Assignment:
Multicultural Competence on Mental Health
Mental Health Counseling:
You are a staff counselor working at a community mental health clinic. Your caseload includes working clients from diverse backgrounds who have serious and chronic mental disorders. One of your clients, a 20-year-old man from Central Africa, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. One day his parents are present when you make a home visit. They want to invite the extended family to a healing ceremony for their son and have asked a local shaman to perform a ritual to banish any bad spirits that are interfering with their son's cure. Because you have been successful in establishing a relationship with their son, they respect you and want you to take part in the ceremony.
Here are the questions:
Select one of the case vignettes from the Multicultural Competence - Case Study interactive piece in this unit's study for this discussion, and imagine that you are the counselor working with the client(s) or student in this situation.
Identify the areas of multicultural competence needed for working with this student or client(s):
1. In terms of self-awareness, how would your own personal identity, values, and beliefs impact your reaction to the student or client(s) and any biases or assumptions you may have about the student or client(s) and the presenting issues?
2. What knowledge would you need in order to provide effective counseling in this situation?
3. What culturally-appropriate skills or intervention strategies would you need to develop in order to work with the student or client.