Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Counselors

• Counselors must learn about themselves before exploring complexity in their lives.
• Counselors need to explore their experiences with privilege, marginalization, and oppression within identity intersections.
• Counselor genuineness and congruence are foundational for the therapeutic relationship and meeting clients' cultural needs.
• A multicultural orientation focuses on counselors' ways of being rather than seeking to meet a standard.

Considering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

• DEI is a means to explore historically unrepresented, underrepresented, or misrepresented groups.
• DEI is not up for debate for counselors and commitment to understanding clients' lived experience is essential.
• Counselors do not force beliefs, values, or explanations on clients.

Building Your Knowledge Base

• Utilize appropriate and acceptable language.
• The term "Caucasian" has racist and eugenicist origins, connected to the idea that superior intellect originated in the Caucasus Mountains.

White and its Relationship to Power and Privilege

• "European" is often insufficient to describe identity in the United States.
• White is an important identity term in the United States.
• Always use the identity term the client prefers and be aware that race/ethnicity are often confused.
• Many terms are used for Latin American individuals.
• Critical Race Theory (CRT) analyzes and critiques power structures and is an important topic to discuss.
• CRT originated in law and became a theory for analyzing power structures influenced by race, ethnicity, and racism.
• Conflicts can arise when clients embrace autonomy if they haven't been exposed to multiple viewpoints.
• Cognitive dissonance can arise when learning about different perspectives.
• Dominant identities hold sociocultural power and privilege, while non-dominant identities are marginalized and oppressed.
• People inherently prefer order, creating in-groups and out-groups based on dominant and non-dominant identities.
• Most individuals are made up of both dominant and non-dominant identities.
• Some identities remain consistent, while others change throughout the lives.

Privilege, Power, Marginalization, and Oppression

• Privilege is an unearned benefit that most dominant identities experience and can be difficult to manage.
• Power refers to how individuals with sociocultural privilege use that privilege in society.
• Marginalization is putting a person or group at the margins of society.
• Oppression occurs when dominant culture exercises unjust treatment, power, control, or limits/prohibits access to vital resources to non-dominant individuals.

Bias, Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination, and "-isms/-misias"

• Bias is a form of sorting, an inclination, or preference toward one thing over another, consciously or unconsciously.
• Problems arise when biases are not grounded in personal experience or have no basis to protect oneself.
• Positive stereotypes do not exist.
• Prejudices transform stereotypical beliefs into something more sinister since it starts stereotypes into action.
• Discrimination transforms prejudices into consistent actions where people are treated unjustly based on membership of a non-dominant cultural group.
• People in non-dominant cultures do not have the power to discriminate.
• "-isms" & "-misias" refer to beliefs that one group is better than another and that one has hatred for another group based on their non-dominant group identity.
• They can result in discrimination, but also microaggressions

Person-Centered Counseling Principles

• Rogers identified conditions necessary to initiate constructive personality change, including genuineness, congruence, warmth, empathy, and unconditional positive regard.
• Although necessary, the core conditions are not enough for client change, and evidence-based practices fail without the core conditions.
• Genuineness means not putting on airs just to connect with a client.
• Congruence means using the right words, body language, and tone of voice also matching.
• Warmth means asking the client what would help them feel care the counselor wants to show them.
• Empathy means communicating empathy in ways the client can relate to rather than just one way.
• UPR includes emic (sharing IDs with client) and etic (being an outside perspective).
• Counselors should always return to the topic/symptom/feeling/thought and be prepared to discuss oppression, discrimination, and microaggressions as many times as the client needs.

Strength-Based and Resiliency-Focused Approach

• This approach is based on positive psychology, social work principles, educational strategies, solution-focused practices, and narrative perspectives.
• Strengths are individual characteristics that help people cope with challenging situations.
• Strengths develop over time and are highly connected to a person's lived experience.
• Culturally-bound strengths are related to culture and can vary.
• Adaptive and functional strengths are resilience or the ability to bounce back and adapt when faced with adversities.

Making a Personal Commitment

• Establish/reaffirm a growth mindset and be open to correction.
• Use Person-Centered Skills.
• Practice Nontokenization.
• Consider systems-level impacts by amplifying individual stories and remembering systematic impacts on non-dominant groups.
• Engage in ethical behaviors that are culturally relevant across all settings and specializations.
• Practice active learning about diversity and commit to lifelong learning.
• Self-awareness is key and culturally relevant practice involves complex critical thinking and recognizing uniqueness.
• Clients are unique and part of a larger social and cultural system and have experiences of oppression and privilege based on IDs.
• Cultural orientation involves exploring the role of culture and its impact.

Ethical Practice Principles

• Ethical practice involves applying ethical codes for one's professional organizations to all professional responsibilities and actions.
• Each professional organization has its own code of ethics that counselors are responsible for upholding and applying.
• Some states use more than one ethical code and employers may indicate which codes employees must follow.
• Commitments to culture-related concepts can be clear or ambiguous and differ in primary population.
• Conflicts arise from ethics and law adherence.
• Ethics is a cornerstone of practice but we also have to adhere to state and federal regulation.
• Ethical practice is culturally relevant and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
• Counselors use established knowledge and prior experiences to inform while avoiding snap judgment or biases/prejudices.
• Ethical counselors seek alternative explanations, identify several decisions, and engage in discussion with colleagues.
• Ethical codes can lose practical relevance if counselors neglect client ID, dev stages, sociopolitical realities and systems.
• We must consider client's IDs (dominant and non), experiences, realities, impact of culture, meaning making & communication.
• Think of responsibility as a verb, and as a form of breathing life to ethical codes.
• Counselors own and enact professional obligation to interpret and apply ethical codes to all professional activities.
• Dispositions and Skills are the foundation for taking professional responsibility in ethical, culturally informed ways.
• Dispositions are counselor qualities guiding an individual's next professional behaviors, which develop over time and are strengthened as nurtured and practiced.
• Some skills include: Active listening, Reflections and summaries, Open questions, Empathy, Immediacy, Attention to detail and organization, Supervision and Consultation
• Dispositions are foundational for skills to give purpose and intention to skills and behaviors.
• Using skills in specific ways and for specific purposes are crucial.

Understanding Multiculturalism in Ethical Codes

• Ethical code development is a process involving many constituents over an extended period of time.
• Some organizations will publish documents between revisions to provide needed updates.
• Keep an eye on language, historical context, organization, length, accessibility, and transparency.
• It can be easy to jump to conclusions about motives, but staying informed and proactive is key.
• All drafts of the ACA (American Counseling Association) have concepts of informed consent, counselor use of consultation, documentation, privacy/confidentiality, and scope of practice.
• Early versions didn't have a concept of diversity, career pathways or areas of counseling interest
• Pronoun use was mostly masculine.
• In 1995, the member w/ counselor, cross-cultural aspect was added and respecting diversity was included.
• In 2005, applying cultural context to each section w/in document and use of language interpreters and translators was included.
• In 2014, all counselors rather than just ACA members were included, actively attempting to understand diverse cultural backgrounds of clients.

Understanding AMHCA (American Mental Health Counselors Association)

• It originated in 1978, independent from ACA in 1998.
• In 2010, consideration of culture in forensic activities, fee arrangements, bartering and gifts was mentioned.
• In 2015, actively attempt to learn and understand cultural background of clients, including own cultural IDs, values, and beliefs impacting relationship was prioritized.
• In 2020, a preface gives acronyms throughout the document, commitment to addressing relevant ethical issues and purpose of ethical codes was included.
• In 2016, TN HB1840 allowing counselors to not provide services to clients whose goals, behaviors conflicted w/ therapist’s, caused conflicts with “Sincerely Held Principles.”

Understanding ASCA (American School Counselor Association)

• From 1984 origin to 2022 included:
• Multicultural considerations found in preamble of earliest versions.
• Multiculturalism as student rights and dignity as human beings and consumers of counseling
• In 1988 included marital status and character alongside cultural aspects.
• In 2004 used “discrimination” and “affirm” and included gender ID.
• In 2022 the information expanded on technology.

Understanding CRCC (Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification)

• From the 1980s to 2023:
  • 2002: first mentioned cultural considerations for dev career and employment goals.
  • 200-2023: include sections of respecting diversity.
  • 2010 included words like cultural competence, respecting diversity, culture, nondiscrimination; also listed specifically protected groups.
  • 2017 & 2023 commitment to cultural diversity, changes to society at large, and diff needs of indivs in social, political, historical, env, economic contexts.
  • 2023 language change to culturally relevant and responsive approach.
  • Rehabilitation counseling working with indivs of all disabilities.
  • 2023 multicultural consideration; only code to use “anti-racist” and defines role to challenge policies and practices maintaining oppression of maginalized racial groups.

Understanding NBCC (National Board for Certified Counselors)

• From 2005-2023 included:
• 2005: no mention of diversity, MC, or cultural considerations (only awareness of stereotyping and impacts).
• Also sets standard certifying counselors using electronics and ensuring language and data is nondiscriminatory.
• The Code is a min ethical standard for all NBCC cetificants.
• 2023 document doubled, and introduction of MC considerations as core beliefs.
• Falls short on prof responsibilities and not addressing any alck of protections.
• Has room to grow.

Perspectives Impact Ethical Code Interpretation:

1. Holistic approach considering many factors, components, and perspectives rather than singular view.
2. Perspective 1: How Ethical Codes Are Developed.
   • Always consider context nationally and globally when codes were dev and revised
   • What is happening in the field when codes were being established

• Codes reflect culture they are embedded in and cannot be divorced
• Codes take a long to be dev or revised (min of 3 yrs)
• Also keep a critical eye for what authors ignored or neglected to mention

3. Perspective 2: Ecological Systems Theory.

• Systems by which one is embedded interact and impact dev, beliefs and behaviors.

A Multicultural Model Framework for Counseling

• Components include humility, comfort and opportunities.
• Empathizes understanding complexities of inherent privilege and oppression in all cultural IDs.
• Model Components -
  • Cultural humility - Counsellors being simultaneously aware of own cultural experiences while remaining curious and open to experiencing others.
  • Cultural comfort: physiological sensation of stress/ease experienced by counselor in the conversation about culture
  • Cultural opportunities: Moments in a session that allows for natural exploration of the client’s culture pertaining to presenting concern or content being discussed

Applying multicultural model in action

• Moving away from only focusing on what a counsellor knows and moving toward counsellor ‘ways of being’ is the counselling process.
• It is more important to approach clients from a holistic perspective honoring the complexity of IDs and interaction in between them rather than mastering recent trends and singular IDs
• Counselor would seek out opportunities to invite client to explore how IDs may be impacting their interpretation and presentation of presenting concern.

Factors that Improve Therapeutic Support

• Cultural humility toward religious and spiritual ID related to (+) client outcome,stronger working alliance, and the mitigated impact of microaggressions (higher psych safety)
• Interest in how concepts of MC orientation can be used in group counseling context
  • Cultural humility as a way of being or stance has 2 main parts
• The more humble the counsellor the better their potential to relate and council diverse clients

Counselor Attributes

• Internalize inward focused, accurate view of self around perceived cultural values, beliefs, experiences.
  • Interpersonal; Honoring others and displaying humble curiosity
    • Empirically, more culturally humble counselors reduce negative outcomes and have attributes that can possibly counter impact of risk factors, ultimately increasing client comfort

Cultural Opportunities Analysis

• Opps are guide posts in counseling indicating space where client’s cultural beliefs, values or other aspects of clients ID could be explored.
• Client’s beliefs are explored based on the counselor’s willingness and clear communication.
• Client-initiated opps occur when clients state values and beliefs or share cultural antidotes , where the counsellor provides enough space to explore
• Counsellors reduce the complexity of client’s perspective when overbearing or absent minded

Making A Committment

• You must first be willing to see what you do not know (know yourself) assessments can be used to reveal what areas of diversity you are lacking in knowledge
• Be willing to learn directly from your client how YOU are impacting them
• When talking with a client and you do not understand where they are coming from ask, “ Can you tell me a little bit more? I will work on educating myself” Process is collaborative, though counselors can be perceived ad dominating initiative

Ethical Framework

• Systems and structural oppression must be understood to avoid repeating it.
• Structural is unfair or unjust distribution, administration, and application of laws, policies, societal practices, and societal norms in ways disempower and harm groups in society
• Social determinants of oppressive structural frameworks can have a large impact on the mental well being of clients and must be well evaluated by practitioners.

Societal Structures to note

• It can be difficult to identify beneficiaries of structural oppression (those in power) who unintentionally make harmful policies.
• Policies and societal structures make life easier in terms of access and safety when you are privileged.
• Oppression Vs, Oppressor; It's important for us to recognize and evaluate our own relationship so not to unintentionally inflict suffering

Counsellor Ethical Guidelines

• To serve the marginalized they must serve themselves (the counsellor) through training and education.

       “ One challenge is that people with dominant IDs benefit from the structural oppression unintentionally.” Page 49
  

Counselors who recognize these attributes can better serve their client.

Multicultural Framework

• There four tiers to be mindful of (The client model); marginalize counselor, marginalized client, privileged counselor and privileged client;
• Systemic oppression as a bias: systemic oppression and subsequent societal values have substantial influence on ways indivs and groups within society think, feel and act.
  • Counsellors do the diligence of breaking down the “Allport’s Scale of Prejudice” top to bottom and seek to influence clients toward a healthy and balanced perspective.

Outcomes of Ethical Treatment.

• Structural oppression has numerous outcomes that impact lived experiences of clients across housing, health and health care, mental health, education, occupation and others
• Increased morality is directly correlated to increased exposure to violence and structural barriers limiting access to resources. This is also called social determinants of health - (SDOH)

Counselor Advocacy

• They are expected to advocate where there is clear and present systematic oppression.
• Counselors are called to avoid and remedy harm that can't be avoided.
• There are many theoretical orientations (Feminist theory RCT) and intervention models that work to assist client’s in systematic oppression and must be applied accordingly.

The Role of Social Justice

• Experience improved access to care, enhances well-being and empowerment as counselorsaddress systematic barriers and advocate for equitable mental health services

• -Social justice is the 5th component of counselling and is essential , Multiculturalism is paradigm that acknowledges and values diverse cultural background, IDs and life experiences

              “Social justice as full participation of indiv in society regardless of race, ethnicity,gender, age, ability status, sexual affliction or social class” Page 61
  

Traced What is Advocacy ?

• It is traced back to Parson's in 1900s and Advocacy addressed within ACS's 2020 Vision for the profession . - Ethical codes that are related to Social Justice and Advocacy bestow counselors prof and ethical obligations to practice social justice and advocacy in various roles and responsibilities

• The counsel must be knowledgeable of biases , promote self-reflection and participating in continuous education to mitigate biases that can be passed onto clients

• Social Justice Counselor Skills Counselors create deep and intentional partnership to collab w/ marginalized community for betterment of society and relational, collaborative reciprocal (RCR) models Advocacy in Counseling must be tailored toward clients .“Advocacy must be indiv to specific causes resonating w/ counselor, targeted toward specific needs and should be direct and practical”

Ethical Frameworks

• Social Justice must be applied to be an effective tool for counseling Relationships of all kids; Counselors and clients are members of history, culture and society which greatly impacts the ethical applications of counselling. -One must apply an all encompassing approach by examining symptoms within larger framework of societal inequities and oppression as you:

            “Rep counselor's deliberate and receptiv approach to integrating sociocultural elements and individuals” page 65
  

Multiracial Clients can face prejudice stemming from multiple sources (family/race), which is where an ethical and informed counselor can act to foster the well being of their client.

Areas of Multicultural Ethical Understanding.

Some examples include :.

• ID deve can be formulated through cultural factors like race, ethnicity, gender, spirituality, ability status and social class which may be examined at same time, singularly and sequentially.
• Ethnic ID Dev models → racial/cultural ID dev models; examine racial consciousness and attitudes of White individuals toward people of other races and ethnic backgrounds

In order, a counselor must first be aware of their own identity to be an effective model .Ethical Model -”How to ask clients: iit seems important to you, I have limited knowledge on this. Can you tell me a little bit more? I will work on educating myself.” page 41

-Common Historical Examples

1 General racial and ethnic Dev models Examine racial consciousness and attitudes of White individuals toward people of other races and ethnic backgrounds

The counselor who is aware of their own ( White/Black/LatinX) background can better server the client’s self and emotional awareness. As well as that of other clients with potential religious - and cultural conflicts.

• The most effective manner to determine if the client feels safe and is understood, is communication with those who have been marginalized or not appropriately valued in society.

Identity Types

1. Minority Identities and what the client internalizes will determine and dictate what actions they take. To this, the counselor , must respond with empathy and guidance.

• Asian American ID Dev 1 - ethnic awareness → 3-4, family members are primary rep of ethnic group and child forms neutral or (+) attitudes toward ethnicity 2 - white IDfication → school age children interact w/ peers and institutions conveying ethnic prejudice that (-) impacts self-esteem and views of ethnic ID4 One must be a Careful!

The Need

One must fully explore the client’s personal worldview (gender/ race/religion) before making any external assessments for the purpose of a professional outcome. 1Transgender POC ID Dev -Related to resiliency factors and coping in ID dev; 2-Lesbian ID Dev: 1-coming out demonstrated by reconciliation.

The role of The client

The client sets the cultural tone in the room and must be the first party to be considered-1Bisexual ID Dev , which means you much “ Listewn”

-Religion

Religious and Spiritual ID Dev Models: that “Faith dev is natural aspect of human growth”; (primal faith to universizalizing faith)

Disability ID Dev Model must be applied with ethical consideration based on client background for full effect

-Race

Race, Racism, and colorism, require social contract .“ Enslavement began generational trauma passed down over literal centuries for Black people“

• The counselor , may also engage in spiritual conversation if its benefits the client in healing. (Religious.v non denomination)

Culture

One must also be weary and cautious regarding “ The role of acculturation” and MSJCC .which both the counsellor must ethically weigh.

• With CR, counselors don't judge other cultures based on own, but work to understand other culture's uniqueness w/o denigrating comparisons

• In conclusion Counsellors must respect client autonomy when counselors enforce values, their autonomy is threatened and feel personal worldviews devalued

• As well as reflecting, such as where they fall on spectrum of collectivistic and individualist worldviews, privilege and marginalization