Forging the Link Between Multicultural Competence and Ethical Counseling Practice: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

Recognition of multicultural competence as an essential component of ethical counseling practice is a growing trend. This article presents a historical perspective of salient events that have contributed to forging a link between multicultural competence and ethical behavior. Multicultural counseling is traced from its beginnings to its emergence at a position of prominence in the profession, along with the development of ethical guidelines over time. This time line depicts the infusion of multicultural considerations into ethical standards and provides a perspective for examining the current status of multicultural competence as an ethical mandate. Implications for the counseling profession are offered.

Multicultural Incompetence and Other Unethical Behaviors: Perceptions of Therapist Practices

“…Results indicated that overall participants perceived culturally based violations and noncultural violations as equally unethical behaviors. This finding further supports the argument that multicultural competence is as important as other ethical practices in clinical work (e.g., Arredondo & Toporek, 2004;Green et al, 2004;Vontress, 2002;Watson et al, 2006). In addition, this result suggests that potential clients may have an understanding of the ethical nature of multicultural competence and its impact on the therapeutic interaction.…”

“…Authors have consistently asserted that multicultural competence is a vital component of ethical behavior for clinicians (Arredondo & Toporek, 2004;Green et al, 2004;Vontress, 2002;Watson et al, 2006). However, there have been few empirical studies of ethical practice that have included multicultural competence (e.g., Claiborn, Berberoglu, Nerison, & Somberg, 1994).…”

Counselors' Values Profile: Implications for Counseling Ethnic Minority Clients

“…Such an analysis could help determine the extent to which the values endorsed by counselors are a reflection of the profession's values and how they may be evolved to become more relevant and sensitive to the cultural values of ethnic minority clients (Watson, Herlihy, & Pierce, 2006).…”

“…Third, the profession of counseling should consider examining the values underlying the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) and the best practice movement to determine if there are potential areas of conflict with the cultural values of ethnic minority groups (Hansen, 2006). Such an analysis could help determine the extent to which the values endorsed by counselors are a reflection of the profession's values and how they may be evolved to become more relevant and sensitive to the cultural values of ethnic minority clients (Watson, Herlihy, & Pierce, 2006).…”

Multicultural Competence & Ethical Decision-Making in School Counselors

“…Ethical codes give direction to practitioners in that they are responsible for recognizing the needs of diverse clients. However, counselors are still lagging in their ability to recognize the association between cultural competence and ethical behavior (Watson, Herlihy, & Pierce, 2006).…”