclear heterosexual family is seen as the central ideal where the male is the breadwinner and head of the household and the female is homemaker and subordinate to the husband
Culturallly, individuals are encouraged to be competitive and there is a win loose element as well as a master and control where something has to be done about a situation and solutions sought.
Communication is expected through the medium of english with limited physical contact and direct eye contact and we have been brought up to control our emotions.
Time and adherence to it is viewed as a commodity and holidays are based on traditional Christian religious festivals who favour a single god concept.
Bibliography: Wrenn, C. G. (1985) The culturally encapsulated counsellor revisited ', in Pedersen, P